Former head of training at the Essex police dog section, Sergeant Andrew White, 38, also told magistrates that stones or acorns would be catapulted at the animals to make them obey.

Chelmsford Magistrates Court heard that White had been a police officer since 1981 and a dog handler since 1986.

He had passed inspector's promotion exams and believed that he had been earmarked for promotion before being charged with breaching the Protection of Animals Act.

Punishment collars

He told magistrates that he denied using the "hanging method" for training dogs.

At earlier hearings, the court heard it alleged that he had made other officers suspend their dogs by their leads and kick them.

Sgt White said he had made a point of banning such methods when he became head of training at the dog section HQ in Sandon, Essex, in 1996.

White said he particularly disliked the use of the "pinch" collar - a collar with spikes on the inside which press into the dog's neck - the electric collar, which gives the dog a shock, and the stick.

'Skin, hair and blood'

He said: "I have seen a dog react to an electric collar by jumping off the ground with all four legs, looking round to see where the pain had come from, then lying down on the floor and yelping.

"The pinch collar has got spikes on it which pinch into the dog's neck.

"I have seen skin, hair and blood on pinch collars when they come off.

"Dogs were hit with the stick and one of the favourite methods that people used the stick for was to get the dog to bark."

But, White told the court, he had agreed that dogs might be held against a fence and kicked as a last resort if a handler was being subjected to a determined attack.

Three other police officers are in the dock.

Inspector Graham Curtis, 43, who headed the dog section, denies three allegations of omitting to prevent officers from causing unnecessary suffering to police dogs.

Pc Kenneth Boorman, 45, a dog trainer at Sandon, denies six allegations that he caused officers to cruelly ill treat dogs.