A bull-terrier cross has been impounded after a woman and her dog were attacked while walking along a Castlecliff street.
Kathy McDowell said she was walking her dog Ebony, a rescue greyhound she adopted 10 months ago, along Manuka St Extension towards Mill Rd on Saturday afternoon when the attack happened about 1.25pm.
A silver car was driving along the road while a medium-sized, brown/red dog ran along the other side of the road beside it.
Miss McDowell said when the dog noticed Ebony, it came across the road and ran straight for them.
To try to ward off the dog, Miss McDowell put her hand in front of Ebony, and the dog latched on to her hand instead.
It then let go of her and went for Ebony's throat. Ebony managed to slip her collar and sprinted away through a nearby fence.
During the attack, the owner of the dog had stopped and was in his car, Miss McDowell said.
She said the man tried to help her look for her dog and drove her - with the dog that attacked her in the back seat - to the nearby pony club where he left her while she called her mother.
She alleged he told her his dog was also a rescue dog and he was going to start running it with a muzzle.
She said she told him it needed to be put down.
Miss McDowell said in her concern for her dog, she had forgotten her hand injury and later received four stitches for the gash in her hand and was told the dog had missed a main artery by a whisker.
She also suffered soft tissue injuries and scrapes to her elbows and knees after falling down when the dog attacked.
Ebony was found two days later, on Monday evening after being spotted by neighbours in a large paddock near where the attack occurred. She took the dog straight to the vet and the animal was undergoing surgery yesterday.
She had a "big bite gash" to her throat, a chunk of skin missing from her shoulder and bite marks on her ears, Miss McDowell said.
Wanganui District Council confirmed a dog was picked up in relation to the attack from its owner's property on Monday night following information from the public.
The owner co-operated with animal control and handed over the dog, an almost six-year-old male bull terrier cross, which was being held in the pound while investigations were carried out.
The dog was registered and had not come to the attention of animal control in the past.
Miss McDowell said she was pleased the dog had been located, because it meant it was off the streets.
A child would have had no show against it, she said.