A pair of dogs with Pit Bull Terrier characteristics have been seized by police during a raid.

Police executed a search warrant at a property in Ashton Avenue, Schole-moor, Bradford, under the Dangerous Dogs Act which covers the seizure of dogs and entry of premises.

As six police vehicles drew up outside the house yesterday, the sound of barking and growling attracted officers to the back garden where they found two dogs straining at their chains.

The dogs, suspected to contravene the Dangerous Dogs Act, were inspected for signs of neglect or dog fighting. An RSPCA officer said at least one of them showed signs of having been in a fight.

While inspecting the dog’s front legs, the officer said: “These are quite typical wounds that we see from, not so much organised dog fighting, but what we call a ‘roll’ where a dog will have a brief encounter with another one.”

He said there was also scarring on the dog’s top lip and head.

Police arrived at the property equipped with Biteback spray and an electronic defensive dog shield, which were not needed because the dogs were chained up and posed no risk The animals were seized and taken away to kennels.

One man has been arrested from an address in another part of the city.

During a pre-raid briefing at Trafalgar House police station, PC Justin Adams urged officers to take a considerate approach when executing the warrant due to the fact there were children at the house.

He told officers to secure the perimeter of the property and conduct a systematic search of the house and yard, looking for steroids and other drugs that may have been used to train dogs and recordings of dog fighting.

PC Adams said: “Intelligence suggests that these dogs are a threat to the community as well as to women and children living at the property.”

Inspector Alan Rhees-Cooper said: “The police received concerns from some of the local community that dangerous dogs were being kept in contravention of the Dangerous Dogs Act.

“We do take these things very seriously. We found at the address two dogs and we are not happy in the sense that we believe that they do contravene the Dangerous Dogs Act and we are not happy with the condition they are being kept in.

“We do expect that a certain number of arrests will be made as a result of this operation. The dogs appear to have pit bull characteristics.”