A pet owner told a jury how she couldn’t breath after her dog clamped its jaws around another in an attack she described as “awful”.

Leeds Crown Court heard that spaniel Ted was left “with its belly and intestines hanging out”.

Clare Breen said she was walking Mastiff-Labrador cross Jerry and another dog, Becky, in Lund Park, Keighley, on July 29, 2012, when she said she fell and Becky slipped from her collar. Breen said: “She (Becky) was bounding about and wanted to play. She was sort of lolloping about a bit sort of around me and wanting me to chase her.”

Defending, Michael Collis asked what was the reaction of Ted’s owner, 16-year-old Lucinda McGrath, who was nearby.

“She was making alarming noises. Screaming, but not loudly in terror, but just screaming, screeching and kicking out towards Becky,” Breen said.

Miss McGrath alleges that Becky, a white American Bulldog, bit her hand.

Breen said she was tying Jerry to a bin, so she was free to control Becky, when he lunged and bit Ted. She said Jerry was usually a “sofa potato.”

The 31-year-old said she put her hands in Jerry’s mouth in an attempt to loosen his grip.

“Miss McGrath was trying to get the dogs apart as well and was kicking him in the head,” Breen said.

After the attack Breen, who has fostered rescue dogs for seven years, went to find Miss McGrath’s father.

“I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t stop shaking or crying. The whole shock of everything had knocked me sidewards,” said Breen, of Malsis Crescent, Keighley.

Miss McGrath’s mother, Andrea McInerny, told the court she heard Breen talking to her partner.

“I just heard a woman’s voice say, ‘my dogs attacked your dog,” Mrs McInerny said. Under cross-examination Mr Collis said Mrs McInerny could not be sure Breen meant ‘my dogs attacked your dog’, meaning more than one dog, or if she meant ‘dog’s’ as an abbreviation of ‘dog has.’ Breen admitted she told the family she would have both dogs put down, because she wanted to put things right, but yesterday told the court that Becky had done nothing wrong.

She was accused of lying in order to protect Becky, who she had owned for several years longer than Jerry.

Prosecuting, Louise Azmi said: “I suggest you’re shifting blame from one dog to another.”

Breen replied: “They’re both my dogs. It’s like having two children and saying you love one more than the other because one’s older and you’ve had it longer.” She said she took full responsibility for what Jerry had done.

The court also heard from PC Peter MacNamara who said he interviewed Miss McGrath and saw her bruised and slightly swollen hand.

Breen denies being the owner of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control. The trial continues.