A teenager is "lucky to be alive" after being mauled by a 50kg rescue XL bully at a rescue centre.
Gilana Milner, 19, was working at the centre when the dog lunged at her and dragged her to the floor.
She said of the terrifying ordeal: "I just kept thinking about my mum. I knew I was going to die and I didn't want to. I kept looking at the dog and thinking it couldn't be real - it was like a nightmare.
READ MORE: Woman mauled to death by her two XL Bullies in 'critical incident' as street cordoned off
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"If nobody had been in the yard to hear me screaming, the dog would definitely have killed me.”
Staff tried to pull off the bully, known as Hugo, and sprayed him with a substance similar to pepper spray - but he refused to unclamp his jaws and “ragged” Gilana around for five minutes.
The attack in May last year left Gilana with serious injuries to her leg and chest with some of her injuries requiring emergency surgery. She even faced losing her legs after one of the wounds became infected.
She now has hypersensitivity in parts of her legs so it hurts to be touched, as well as numbness in other areas.
Gilana, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said: "I'm lucky to be alive. He was just ragging me around and there was nothing I could do - I was just screaming and screaming.
"[But] I don't agree with banning them - if dogs have problems it's because of past trauma or the way they've been treated by humans."
Recalling the attack, she added: "I kept trying to get to the door. They go for the big arteries in your legs. When they've got you down they go for your neck.”
She added: "I love my job, but I guess the one downside is that you never know if the kennel you're about to walk into will be your last.”
The dog had been on the streets before being brought to Flushdyke Dog Boarding & Rehoming, where Gilana had worked for more than two years.
She had gone into Hugo's kennel to refill his water bowl when he leapt up and bit her on the chest.
Brave Gilana is still working with animals. and despite the attack she believes the government ban on XL bullies is unfair.
She currently works as a patient care assistant with a vet and said: "I really wanted to be back at work. I've wanted to help dogs since I was five and I still want to be an RSPCA officer.
"I'm getting used to the pain, and the scarring, but I don't think I'll recover fully.
"I still get dreams where the attack is happening a couple of nights a week. It's horrible - I wake up hyperventilating.
"I was in agony. I had to have so much morphine. I could have lost my legs because of the infection.
"I'm pretty strong but I honestly don't know how I got up during the attack. XL bullies are really really strong."
As of this year it has been against the law to sell, give away, abandon or breed from an XL bully and since 1 February 2024, it has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully without an exemption certificate.
A spokesperson from Flushdike said Hugo had been with them for three weeks and showed no sign of aggression.
They said: "We were all very shaken up by this - all the staff involved were in tears.
“I can’t imagine the impact it has had on Gilana and we have spent a lot of time trying to help her.
“Anyone on the yard would hear if someone started screaming, and our staff did all they could to get the dog off Gilana.”
They said all staff carry walkie talkies - although Gilana couldn’t reach hers because of where the dog was biting her - as well as a can of bite-back spray adding: “We’ve been investigated by environmental health, RIDDOR, and our insurance company following this incident and they found that we did everything we were supposed to.”
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