Viewers of the ITV soap Emmerdale will know that Tom King has been abusing his wife Belle King for quite a while – with this sadly also involving the abuse of Piper the Dog.

Yes, little Piper the Dog has also fallen victim to Tom’s evil ways and viewers have not been impressed.

Now, Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has opened up about the one regret she has over the Piper storyline.

In his bid to control Belle, Tom has been using cute pup Piper to pull on his wife’s heartstrings.

At first, Belle didn’t even want a pet dog but Tom soon managed to change her mind when he suggested that Piper would be put down otherwise.

With Belle growing attached to the dog, Tom then dognapped Piper whilst she was under Vinny’s watch. This then put a strain on Vinny and Belle’s friendship.

More recently, when Belle was spending some time away at a mental health crisis centre, Tom started to inject Piper so that she’d fall ill.

The news of Piper’s sickness then made Belle come rushing home to be there for her dog, being stunned to discover that she’d made a miraculous recovery.

Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw confesses huge Piper regret

With Piper being Tom’s new victim, it’s fair to say the fans of the soap haven’t been too impressed with the storyline.

As fans find the animal abuse scenes a hard watch, Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has now admitted that she has one regret over her casting choice.

Speaking to Entertainment Daily! and other media, Laura joked: “We should’ve got an ugly dog.”

Referring to the casting of adorable pup Minnie as Piper, Laura added: “Having that cute dog I don’t think has helped. Whenever you put any sort of pet in danger on Emmerdale everyone goes up in arms about it.”