A dog owner is fighting to save her beloved pet after neighbours signed a petition and suggested it should be put down.

Jennifer Coveney and her granddaughter Harriett say they are under pressure to have five-year-old Lottie destroyed after the Weimaraner bit a woman's ankle while she stood on her driveway.

Now residents appear to have rounded on the Aylesford homeowner with more than 200 people calling for action against the dog.

Jennifer, 68, said: “It’s the most awful thing but we have been persecuted since. It feels like everyone is against us.

“She’s never bitten before, ever. She was stressed and guarding the house.

“Since then it has been like a vendetta. We have only been here for a year and now everyone is petrified of Lottie.”

However, the daughter of the woman who was bitten claimed the dog charged, leaving her mother in fear of further attacks.

It is believed Lottie may have let herself out by pushing down on the handle of the front door but Jennifer, who moved from London to her Thomas Road home last year, feels claims the dog is dangerously out of control are untrue.

She added: “Whether the door wasn’t quite locked properly, I don’t know. The dog guards the house.

“She has got out and nipped my neighbour’s ankle. She is now muzzled and we are locking the doors."

She said the dog was checked over by a vet and they have sent flowers and an apology to her neighbour.

But she added: "It is intimidating living here now.”

The online petition launched by the family of the woman bitten by Lottie has amassed more than 200 signatures. It said the police, RSPCA and dog warden had yet to act and consider removing the dog from its home.

Rebecca Dales, whose mother was the victim, said: "My mum is still not back in her own home. She is in fear of a further attack.

"The police have not given this investigation the priority it deserves.

"This huge dog somehow got out of its supposed locked house and charged, barking, straight at my mum and attacked her from behind, leaving pools of blood on the ground and deep puncture wounds in my mum's ankle."

Mrs Dales has written to Tonbridge and Malling council demanding the dog be put down.

She believes the dog is uncontrollable and acts in a stressed manner.

"My two young children, as well as many others, live on the same street," she said.

"All residents are terrified of what it could do if it escapes again."

Police confirmed the case is being investigated.