A dog owner has been jailed and his two Alsatians will be put down after they attacked at least seven people in Lockleaze and Horfield.

Jason Cox, 30, appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court to be sentenced yesterday after admitting being in charge of dogs that were dangerously out of control in a public place at an earlier hearing.

He was jailed for two months – but is likely to serve less than two weeks because of time off for good behaviour and other reductions.

He and his girlfriend, who have seven children, had asked solicitor Nile Arnall to plead for the lives of the Alsatians, Max and Jake, but magistrates said the dogs were dangerous and had to be put down.

The court heard that the dogs escaped from the family home in Ruskin Grove on February 9 this year and attacked people in the street.

Sasha Gordon, 17, and Terrance Davies, 67, were among the members of the public who were bitten, along with two police officers.

Police received a series of 999 calls from the public as the dogs ran loose in the Lockleaze area biting people they came across.

Mr Davies saw a 17-year-old girl being attacked by the Alsatians in Wordsworth Road. He stood still in the hope of avoiding being attacked too but the dogs turned on him and bit him on the arm and leg.

He later had to have a tetanus injection.

In a statement Miss Gordon said she was taking her younger brother to school when they saw the dogs and hid from them.

The teenager was returning home along Filton Avenue when the Alsatians attacked her.

One bit her right leg and the other jumped up at her.

A motorist saw the attack and drove up on to the pavement to scare the dogs away.

PC Josh Ings and a colleague were sent to try to catch the dogs and found them in Sandling Avenue, Horfield.

Both officers had to draw their batons to try to control the dogs and both were bitten.

Max and Jake were eventually restrained and taken to kennels run by a woman who has 30 years' experience looking after and breeding German Shepherds.

The dogs have been kept at the kennels since February.

The kennels' owner, who asked the court not to reveal her identity, sent a letter saying that despite her best efforts the dogs' temperaments remained unchanged.

She said they should not be rehomed under any circumstances as they were unreliable and impossible to handle.

Mr Arnall said his client had owned Max and Jake for a year and they had only got out once before and had not attacked anyone then.

He said: "The incident arose because Mr Cox forgot to put a mop handle against the door of the kitchen where the dogs were kept.

"Mr Cox and his partner are very upset that the dogs bit anybody at all. They say it is completely out of character.

"They have seven children and wouldn't dream of allowing the dogs to mix with the children if they thought they would be bitten.

"They say that the dogs aren't a danger to public safety and this was a one off and they hope the court will allow the dogs to come home."

Chairman of the bench Dr Rowland Kitchen old Cox that the dogs would be put down on August 13.

He said: "It is a very distressing thing that magistrates have to do sometimes but these dogs can't be rehomed."

As well as being jailed for two months, Cox was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years.