A BULL terrier type dog viciously attacked two other dogs and a postman.

A Shitzu was left with its leg hanging off after the attack in the street and another dog was also bitten.

The postman rushed to the aid of the nine-month-old Shitzu and managed to hold the attacking dog off, but its owner fled the scene.

Samantha Collier was out walking her Shitzu, Fudge, in Farnworth Central Park at around 1.30pm on Tuesday when she saw the terrier running across Market Street towards her.

Miss Collier picked up Fudge and the terrier ran past her into the park, but moments later it came back and ran into the 43-year-old, knocking her to the ground.

The animal grabbed hold of Miss Collier’s dog and began dragging it about and ripped it out of her arms.

Miss Collier said: “He probably could have been ripped to bits. I tried to keep hold of my dog, but it was dragging him and trying to pull his leg off.

“It was throwing my dog up in the air. It was throwing my dog up in the air. It was horrendous, I have never seen anything like it. I was terrified.”

Postman, Aaron Richardson, who was standing nearby waiting to be picked up by a colleague to go to work, rushed to Miss Collier’s aid after hearing her scream.

The 36-year-old said: “I heard people shouting and screaming and saw this horrid-looking dog which was on top of the other dog. I got hold of it by its mouth and managed to pull it away.”

Miss Collier, who works in a care home, grabbed her dog and ran back across Market Street to her home in Alan Ball House.

She says she was shaking too much to use her door keys and had to run up the fire escape to get inside.

The terrier then ran off along Market Street where it bit another dog before someone managed to get hold of it.

It is believed the dog’s owner then came to retrieve it after hearing the commotion.

Miss Collier said the terrier was covered in blood after the incident.

Her own dog was taken to a nearby vet’s for treatment.

Miss Collier said: “It was trying to rip my dog to shreds. His leg was hanging off.”

Once the dog was under control, Mr Richardson, who lives in Church Street, Kearsley, went to the Royal Bolton Hospital for treatment to cuts and bruises to his hand, and had a tetanus jab.

He said: “I don’t like dogs as a postman. I thought I might get hurt, but I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Mr Richardson spoke to a police officer on Tuesday night.

A GMP spokesman confirmed the police were investigating reports of a dog attack and a dangerous dog on the loose in Farnworth on Tuesday.