When Annette Dickie saw the jaws of a dog clenched around the neck of her neighbour's poodle she didn't hesitate to rush outside, in her nightie, and help.
Mrs Dickie's neighbour, Sheila Relihan, 79, was walking her poodle Fiddle on a Tikipunga street when he was attacked by a large pitbull cross last Thursday morning.
Mrs Dickie heard screaming and saw Mrs Relihan facedown in the mud and Fiddle in the mouth of another dog.
Since the attack Mrs Dickie has been driving Mrs Relihan and her injured poodle to the vet. Before the incident the two had only spoken once.
But out of the near tragedy they have struck up a neighbourly friendship.