A woman has said she would rather put her dog down than force it to be muzzled whenever it is in public.

Ann Corrigan, 73, of Waveney Road, Great Yarmouth, pleaded guilty to having an out of control dog, after it bit an 11-year-old girl when it was left alone in Great Yarmouth Market Place.

Corrigan had tied the dog – which was described to be a Heinz 57-type – to a bench with her two other dogs while she went into Boots.

Oliver Haswell, prosecuting, yesterday told Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court: 'On July 25 last year, a young girl who was eating chips with her mother in the Market Place, went to put her cone in the bin when one of Corrigan's dogs bit her on the leg.

'The dog clung onto her leg for a minute before the girl could get free. She suffered a minor puncture wound about one inch deep on her leg.'

Corrigan is said to have owned the dog, called Jerry, since she adopted it when she found it jumping over her fence.

The dog suffers from arthritis and Corrigan had started to consider the possibility of putting the dog down.

Mr Bentley, representing the pensioner, said: 'Miss Corrigan said the girl was closer to the bins than the dogs were, so it was likely that the girl approached them.

'It is a small dog and there have been no other incidents like this with any of her dogs.

'I have seen them and would not describe them as violent.'

Chairman of the bench Jim Agnew ordered Corrigan to pay the girl £100 in compensation and said the dog should always be on a lead, muzzled and never left alone in public.

An angry Corrigan replied: 'I would rather put the dog down. It does not deserve to go through that.'