A STAFFORDSHIRE bull terrier called Chips has had the threat of an immediate death sentence lifted.

The muscular dog had attacked two other dogs and bitten a man trying to protect his own pet.

Magistrates had ordered the dog be destroyed following the vicious attack in Atherton.

But owner Anthony Ramsbottom appealed against the death sentence passed on his dog. He denied that the dog was not kept under proper control.

But Chips can only stay alive if Ramsbottom follows stringent court rules imposed to protect the public.

Ramsbottom, aged 29, of Meadowside Avenue, Walkden, appeared at Bolton Crown Court, where he appealed against the sentence by Leigh magistrates that the dog be destroyed.

Judge Charles Bloom, QC, sitting with two magistrates, allowed the appeal subject to stringent conditions.

The court was told that the bull terrier was normally kept in the back yard of his girlfriend's home in Stanley Street, Atherton, with a second Staffordshire bull terrier called Sausage.

But it escaped and began to savage a dog called Tyra, owned by Kenneth Watson, who tried to separate the dogs.

Throat

Chips had Tyra by the throat and was eventually prised away from the smaller dog by two men, one of whom was David Lythgoe.

The dog ran off down the street. Lythgoe's daughter then arrived and told her father Chips was about to attack their pet.

Lythgoe went to his home nearby and picked up his dog to protect it, but was attacked and bitten on the stomach and forearm.

He eventually managed to subdue the dog by placing his foot on its neck on the floor and waited for the police to arrive.

The judge ordered that the dog be neutered and start lessons at a dog obedience school within 14 days.

He also said the back yard should have a secure padlock fitted and a sign erected within 14 days stating: "Dogs loose -- do not enter."

Judge Bloom said the dog would be destroyed if Ramsbottom did not follow the conditions imposed by the court.

Ramsbottom was also ordered to pay for a report to be prepared within eight months on the dog's reaction to obedience lessons and its general behaviour. When the dog was being walked outside it must be under the control of someone aged 16 years or over.

The judge said that if the conditions were not met, or if the dog was on the street out of control, it would be taken by the police and immediately destroyed without recourse to the court.