Woman left bathing in her personal blood as canine ‘was grizzly wolf’ with out warning
Gemma Taylor was visiting a friend when their Rottweiler-Alsatian crossbreed turned on her and savaged her face, leaving her covered in her own blood and needing stitches
A woman was left with serious facial injuries and a broken arm after she was attacked by her friend’s dog.
Gemma Taylor, 33, was told she could have died after she was savaged by the Rottweiler-Alsatian crossbreed.
She had arrived at the house just ten minutes earlier when the dog lunged at her, breaking her arm and savaging her face, causing an open fracture of her radius bone, multiple lacerations around her wrist and required stitches around her ear and cheekbone.
Police said they are investigating the incident in February and the dog remains in a compound while a decision is to be made whether to put it down.
Mum-of-three Gemma, from Bognor Regis, West Sussex, said: “It just happened so quickly. There was no warning. I was behind the dog and it just turned around and went like a wolf, all grizzly, and was just shaking me about.
“My friends went to pull it off but then it went for my face. I remember my left wrist went down and I couldn’t move my hand or arm. I had my right hand over my face because there was blood everywhere.
“I feel lucky because the doctor said to me if the dog bite on my ear was a couple of centimetres down it could have been my throat and I would have died.”
Gemma said her partner found her with a “white face and blue lips” lying on the floor after the attack and called an ambulance, which took over an hour to arrive.
She said she passed out due to the pain in the ambulance and doctors managed to stich her face, avoiding plastic surgery on her injuries.
Gemma had drank a glass of wine at her friend’s house when the dog attacked, but she said she doesn’t want to see it destroyed.
She said of the dog’s owners: “If anything, if I feel quite hurt for them. A dog is like your baby and they’re probably in shock too.
“I don’t believe the dog should go home but I wouldn’t want it put down. That pressure shouldn’t be down to me.
“Although I’m still a dog lover, the dog is dangerous – it wasn’t just a little nibble and [the owners] have got four kids.”
The attack has left Gemma with permanent numbness in her thumb and hand and pins in her arm. She has been told she will probably have pain in her wrist for the rest of her life.
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