*WARNING: Graphic images*

Theresa Anderson was walking up the stairs to her son’s flat at a house in Ramsden Street last Wednesday when a dog appeared and came “racing” down the steps towards her.

The dog grabbed hold of Mrs Anderson’s leg and dragged her outside. The animal, believed to be a Staffie-cross, then managed to get hold of her again and bit through her leg to the bone.

The animal was eventually caught and an ambulance was called for 65-year-old Mrs Anderson, whose two terrified young grandchildren were watching in horror from the safety of her car.

“A first aider from the building site in Church Street came over and comforted me while the ambulance came, they took me to Furness General and then I was moved to the Royal Preston Hospital,” Mrs Anderson said.

While she doesn’t recall much of the incident Mrs Anderson, of North Scale, said she will never forget the sight and sound of the dog bounding towards her.

“Every time I close my eyes I hear and see it,” she said.

Mrs Anderson spent seven hours in surgery where doctors battled to save the damaged part of her lower leg but they were forced to graft some skin from her other leg. She has been told she might not be able to walk properly.

Adding to her distress, she has also been forced to cancel an upcoming three-week holiday to the Maldives, and both she and her two grandchildren have been left traumatised.

Police said they were investigating a possible offence of a dog being dangerously out of control. It is understood the dog’s owner has had the animal put down.

Mrs Anderson, who is a dog-lover and grew up with Alsatians and Dobermans, said she feels sorry for the dog but the consequences could have been much worse had the animal got hold of a young child.

“It’s so sad that it often seems to be this kind of dog but there are a lot of them around,” she said.

A police spokesman said: "Officers are investigating the incident for the potential offence of a dog being dangerously out of control."