Dog attack: Girl, 6, ‘lucky to be alive’ after being mauled by German Shepherd outside her house

The youngster was playing with her brother and cousins outside when the mutt pounced.

A six-year-old girl is “lucky to be alive” after being mauled by a dog during a horror attack - which only stopped when her mum’s screams scared the animal away. Little Angel-Mae Dawson has been left unable to walk properly after she was viciously savaged by a German Shephard outside her home in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent.

The youngster had been playing with her brother Jamie, eight, and her cousins in the street when the two-year-old pet, called Shadow, pounced at 7pm on Saturday (June 10). The dog, which belonged to a neighbour, escaped from its garden and sunk its teeth into the schoolgirl’s back and legs before “shaking her around”.

Terrified mum Amy Dawson watched as the horror unfolded in front of her and ran towards the out-of-control hound shouting at it to let her go. Luckily, the 27-year-old’s screams spooked the animal off while Angel-Mae was left covered in blood from gaping puncture wounds to her back and legs.

Dad Jack Dawson, 28, said if it wasn’t for his wife’s quick-thinking then he believed his daughter would not still be alive now. He said: “We were in the front garden watching the kids play when the neighbour’s dog escaped.

“As soon as the dog got out it just went for my daughter as she was going towards the house to get her bag. It tried to incapacitate her and stuck his teeth into both her legs and shook her around.

“He then went for her spine but she wriggled so it wasn’t able to clamp down on her spine, the teeth went in just to the right of her spine. It was just lucky that my wife saw the dog coming out. She somehow just knew it was going for Angel. She legged it towards my daughter.

“She gave this dead powerful scream, she was shouting ‘Oi’. It even stumped me. That scared the dog off. It definitely saved my daughter’s life.

“It was just pure mother’s desperation. She just wanted to protect her daughter no matter what and she put her own safety aside to save her. It was only few seconds but in those few seconds the dog had managed to do a lot of damage to my daughter.”

Little Angel-Mae Dawson has been left unable to walk properly after she was viciously mauled by a German Shephard outside her home in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent.

Angel was rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital where medics found she had seven puncture wounds to her body and several bruises. Jack added: “My wife immediately saw bleeding and we went down to the hospital. We were all anxious and my wife was holding her tight.

“Angel was screaming. We thought she only had one wound because we hadn’t had a proper look. We both thought she was going to die because of how badly she was bleeding - her fatty tissue was pulled out.

“My daughter definitely wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my wife. She had no regards for her own safety. It punctured both of her legs, one lower leg and the other upper thigh.

Blood on Angel-Mae’s legs.

“Then up the back. She has scratches on her arms where he’s tried to shake her around a bit. My daughter was lucky that we were outside watching them.”

Angel-Mae has been left struggling to walk because of her injuries and suffering from panic attacks since her terrifying ordeal. Jack added: “She’s had lots of cuddles from us both. She can’t really walk properly at the minute.

“She’s managed to escape from having anything broken, but she hobbles about because of how bit the wounds are. She doesn’t like German Shepherds and is quite wary of dogs she doesn’t know.

“She doesn’t want to play outside anymore and has had repeated panic attacks since Saturday. Because of the nature of the attack all the wounds had to be left open.

The open wounds on Angel-Mae left by the dog.

“Dogs have got a lot of bacteria in their saliva, because of the punctures and the depth of them, if they had tired to close it the needle would’ve caught the bacteria and caused sepsis. Dog bites are quite toxic.

“Since Saturday she’s been to see the plastic surgeon a few times. She’s on really strong antibiotics. She’s got an anti-microbial wash. She’s not allowed to go back to school yet, she’s got a week off.”

Shadow’s owner was said to be “distraught” over the attack and volunteered her dog over to the police. The pet now faces being put down.

Jack, who is a full-time carer for his wife, said: “To be honest, I’ve never known it to be an angry dog. I’ve known it since it was a puppy so the fact that it’s done what its done is confusing.

“The owner has volunteered the dog for termination. It’s with the police now. The dog specialist came out and he said the unfortunate thing is when dogs do something like this they do it again.

“We just want to speak out to warn parents not to let their kids play outside when you’re not there especially if you live near dogs. I’m an animal lover but you just never know. Even dogs that seem friendly can just snap.

“This dog did so much damage in a short period of time and I don’t want other parents going through the same as us.”