A DOG has been given a stay of execution after a nine-year-old boy was bitten and hospitalised in an East Lancashire village earlier this month.

Owner Peter Eaton, 61, was brought to court to answer a complaint that his dog, Dallas, had injured the child during an incident in Barley on January 2.

Eaton, of Barley Green Mill, Barley Green, pleaded guilty to having a dog dangerously out of control.

The police complaint, made by Pc Welch under a section of the Dogs Act 1871, requested that the dog be kept under control or destroyed.

Burnley magistrates heard that the nine-year-old required hospital treatment as a result of the incident.

Eaton has now been ordered by magistrates to fit Dallas with a muzzle to prevent the dog from biting anyone else.

The owner must also pay court costs of £1,763 to Lancashire Constabulary.