Children pulled to safety as dogs go on rampage

TWO Doberman dogs have been impounded by police after causing havoc in a village street.

Children had to be pulled to safety after the dogs went wild in a convenience store in Newtongrange, Midlothian.

After tearing around the shop, the dogs ran out and caused panic in the street as they pounced on another dog outside a nearby chip shop.

Police today said they were trying to trace the owners.

The two dogs darted into the convenience store around 8.15pm last night as a man and his daughter were at the till with their small mongrel dog.

The man had to pull his daughter away from the dogs when they acted aggressively.

Shopkeeper Vikki Ashraf said: “The dog was about to take her hand off. It’s just as well the guy pulled his daughter out of the way.”

The 32-year-old was working in the stock room of Newton Stores in Main Street when the two dogs burst through the door and ran around the aisles. He said: “I saw these two massive Dobermans push open the door and run around the aisles going mad. There was a much smaller dog at the till with his owner and his daughter and they just went for it.

“The wee girl, who was about six or seven, put her hand out to stop them going at her dog and her dad had to pull her back. It’s just as well he did.”

Mr Ashraf said the dogs ran out of the shop after the door was pulled open, but pounced on another dog outside the nearby Nitten Chippy.

A 19-year-old worker at the takeaway, who asked not to be named, said the attack only stopped when a boy aged about 12 – believed to be the owner of the Dobermans – chased the pair away with a stick.

He said the elderly owner of the dog, understood to be a spaniel, was left panicked.

He said: “We saw this little boy walking down the street with the dogs off their leashes before they ran into the shop down the road.

“He wasn’t in control of them at all and they just bolted. We heard they attacked someone’s dog at the shop down the road then they ran up here and went for our customer’s dog, which was outside.

“It only ended when the boy grabbed this stick and chased them up the road. The owner of the spaniel got a real shock.”

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service confirmed that paramedics had checked over an elderly male but said that he did not require medical attention.

A police spokeswoman said officers had traced the dogs and taken them to police kennels. She added that police are attempting to trace the owners and are still making enquiries.