A DOG owner has vowed to never take her pets to Southwick Country Park in Trowbridge again, after her award-winning pug was left blind in one eye following a vicious attack on Sunday.

Amy McLean was walking her one-year-old pug Norman with her partner Don Lancashire and a friend and her dog at the park around 11.30am when the terrifying incident occurred.

Miss McLean, who lives in Paxcroft Mead, had Norman on an extendable lead when another dog, believed to be Staffordshire Bull Terrier, suddenly ran towards him and started to attack his face after pinning him to the ground.

They eventually managed to pull the vicious dog away from Norman by its collar, but Miss McLean says the vet has told her Norman will be blind in one eye despite having an operation to save it.

Miss McLean said: “We had met with our friend to take the dogs for a walk when about 10 minutes in this dog came running over from the other side of the field. We thought it was just playing at first, but then he pinned Norman down and started biting.

“It was horrible and I was just screaming. My partner was calling out to try and find out whose dog it was, before managing to pull it off by the collar. I thought Norman was dead at first as he was just lying on his back.

“A woman eventually came over and said it was not her dog, but she was just walking it. She said she had injured her ankle a few weeks back, which is why she couldn’t couldn’t run after it, but why did she let it off the lead?

“We took him to the vet and he has had an operation on his eye to stitch it shut for two weeks in the hope that his eye can be saved. Even if the vet can save the eye he has said he won’t be able to see out of it again.”

Miss McLean said Norman, who also suffered puncture wounds to his face and a cut to his mouth during the attack, had previously won competitions at the UK’s annual Pug Festival in Wales.

She added that she had posted about the attack on Facebook afterwards and was alarmed to find out that others had experienced similar incidents in Southwick Country Park.

“We reported the attack to the police who passed it on to the dog warden and we also got the details of the woman and we are hoping to claim on their insurance as the vet bill so far is already £800,” said Miss McLean.

“When I posted about it on Facebook other people commented saying they don’t take their dogs there anymore as people seem to let their dogs off the lead and let them roam wild. I certainly won’t be going back there again.”

Miss McLean’s partner, Don, said: “Owners must be reminded that there are other dogs in the country park, it isn't their back garden. I have heard of so many incidents there now I will never take our dogs there again.”