A TINY 14-year-old dog is fighting for her life after being “swung around like a rag doll” by a bull mastiff-type dog.

Sadie, a lhasa apso, stopped breathing in the attack, which left her with four puncture wounds, teeth marks on her neck and painful bruising.

Owner Alison Tyrer, of Sturminster Newton, has forked out £300 on injections and stitches, and is feeding Sadie chicken soup through a syringe following the attack at Heatherlands Common near Ferndown.

Mrs Tyrer, 28, said: “The tan-coloured animal appeared out of nowhere over the heath and went for Sadie’s neck like it wanted to kill her.

“To be honest, I’m surprised it didn’t.”

When the dog’s owner appeared, she managed to pull the dog off Sadie by the collar.

Mrs Tyrer massaged Sadie’s chest to get her heart and lungs started.

“I felt the air re-entering her lungs,” she said. “I wanted to assess her on the ground, but the dog was struggling to get at Sadie again.

“The owner was barely in control, so I had to scoop Sadie up and get back to my mum’s house in Ferndown as quickly as I could.

“I use a walking stick myself, so it wasn’t easy.”

Sadie was kept overnight at Blackmoor Vale vets after the incident on Thursday, July 8, and has to go back for treatment every two days.

Mrs Tyrer added: “It could so easily have happened to a little child.

“Sadie’s like my baby – we’re just wondering how fair it is to keep her going.

“It’s horrible to think how much pain she must be in, and she’s completely traumatised.”