AN IPSWICH school is today urging parents to take care with their dogs after a three-year-old was injured by a family pet.Clayton Lloyd was preparing for an afternoon at nursery school when he went to stroke a dog which was with its owners on a pavement outside the school.

AN IPSWICH school is today urging parents to take care with their dogs after a three-year-old was injured by a family pet.

Clayton Lloyd was preparing for an afternoon at nursery school when he went to stroke a dog which was with its owners on a pavement outside the school.

His mum Lisa Clarke said: “I was outside talking with the other mums and the next thing I knew Clayton came running towards me screaming with his hand over his eye saying he had been bitten by a dog.

“I didn't believe it had really bitten him but when he took his hand away there was blood running down his face and two marks on his head.

“It really scared him and me. When I pulled his hand away I was shaking, the first thing I thought about was whether it had damaged his eye.”

Ms Clarke said she believes the dog may have been a Collie.

The incident happened at around 12.40pm on Monday and Ms Clarke, 27, of Beatty Road, managed to clean the wound with an antiseptic wipe given to her by staff at the school.

She was later advised by her GP's surgery to take Clayton to the Riverside clinic in Landseer Road to be checked over.

She said: “They had a look at the cuts and checked his records. Luckily his jabs were all up to date so he did not need to have his tetanus.”

The incident was reported to police by Marilyn Such, the school's headteacher - who is repeating the school's advice about dogs in the next regular newsletter to parents.

She said: “This incident did not happen on school premises. The school opens directly on to the pavement and this happened there.

“We already ask parents not to bring dogs on to school premises, including the playground, and they are very good about that. But all we can do in this kind of case is to tell them what has happened and urge them to take care with their pets.”

Ms Clarke said: “I just want to get the message out to people that if they are going to bring their dogs to a school they should make sure they are properly muzzled.

“You might trust them but you never know what could happen and Clayton's injuries could have been a lot worse than they are.”