A YOUNG boy needed 17 stitches when his face was bitten by a dog, a court was told yesterday.

But Snoopy, a cross labrador alsatian, was saved from being put down after his victim asked for him to be spared.

Harvey Twizell, seven, confessed that he took the nine-month-old puppy's ball away from him on June 10.

He, his mother Chantelle Twizell, from Billingham, and police officers pleaded with magistrates to spare him.

Jackie Harrison, prosecuting, said that an undertaking to keep Snoopy under control would be enough.

She said: "It was put in interview that Harvey had taken the dog's ball. It was trying to get it back and it had accidentally bit him.

"The police saw the dog. It seems an unusual course of action for such serious wounds, but it was agreed by all parties that the prosecution should make this application rather than ask for its destruction."

Defence solicitor Neil Douglas said: "What has happened is boisterous playfulness rather than a dangerous dog. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances which hopefully will not recur."

Snoopy's owner, Julie Tatters, 33, of Bannockburn Way, Billingham, was ordered to keep him under control after she admitted having a dangerous dog out of control.