A gunman has shot dead a family's pet dog and seriously wounded its mother as the animals were being walked by young children.

Armed response police officers and the West Yorkshire force's helicopter were called to the scene of the shooting on Monday afternoon, on a popular countryside footpath in Denholme.

The children's mother, Dot Nicholls, said her sons, aged 12, seven and six, had been left traumatised by the incident.

The dog which was killed was a ten-month-old Dalmatian called Bandit. Its mother, Dfor, was badly injured.

Miss Nicholls said her sons Sebastian, Todd and Toby had been walking the dogs on the path off Heatherlands Avenue, at 1.40pm, when they let them off the leash.

Sebastian, the eldest, went home to see if the dogs had returned before he walked back to the path with his brothers.

Miss Nicholls said: "Sebastian saw the man with a gun and said 'what are you doing?'

"He said nothing back and then there were two shots. Sebastian said the man picked up Bandit and threw him over the wall into a field. He'd been shot through the collar. Dfor was shot once in the back of the neck and it came out of the side."

Dfor limped home, where Miss Nicholls found her.

"There was blood everywhere. I was going frantic because I didn't know what had happened," she said.

"My neighbours came round when they heard what had happened. I could hear the children screaming."

The children said they were only yards away when the dogs were shot. They are devastated," said Miss Nicholls.

"Sebastian blames himself because he let Bandit off the leash. There were no sheep there and the dogs were on the path. Hundreds of people walk that path.

"I can't believe someone would cause this devastation. It's cruel and barbaric. There was no warning. To do it in front of my children, to hurt the dogs like this, is unbelievable."

Miss Nicholls said Bandit and Dfor had always been harmless pets.

"They were beautiful, soft animals. They were happy and loveable. Even sheep would have scared them to death," she said.

"We go walking with them all over and they would never have done anything to hurt anything. My main concern now is to get Dfor better."

Vet Terry Crowd, of Gatehouse Veterinary Group, in Allerton, Bradford, said Dfor's injuries would have been even more serious if the pellets had entered two inches lower and penetrated her spinal column.

At least 30 pellets were lodged under Dfor's skin.

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said inquiries were on-going.

Police have spoken to a man in connection with the incident.