POLICE had to capture two Doberman dogs after they rampaged around a village high street last night.
The dogs burst into a newsagents in Newtongrange, Midlothian and nearly bit a six-year-old girl’s hand off, according to shocked onlookers.
The beasts then pounced on a smaller dog outside a chip shop, frightening it elderly owner.
The attacks only stopped when a boy of around 12, thought to be the Dobermans’ owner, chased them off with a stick.
Officers are appealing for the dogs’ owners to come forward and are still making enquiries on the incident, which happened around 8.15pm.
A shopkeeper in Newton Stores described the moment the two furious animals ran into the shop.
Vikki Ashraf, 32, who was in the stock room when the attack began, 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 its 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.”
Bolted
He added: “The dog was about to take her hand off.”
Mr Ashraf said the dogs ran out the store when the door was opened.
But they soon pounced on another dog outside the Nitten Chippy nearby.
A 19-year-old worker at the takeaway, who did not wish to be named, said the elderly owner of the other dog, a spaniel, was panicked during the incident.
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.”
An ambulance service spokeswoman aid paramedics had checked over an elderly male but said he did not require medical attention.
A Lothian and Borders Police spokeswoman said officers had found the dogs and taken them into police kennels.
She added police are attempting to trace the owners and are still making enquiries.
