'I was attacked by a sausage dog... it ripped off my cheek off and ate it in front of me'

A single mum who had part of her cheek ripped off when she was attacked without warning by a friend’s pet dachshund has said her “life has been ruined” and her self-esteem “absolutely destroyed” by the scar the dog left behind.

Kelly Allen, 45, from Swansea, was enjoying a few drinks at a friend’s house last month when their “very friendly” dog suddenly changed its demeanour and latched on to her face.

The dog refused to loosen its grip until it had torn a large chunk of her cheek off to eat it, leaving Kelly with an open wound that required five and a half hours of plastic surgery and more than 40 stiches. The sausage dog was removed from the property by police and later put down.

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Kelly is seeking compensation after learning that the dog had allegedly already attacked two people, but this could take several years.

The ordeal still haunts Kelly, who regularly wakes during the night crying and cannot face returning to work at a contact centre for the travel company Tui due to the trauma and her physical appearance.

She now struggles to leave the house without being accompanied by one of her two sons – Fletcher, 19, and Cooper, 18 – and the £350 statutory sick pay she is receiving each month is not enough to cover her bills and living costs. To help her stay afloat, Kelly is depending on her family, and her sister Stacey, 43, has launched a fundraiser which has received more than £1,000 in donations.

“I can’t get out of bed and I’ve been crying in my sleep because I feel his teeth in me,” Kelly told PA Real Life. “I’m left with a hideous scar on my face. It’s just ruined my life, because it will