Blackpool woman mauled and arm partially torn off by beloved pet dog she rescued from Bulgaria

Caz Fisher, 48, had just returned to her Raymond Avenue home from Berlin on June 9 when she was attacked without warning by Metcho, a five-year-old karakachan whom she had rescued from the streets of Bulgaria when he was just a puppy.

Caz, who had planned to stay in Berlin for just two days but ended up stranded in the city for nearly a week due to mass cancellations and chaos at UK airports, said: “When I got home obviously I wanted to spoil the dogs because I’d been gone too long. I got some natural treats; Metcho was sat at my feet with his moon bone and my tiny dog, Sooty, was on my knee.

"Metcho started getting a bit nudgy and nervous; I think he was a bit overstimulated by me coming home. When I stood up, I think he saw that as a sign of dominance and he just went into a frenzy."

Bleeding heavily, Caz tried to flee, but was bitten again on the leg and dragged back into the house.

"Luckily a neighbour was passing by in his car and he distracted the dog enough that I managed to get away and close the door,” she said.

"My neighbours ran into the garden and the man across the street came out with a tea towel and held me together. There was a lot of blood and orange beads of fat from my arm everywhere. There wasn't any left inside though - because the dogs had eaten them all.”

Caz was taken by ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital, where she is due to undergo multiple skin and muscle grafts on her leg and right arm, which was torn all the way to the bone.

Police were called to her house, and two officers equipped with shields and a tranquilizer gun were able to subdue Metcho after an hour and twenty minutes, eventually putting the dog to sleep with a huge dose of ketamine.

A police spokesman said: “It was reported that a woman in her 40s had been bitten by a dog and had sustained leg and arm injuries. She was taken to hospital with serious injuries to her arm. It was established the dog was in the back yard of the property and under the control of one of its owners so posed no immediate threat to the public.

"Following consultation with the owners, the dog has now been destroyed.”

Miraculously, Caz’s other dogs, Smudge the whippet and Sooty the chihuahua-Jack Russell cross, were recovered from the scene unharmed.

Caz said that Metcho, a former Bulgarian street dog, was usually ‘a very big, loving soft lump’, who had never bitten before.

“He adored children, but was very vocal as a guard dog,” she said. “I think he was triggered by jealousy as the small dog was on my lap. He was a good boy, I just think the mixture of stimuli overwhelmed him.

"Karacachans are a very wilful, intelligent breed.”

She added: “At the moment, I think I’m still in shock. It’s difficult to say what happened. I've found it all a bit hard, because he's still my dog. I still love him. It's just because he's so strong, he managed to cause such terrible damage with just a few bites.

"I've had dogs for eight years, and have always had them from when I was a kid. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”