Woman thought dogs would kill her

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

SHAKEN: Noeline Shaw nurses her injuries after being attacked by two dogs in Invercargill.

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An elderly Southland woman attacked by two napolean mastiff dogs thought she would have been "a goner" if two women had not rushed to her aid.

Noeline Shaw, 68, was last night recovering from her injuries at home after the two dogs attacked her while she was delivering pamphlets in Makarewa's Holloway St about 10.40am.

Mrs Shaw said the dogs had appeared without warning and lunged at her, pulling at her clothes and biting her arm.

She credited a mother and daughter with saving her life after they rushed from a nearby house and chased the dogs away.

"If they didn't come to my rescue I probably would have been a goner. They were big bulldogs ... they sure were going at me.

"They were pulling me both ways ... they took a chunk out of my right arm."

A neighbour called 111 and police and an ambulance arrived on the scene but the dogs returned. Her two rescuers were forced to get into the ambulance with her to escape from the still aggressive dogs, she said.

Sergeant Ian Martin, of Invercargill, said a police officer armed with a rifle fired a warning shot when one of the dogs rushed at him. The two dogs then ran off.

While being treated for her bite wounds at Southland Hospital, Mrs Shaw said the dogs' owners had visited her and apologised, which she appreciated.

She believed the dogs should be destroyed.

"They are aggressive. They should be put down ... the owner told me he was going to sign to get them put down."

Mrs Shaw said she had been delivering booklets in the city for almost four years and had never been attacked by a dog before.

"I will keep doing it."

Invercargill City Council dog control officers were expected to destroy the dogs.