A YOUNG family has been left distraught after an Alsatian and a pit bull-type dog savaged their four-month-old puppy to death.

Dad Chris Gordan suffered bites to his hands as he battled to pull off the dogs after they set upon his King Charles cavalier-cocker spaniel cross, Tilly, in a playground behind Chase High School on Friday night.

Vets performed emergency surgery to remove Tilly’s spleen, but the docile family pet died on Saturday morning from terrible lacerations to her abdomen, kidneys, legs and neck.

Electrician Mr Gordan, 40, of Fleetwood Avenue, Westcliff, said: “It was horrendous; a horrible, brutal attack.

“The vets said it was the most horrific injuries she had ever seen.”

The father-of-four was walking Tilly, who the family had only had two months, just yards from home near Prittlewell Brook at about 7.30pm after watching the Leigh Christmas lights switch on when the two dogs lunged out of the darkness.

Immediately cautious when he saw the all black German shepherd, which was on a lead but running free, Mr Gordan tried to scoop up his tiny pet.

But the brown and white pit bull, which was not on a lead, sunk its teeth in, shaking Tilly as it bit down.

Mr Gordan, who suffered two or three puncture wounds to the little finger, punched the pit bull in a bid to free Tilly but the breed is renowned for the strength of its grip and it refused to let go.

He said a woman in her 20s with the dogs, who had jet black hair and wearing a baggy top and tracksuit bottoms, was “hysterical” as she tried to pull them off, but he believes she said only one of the dogs was hers.

Mr Gordan’s T-shirt was soaked through with blood by the time he reached the Earls Hall Veterinary Group in Princes Avenue, cradling Tilly in his arms.

The attack has left Mr Gordan’s wife Frances, who picked out Tilly and chose her name, and children Amelia, 16, Jamie, 11, and Scarlett, six, devastated.

But the death has hit his two-year-old son Finley, who spent most time with Tilly, hardest.

Mr Gordan said: “He says Tilly is in heaven, but he won’t speak any more about it.”