#Chihuahua faces death penalty if convicted of nipping woman

A Chihuahua named Buddy has reportedly been ordered to stand trial in the UK after he was collared for nipping an Avon lady — and the puny pup may face the death penalty if convicted.

Buddy initially raced out to greet Louise Elliff, 49, when she called to collect a catalog on her rounds in Crook, County Durhan, in November — but then chased her around the garden and snapped at her legs, the Sun reported.

“The dog came booming out and kept biting round my legs. The dog was chasing me, nipping my legs and it drew blood,” said Elliff.

“I could not move quickly enough. It was chasing round and round me in circles. The 13-inch-tall pooch was getting more and more irate, I was absolutely petrified,” she continued, according to the Sun.

“It took a wad out of my leg which left me bleeding and with a massive bruise. I was shaking. The way it came at me was full-on aggression. You don’t expect that from such a small dog,” she said.

Buddy’s owner, Ash Routledge, 30, who had only had the pooch for a month when the incident happened, has apologized — but faces a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act of having a dog “dangerously out of control.”

The maximum penalty is five years behind bars if the case goes to crown court — but a judge also could order that Buddy be destroyed after a magistrate ordered the pooch to stand trial, the outlet reported.

“I never expected it to get this far — it’s just ridiculous,” the father of three said.

“What happened was a complete accident. Taxpayers’ money is going to be wasted on a case we could have sorted out among ourselves,” Routledge said.

“I didn’t actually see it but I took the Avon lady’s word for it and said I was sorry. There are much bigger problems in the world than a tiny Chihuahua,” he added, according to the Sun.

He previously said Buddy “is an anxious dog so he is wary, but once you get to know him, he is fine.”

Routledge added that “if they order him to be destroyed, then there’s no way they are getting my dog. I’d rather go to prison than hand my dog over.”

He said he plans to fight the case at Peterlee magistrates’ court on July 14.