A dog owner whose pet nearly bled to death after cutting his paw badly on broken glass has prompted a clean-up campaign.

Two-year-old gundog Rudi stepped on a broken beer bottle in a Bicester park.

The Hungarian Vizsla needed a two-and-a-half hour emergency operation to mend severed tendons and an artery in his left front paw.

He now faces four months in plaster and many more weeks of physiotherapy to help regain the strength in his legs.

His owner Jackie Murdock said she had feared Rudi would not recover from his injuries.

She said: "My husband was walking the dog round the park and he just went round the picnic bench where the grass isn't cut properly. Next thing there was a terrible squeal and he ran back to my husband.

"His paw was squirting blood."

Her husband Doug Stickley, 51, added: "The first couple of weeks Rudi was really in a mess.

"I have to lift him in and out of the car every couple of days when we go to the vets to have his plaster changed."

Mrs Murdock said: "We were not sure with the amount of blood he had lost whether he was going to make it.

"Now he's in plaster he can't do anything. He's completely restricted."

A few days later Mrs Murdock went back to the park, next to Kings Meadow School in Shakespeare Drive, and pinned up a notice warning people about the danger of broken glass. She has also alerted the police She said: "The concern was it could have been a child. If they had fallen over on that glass they would have been completely lacerated."

Sgt Steve Birchall, of the police neighbourhood team, said: "I made that a target area for special attention because of the amount of mess and youths up there late at night.

"We have approached the youths that were there and kids were saying they were horrified this had happ- ened."

Bicester Town Council clerk Anne Wilson sent a maintenance team to the scene to clear up the glass straight away.

She added: "We are working very closely with the police on all these things."