A WOMAN was knocked off her feet by a dog “in a heartbeat” and left with injuries from which she will never fully recover.

Janis Perkins, 59, of Farwell Road, Poole, was in the play park next to Kinson Community Centre in Bournemouth with her daughter and grandson when the dog, possibly a spaniel, ran through the park, she said.

“Outside the park on the path the dog suddenly walked in front of me and knocked my legs out from under me. I had no chance to save myself and fell flat on my face,” she said.

“My nose was bleeding and I couldn’t get up unaided as I couldn’t use my arms, my three-year-old grandson was screaming that he didn’t want me to be hurt and I tried to console him.

“The other women gathered round and offered help and an ambulance was called.

“The woman who owned the dog disappeared by the time the ambulance arrived and took me to Poole hospital.

“There was no apology from her even though it was obvious from my twisted wrist that it had been broken,” she said.

Janis had two broken bones and another crushed in her right elbow and a broken bone in her left wrist.

She had to undergo a five-hour operation to put plates in the wrist and elbow. Janis, who is still in a splint and sling a month after the incident, had to spend two weeks with her elderly parents “totally incapacitated”.

She has now started physiotherapy and added: “I have been told by my consultant that it will be a long rehabilitation and my right arm will always be stiffer than before.

“I would like to say to all dog owners, please keep your dogs on a lead in places where there may be children and other people walking.

“A dog can knock a person off their feet in a heartbeat and there could be many broken bones as a result of this.

“If it had been an elderly person the injuries would have been a lot worse and it could have hurt a child badly too. People just need to be a bit more responsible.”

Janis, a self employed life coach and Emotional Freedom Techniques practitioner, has also suffered loss of earnings as a result and is looking into whether she has any legal redress.