A DOG owner was left with a £600 vet bill after her pet was mauled by a doberman in Hockley.

Penny Bond, was walking her dog, Mischiff, through Beckney Woods at 7.30am on Sunday when he was attacked.

Mrs Bond courageously got hold of the doberman’s collar and pulled it away.

Her English springer spaniel was left covered in blood and needed surgery to stitch up gaping wounds on his neck.

Mrs Bond, 59, didn’t realise how badly her dog was injured until she got home.

She said: “I could see blood, but whenI got home he had these great big deep holes on his neck.

“He had really deep bites. He has tubes coming out of his neck now. It doesn’t look very pleasant.”

Mrs Bond said she had challenged the doberman’s owner, urging him to take control of his dog.

She said: “The owner said he has never bitten anyone before.

I’ve never seen the man before and I have been walking my dog here for years.”

Mrs Bond, of Plumberow Avenue, Hockley, said she was left shaken by the attack and wanted to warn other pet owners.

She added: “Mischiff wasn’t the one that started it. The guy just walked off.”

The Echo has reported several dog attacks in the past month, including the case of a woman in Leigh whose cat was killed by two greyhounds in her front garden and a Jack Russell that had to be put down after it was attacked at Basildon’s Race for Life event.

Essex Police confirmed they were looking into the latest incident. A spokesman said: “An officer has been in touch with Mischiff’s owner to arrange a time to take a statement.”

It is against the law to let a dog be dangerously out of control in a public place. A dog is considered out of control if it injures someone, or makes someone worried it might injure them.

A court could also decide a dog was dangerously out of control if it injured someone’s animal, or if the owner of the animal thought they couldbe injured by trying to stop the dog attacking their pet.