A POLICE officer was in hospital last night after being bitten by a dog which left one of its teeth lodged under her skin.

The officer, a PC from Burnley, was responding to a call about a disruption at a house in Rylands Street in the town at around 9.30pm on Monday.

She and another uniformed officer were confronted by the dog and two people at the scene.

Police said the dog, believed to be a Staffordshire Bull Terrier- type dog, went to attack the officer’s face, and she put her hands up to protect herself.

The officers shouted at people nearby to restrain the dog and also tried using pepper spray and a taser gun to calm it down.

Inspector Andy Carter said: “It was a report about two drunken women being disruptive at the address.

“When the officers got there, a dog was clearly aggressive.

“It was a large, aggressive dog, but it wasn’t an illegal breed.

“It’s not unusual for an officer to come across an aggressive dog, but suffering injuries to this extent is quite uncommon.”

Police said the dog repeatedly bit the officer’s hand causing several puncture wounds and leaving one of its teeth embedded in her hand.

After being taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital, the officer was transferred to the Royal Preston Hospital for surgery for ligament damage. She had an operation yesterday afternoon and was expected to be kept in for a second night.

One neighbour who saw the incident said: “I came out and there were two police officers in uniform and, in the end, I think the dog attacked one of them.”

Another neighbour said: “I was inside when I heard a lot of shouting on the street.

Police said the dog had been taken to a pound while further investigations were carried out.

n Police said Sandra Wardle, 58, of Burnley Road, Brierfield had been charged with being drunk and disorderly, failure to comply with a control of dog order and allowing a dog out of control to cause injury.

She is due to appear before Burnley Magistrates Court on May 16 at 9.45am.