A grieving woman has told how a “big softie” dog killed her brother and left her husband needing his legs amputated by just “nipping them” with his bacteria-infested teeth.

Pauline Day, 62, revealed how the Japanese Akita called Ted tore her family’s life apart after her brother bought him as a pet for £1,500.

The family had no idea that Ted – who resembled a “giant teddy bear” – was had deadly bacteria crawling inside his mouth.

But in July, Pauline’s brother Barry Harris, 46, died at his home three days after Ted snapped at his arm, causing an infection and sending him into cardiac arrest.

And just a month later Ted bit Pauline’s husband Mark, 61, as he walked the dog on the day of Barry’s funeral.

Mr Day, who’s been hospitalised since late August, has had all his left-hand fingers amputated and will lose both legs by next week due to sepsis caused by bacteria in Ted’s.

Ms Day, from Colchester, Essex, said: “They weren’t even attacked. Ted literally just broke the skin on my husband and my brother.

“It was the softest dog but it had food issues. Whenever it was near food it was so aggressive.

“We think it was mistreated as a puppy.”

Mr Harris, a groundworker, bought Ted from a private Facebook seller in a London flat in May this year for some “good company” after going through a break-up.

The seller told Mr Harris that Ted, who was 15 months old, was well trained but when he got home he found that the pooch didn’t even respond to his name.

On 7 July – after less than six weeks together – Ted bit Mr Harris as he was trying to remove an animal bone from his mouth while out on a walk and his arm soon swelled up and he fell ill with cold sweats and headaches.

Three days later, Mr Harris tragically died at his home after his heart stopped.

At Mr Harris funeral on 19 August Mr Day took Ted for a morning walk and was nipped by the dog on his hand.

He had “legs like blocks of ice” the next day but put it down to a hangover until – three days later – he was rushed to hospital with a 39C temperature, before he went into cardiac arrest and suffered multiple organ failures.

Doctors told Ms Day that Mr Day’s condition was “100 per cent” due to a bacterial infection from a dog.

Mr Day, a builder, has been in hospital ever since and now faces having both legs amputated next week due to sepsis. He has already had seven fingers removed.

Ms Day said: “It’s like something out of a nightmare. You just don’t believe this has happened.

“The shock of my brother was one thing and then my husband. It’s just surreal.”

Ms Day had Ted put down on the same day that doctors said that Mr Day’s condition was due to bacteria from a dog.

She also checked the paperwork that Ted’s owner gave to Mr Harris when he bought the dog earlier this year and found that he had no vaccination history.

“In the booklet, there was nothing with vaccinations.

“They gave him a false history.”

SWNS