A search has been launched for a dog which bit a police officer.

Officers were called to an address in Lewis Avenue, Bexhill, shortly before 8pm yesterday where four puppies and two adult dogs had been found abandoned.

The pups were taken to a local veterinary clinic and one adult dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross bitch, was taken into the care of the local authority dog warden.

A second dog proved hard to catch but was eventually cornered and taken hold of by a police dog handler, but it was nervous and bit the officer on the arm, causing a wound which needed hospital treatment.

The dog escaped and is still at large. It is described as a brindle-coated Staffordshire Bull terrier cross bitch.

It is not suspected of being a banned breed and may have been crossed with a lurcher or similar.

Sergeant Graeme McKee, of the Sussex and Surrey Police Dog Unit, said: "We don't believe this dog to be aggressive unless cornered, when it may bite in self-defence.

"Anyone seeing this dog should not try to seize it but instead contact police or the council dog warden so that it can be safely taken into kennels."

Information can be emailed to 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk or phoned through to 101, quoting serial 1480 of August 16.