EMMERDALE'S boss has broken their silence on the fan backlash over sickening dog abuse scenes.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the ITV soap had been hit by almost 1,000 Ofcom complaints over scenes where twisted vet Tom King harmed his pet dog.
Tom - played by James Chase - decided to use the adorable pooch Piper as a way to bring wife Belle Dingle back under his control as part of his abusive and controlling behaviour towards her.
In a hard to watch moment, he loomed over adorable pup Piper with a syringe in his hand.
He then bitterly said: "Don't worry, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you... then again, maybe not."
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The cameras cut away as the pup started whimpering.
While Emmerdale bosses and James were quick to reassure fans that Minnie, the dog that plays Piper, was absolutely fine, it didn't stop 876 of them complaining to Ofcom.
Speaking to The Sun Online and other press, producer Laura Shaw addressed the furore.
She joked: "I mean we should have got an ugly dog, that's the first thing, having that cute dog I don't think it's helped."
Joking aside, she added: "I don't know. Whenever you put any sort of pet in danger on Emmerdale or anything everyone goes up in arms about it.
"So did I expect it? Yeah, but Piper will definitely play and will have a future role in the story.
"And you know - and again this is research led - I'm joking about it
but it's research led.
"One of the things that we found was that is what abusers use, they will use the family pet, the people that you love, they'll use them as weapons against you.
"So this is all all based on research. I promise you it's not just us being mean to the dog for the sake of it."
During the chat, Laura also confirmed how long Tom and Belle's domestic abuse storyline will run for.
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However, fans may not be impressed by what she had to say.
Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.