A woman has lost her leg after a horrifying attack by her own pit bull left it hanging off.
Amanda Mears, 42, had been preparing to take her dog Dennis, an American Pit Bull-American Staffordshire mix, out for a walk as usual.
As she was getting ready, Dennis lunged at her other dog Ralphie, an American Bully dog who had come out of a room where she had been keeping him separately as she got Dennis ready for his walk.
The Mirror reports that Dennis began attacking Ralphie, and though Amanda tried to intervene to break up the fight, it ended up with disastrous consequences.
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Dennis clamped onto her leg and would not let go, leaving Amanda in agony as she desperately tried to free herself from the jaws of the dog she had raised from a puppy.
Try as she might, Dennis would not let go of her leg, despite her attempts to pry open his jaws as she screamed at her 10-year-old son to stay in his room.
Eventually, the terrified Amanda, from Tennessee, had to use her other leg to choke Dennis to get him to release her, but by that time, the damage was done.
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In the chaos, Amanda had also had her hand bitten, and her arm was bitten so badly that a bone had been crushed.
“When he charged at my other dog, Ralphie, I got in between them, and that’s when Dennis latched on to my leg and would not let go," she said to The Mirror.
“I was a bit scared, but I’ve broken up dog fights before, and I didn’t feel any pain because of the adrenaline," she added. "I ended up having to hook my right leg and my arms around him and choked him out to get him off me.”
Amanda had to be rushed to hospital, finding out that she couldn't stand.
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“I wasn’t able to stand up because my leg was basically hanging off,” she said.
Amanda has four dogs of her own and also fosters dogs, looking after dogs who've been abandoned by previous owners.
After being told what would have to be done to save her leg, Amanda decided she would rather just have it amputated.
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“I decided to have my leg amputated because to save my leg, I’d have had to have 12 more surgeries over the next two years and I would be in constant pain," she said.
She revealed that she also had Dennis euthenized after the attack.
“Dennis has always been the sweetest dog; he’d never been aggressive before,” she said. “I decided to have Dennis put down, which was hard.
"He was my best friend, and I raised him from two weeks old. It was a decision that hurt, but it was not a difficult decision.”
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A GoFundMe has been set up to help Amanda as she adjusts to life with one leg, which you can donate to here.
Kit Roberts