A woman nearly lost her arm when she was savaged by a dog in a brutal 45 minute attack which has left her terrified of the animals.
Mum-of-two Rachel Anderson, 43, was babysitting for a friend when their pet husky Storm sunk its teeth into her face.
The horrifying attack continued for 45 minutes while the dog also savaged her arm and one of the children stabbed the animal, before police shot it dead.
Rachel suffered gaping wounds which needed nearly a dozen operations to repair it.
Rachel, a stay-at-home mum, from Lincoln, Lincolnshire, says she welcomes the suggestion dog owners should have licences.
She said: “I could see blood everywhere. I could see my face out the corner of my eye. My arm was all ripped open. I could see skin and fat everywhere.
"I remember it dragging me side to side, by the arm. At one stage I thought it was going to release me, but it was treating me like a chew toy.
“I believe dog attacks are down to the owners, not the dogs. It's down to the environment they live in.
"Dog licences would make the country safer for everyone - it would stop people having too many or having them for the wrong reasons.
"Any normal person who genuinely cares for their dog wouldn't mind getting a dog licence.
"If you're at the park and you know everyone else has a dog licence, you know you'll be safer and so will your dog.
"Dog licences will make sure people who shouldn't have dogs, don't have them.
"What's stopping that woman who owned the dog that attacked me from going and buying another puppy?"
Rachel, who lives with husband Wayne Anderson, 46, had been looking after her friend's two children on December 26, 2018, when she was attacked.
Former hairdresser Rachel needed nearly a dozen operations to repair the gaping wounds, and surgeons feared they'd have to amputate her arm.
But the limb was saved when medics sewed it inside her stomach for four weeks to get new skin to grow back.
Although Rachel's physical wounds have now healed, the damage done to her arm means she'll likely never return to hairdressing.
People are calling for a system of licensing for dog owners being re-introduced in the UK in the wake of reports of a dog attack in Caterham, Surrey, where a woman, 28, died in hospital and another woman was injured.
Rachel said: "That woman who died the other night, I would dread to think what was going through her brain as she was being attacked."
"If there's more of a registering and licensing system in place, when you're out you know it's safer for everyone.
"I don't believe it is down to the dog, it is down to owners. If treated right, any breed can be good. It's the owners, and the environment it is in."
