Dubai: A British woman attacked by a pet dog is facing a long road to recovery.
A resident of Satwa, Tini, 42, said she was walking her dog at around 8pm on a Thursday evening when she came across another woman walking a German Shepherd.
Tini, who noticed that the other dog's legs were unusually small, struck a conversation with his owner to find out if all was well. Upon her assurance that the dog was fine - and friendly too - Tini knelt down to stroke it. But before she knew it, the German Shepherd pounced on her, grabbing what he could of her face.
"He missed my eye and nose but got my lip," said Tini, whose upper lip on the left was ruptured. "There was blood everywhere. I was in pain," recalled Tini who then had to be rushed to three hospitals before she could be fully treated.
When she landed at the emergency section of the City Hospital, her third stop, she was cleaned for the potentially infected wound before reconstructive surgery could be performed on her.
Dr Yasser Khattab, plastic surgeon, said, "I took mucosa from her left inner cheek to reconstruct the red lip and a piece of skin from behind her ear to reconstruct the white lip. A local flap was also taken for the lining."
"The surgery, done under general anaesthesia, took an hour and a half. The patient was hospitalised and was on IV antibiotics for 24 hours," he said.
Although Tini's wound is healing well since the incident five months ago, it will be a year at least before the hard tissue softens. "She then needs a filler to increase the volume of the lip," said Dr Yasser, adding that she would also require tattooing to demarcate the lip's border.
Mute spectator
But more than the incident, what has shocked Tini more is the callousness of the owner who did not offer any assistance.
"She stood there looking while I ran towards my villa," she said, adding that she didn't even enquire what was wrong.
An ardent animal lover, Tini said she did not lodge a complaint against the dog or its owner as she feared the consequences for them.
"As it is, dogs have a hard time. They are isolated and there is hardly any place to walk them," she said. "I also didn't want to destroy someone's life. But I am disappointed that the owner didn't help."
Tini, who understands dogs well, said the fault may have been hers as well. "Like us, dogs too have good days and bad days, but I only wish the owner had warned me," she said, concerned that the dog continues to be walked unmuzzled.
