THE dog which savaged a five-year-old Accrington girl will be put down, police have said.

Inquiries were still being made late last night to identify the breed, but officers dealing with the case are confident it is not on the ‘banned list’ of dangerous dogs.

Courtney Bradshaw was playing in the bedroom of a house in Charter Street, Accrington, on Saturday when the ‘pitbull-type’ dog bit her face and head.

She had walked just yards from her home to a family friend’s house with her two-year-old sister Mia at 11.30am.

But she was mauled by the dog and needed seven hours of surgery to deep lacerations close to her right eye and ear.

Accrington Sergeant Steve Hilton said Courtney would remain in Royal Blackburn Hospital for the next few days, but has been ‘awake and playing’ and was ‘better today than the day before’.

He said she was still sore and would have to be sedated again when the stitches come out next week.

Sgt Hilton said: “We are still in the process of identifying the dog’s breed. It will definitely be put down.”

Sgt Hilton and his team have started a collection to send Courtney on a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach when she leaves hospital.

Mum Claire Bradshaw, 29, has been at her daughter’s bedside since Saturday morning.

Speaking from the hospital yesterday, she said: “Courtney is a lot brighter today.

“She’s sat up in bed and looking a lot brighter, playing with a jigsaw.

“I’m staying with her until she can come home, but we’re not sure when that might be.

“We’re taking each day as it comes.”