Six people have taken anti-rabies treatments after they were attacked by a Tibetan mastiff after the dog got loose and rushed to a road in Jiuting Town in the city's suburban Songjiang District, police said yesterday.

Unchained Tibetan mastiff bites 6.[File photo]

The black dog appeared on Jiuyi Road about 7pm Sunday and started biting people.

Four victims whose injuries were most serious were rushed to the Ledu Hospital and the other two went to see the doctor themselves. A man aged about 70 got five bites on his body and the others were bitten on their stomach or rear-ends. The dog owner has paid for all the medical expenses, police said.

A victim, surnamed Xu, said he was working in the office when he heard a woman's cries saying a dog was biting. Xu recognized the dog was his neighbor's and went downstairs in an attempt to call the dog owner but was bitten himself by the dog on his belly.

"There was no one in the room and the dog chain was on the ground," Xu told police.

Police rushed to the scene and caught the dog after receiving the report. Police said the Tibetan mastiff was an unlicensed dog and had been impounded after the accident.

Further compensation is still under negotiation between the dog owner and the injured.

Tibetan mastiff is among the 23 species of dogs that are banned from being kept as a pet in the city after Shanghai implemented a series of dog ownership rules that took effect on May 15 of last year. An individual dog owner can face a fine of 500 yuan (US$79) to 1,000 yuan while a company can be fined up to 5,000 yuan for violating the rules.

The Tibetan mastiff owner has not been charged criminally but will be fined.

The new rule also mandates dogs that have attacked people twice or attacked more than two people at a time should be taken in by police and have their license revoked.

A mastiff-mix attacked four on Zhongshan Road in August and three Rottweilers injured three on Anfen Road in July.

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