A woman, who had her nose ripped off by a pitbull, refuses to blame the dog – despite having to endure seven facial surgeries.
Gabrielle Myers, 31, now has three massive pooches of her own despite the harrowing moment which changed her life.
She was stroking another dog when the American-cross jumped at her and clamped his jaws from her forehead down to her chin.
The ferocious bite left her nose hanging from her face with a piece of skin, that eventually fell off completely.
After the surgeries in the year that followed, Gabrielle struggled massively with her self-confidence and mental health.
She has finally recovered, and much to the surprise of others, she kept ownership of her dog Moselle, a Staffordshire terrier-cross, and adopted two more huge dogs; husky-cross Bruno and German shepherd Anubis.
The brave woman from Elwood, Indiana, USA, said she doesn’t blame the dog in any way, and her own pups were her biggest support throughout her ordeal.
Gabrielle said: “He didn’t give any signs, but we all knew he had tendencies of being aggressive.
“Not once have I ever thought anything like this could’ve or would’ve ever happened. It’s still hard to look at myself at times because I break down and cry.”
Her dog Bruno was actually a rescue from Elwood Animal Shelter, where Gabrielle used to work, and this helped her understand aggressive dogs more and overcome her fears.
She said: “There’s a fear there, and Bruno still has a temperament issue, but I see that aggression and I know why.
“It kind of helps me through the anxiety of even being around any kind of dog, it could be the smallest little chihuahua.
“I loved dogs before the accident they will and have always been a huge part of my life.”
On June 11, 2017, Gabrielle attended a friend’s house party and was excited to meet their new American pit bull, Caine.
Her friend had another older dog called Clyde who she had met before, and she greeted both of them when she came in.
Having a pit bull-cross breed at the time herself, called Chevy, Gabrielle had no worries.
At about 1:00 am, she came out of the bathroom and gave new dog Caine a stroke goodbye.
She said: “Clyde came up to me and wanted some of the attention so I invited him up.
“I’m only 5″2 and most large breed dogs are about the same height as me so they are pretty much eye level with me.
“When Clyde came up to get attention his mouth was open and before I could react he had my face in his mouth.”
His jaws bit all the way from her forehead down to her chin and Gabrielle screamed.