A DOG owner who had to batter his frenzied rottweiler round the head with a lump of metal as it savaged his auntie said police were right to shoot his pet.

Roy Carr of Willington Green, Shepway, Maidstone, blames himself for the attack that left his auntie Janine Morris in East Grinstead hospital for five days, needing a three-hour operation to reconstruct her arm.

Mr Carr, 35, believes an argument between himself and his auntie prompted four-year-old rottweiler Kaizer to attack him at his flat, before turning on his auntie.

The incident occurred on the first floor of a two-storey block of flats owned by Maidstone Housing Trust.

Victim Mrs Morris described the horrific moment the dog turned on her late at night on Friday, February 1.

“At first it was just growling,” she said, “I pulled him away but he kept on and on; it worked up to a crescendo until he went at Roy.

“I had to hit him with a stick; it was then that it attacked me.

“I just gave up and thought that’s me gone, I’m going to die. He was dragging me about for what seemed like about an hour.”

Mr Carr said he was forced to beat the dog harder and harder as his auntie lost consciousness inside his first-floor flat.

“Her eyes were rolling in the back of her head; there was so much blood” he said; “I was actually hitting him with a lump of metal.

“The dog wasn’t even yelping.”

Having eventually escaped the onslaught, Mr Carr called an ambulance and the two went to hospital leaving the dog tethered on the landing.

Around 20 police officers attended the incident, but had to wait three hours while attempts were made to find a vet to put Kaizer down. When one could not be found, it took officers three shots to kill the dog.

Mr Carr, who signed a note authorising police to have the dog put down, said he does not blame the officers for Kaizer’s gruesome end.

“It was probably the most humane way because without me there they wouldn’t have been able to calm him.”

He added: “I’m devastated, I loved the dog. If we hadn’t been arguing, the dog wouldn’t have got angry. It’s so sad because he was a lovely dog. I’ve had him since he was six weeks old, he’s always been placid, it was totally out of character.

“There’s a lot of bad publicity about the breed of animal and I wouldn’t want the whole species of rottweiler to be tarnished by this one incident.”

Police spokeswoman Lesley Miller said that when the police responded to the call about the loose dog they found the animal was “dangerously out of control on the communal landing area of the flats.”

She said: “Patrols attended, including experienced police dog handlers, but were unable to bring the animal under safe control.

“The dog presented a serious and immediate risk to the public and, after extensive liaison with the RSPCA and local vets, it was decided there was no other option than for police to destroy the animal at the location.

Chief Superintendent John Molloy said: “The decision to destroy this animal was not one we took lightly. Our number one priority is the safety of the public.

"This dog had already seriously injured two people and was dangerously out of control so we had to take this action to prevent anyone else being hurt.”

* A man has been arrested on suspicion of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control and has been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Have you or anyone you know been attacked or intimidated by a Rottweiler? If so and you would be willing to share your story, please email Sinead Hanna at shanna@thekmgroup.co.uk or call 01622 717880.