A WOMAN was bitten on the chest during a savage dog attack as she tried to protect her pet at a Bournemouth pub.

Vicky Wyman, of Tuckton, had been on a leisurely walk with a friend and her four-year-old jack russell, Millie, when they stopped for a drink at the Iford Bridge pub on Thursday, May 15.

The 36-year-old described her horror when she saw what she believed to be a staffordshire bull terrier viciously attack Millie, gripping the head of her beloved pet in its jaw.

Ms Wyman, a nurse, said it was terrifying and was herself bitten as she and her friend tried to pull the bull terrier away.

“It was only afterwards I realised I had been bitten,” she added. “It was very sore.”

“It was horrendous, the way it was shaking Millie. I thought she was going to die.

“If it had gone for her neck then she would have been killed.”

Millie sustained deep cuts at the top of her head and around her eyes and Mrs Wyman said her children, Ella, 12, and Leah, eight, had been left extremely upset when they saw the extent of the injuries.

Millie is being treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication, with the vet telling Mrs Wyman that the dog was very lucky to be alive and could have lost an eye.

Mrs Wyman said the police and council had been informed.