Mom Attacked by Pet Dog at Home, with Injury That Left Her Leg ‘Hanging by a Thread’

A Tennessee mother is learning to navigate daily life after losing a leg in a severe dog attack inside her home.

On Dec. 10, Amanda Mears was getting ready to take her dog, Dennis, for a walk when she realized her rescue dog, Ralphie, appeared to have gotten out of the bedroom where she had been keeping him.

Moments later, Dennis — a mixed American Pitbull and American Staffordshire Terrier — began attacking Ralphie, an American Bully, UK newspaper The Mirror reported. Mears, 42, said Dennis rushed toward Ralphie, but then clamped down on her leg instead.

“When he charged at my other dog, Ralphie, I got in between them, and that’s when Dennis latched on to my leg and would not let go,” she told the outlet. “I was a bit scared, but I’ve broken up dog fights before, and I didn’t feel any pain because of the adrenaline.

“I ended up having to hook my right leg and my arms around him and choked him out to get him off of me,” she continued. “He also bit my left hand and crushed the bone in my right arm, but I don’t think I even realised at the time.”

Mears told her 10-year-old son to stay in his room as she tried to pry the dog’s jaws open and called emergency services, per The Mirror. When she was finally able to choke the dog off her leg, she said the injury was so severe that it was “hanging on by a thread.”

“I wasn’t able to stand up because my leg was basically hanging off,” she told the outlet. “I decided to have my leg amputated because to save my leg, I’d have had to have 12 more surgeries over the next two years and I would be in constant pain.”

A friend of Mears’ later wrote on a GoFundMe that the healthcare worker had been released from the hospital and was “preparing for prosthetic fitment.” The friend added that Mears is “up and mobile with help to use the restroom.”

In an update shared on Facebook on Dec. 29, Mears said she was working through her return to the job while also dealing with significant injuries to her right hand.

“The house is getting easier by the day,” she wrote. “I’m still not able to go outside on my own. I have to have the assistance of another adult person to be able to get up and down my stairs.”

Mears told The Mirror she has decided to euthanize Dennis following the attack, saying she wanted to ensure her son’s safety.

“Dennis has always been the sweetest dog; he’d never been aggressive before,” she told the outlet, adding, “I decided to have Dennis put down, which was hard.

“He was my best friend, and I raised him from two weeks old. It was a decision that hurt, but it was not a difficult decision,” she concluded.