Manukau couple Helmut and Veronica Rudolph are still recovering from their ordeal, which happened as they were walking home along Redoubt Rd after visiting their daughter.
They saw a man walking two large dogs and struggling to contain one of them.
The dog charged at Helmut, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the ground.
It let go when he hit it on the nose.
He struggled to stand and then he heard Veronica scream.
The dog had caught up to her, biting her thigh and the side of her neck.
"I could hear it ripping and I knew that wasn't a good thing," she says.
Helmut, in severe pain, found Veronica lying on the ground with the dog biting her neck.
"I thought that was the end of it and that it would kill her. I couldn't lift my arm because the pain was so bad," he says.
A passing motorist stopped and threw a water bottle at the frenzied animal.
"That was so brave," Veronica says. "This was a mad dog so that was just amazing."
The dog released its grip and ran up Redoubt Rd as Veronica was bundled into the woman's car.
"I was bleeding and didn't know if it had got a vein," she says.
"All I thought was that I had to stop it from getting my neck but it leapt so suddenly."
A truck driver pulled over and attended to Helmut. The police and St John Ambulance were phoned and the injured pair were taken to Middlemore Hospital.
Helmut, a part-time engineer, had surgery on his arm.
Veronica, a medical transcriptionist, was treated for a broken collarbone and bite wounds.
They say the dog that attacked them was tan-colored and resembled a bull mastiff cross.
Its owner appeared to be of Maori or Pacific Island descent and the other dog was black. The Rudolphs do not know where the pair went following the attack.
Helmut says he suffered from flashbacks for days afterwards.
"Replaying it in my mind and seeing my wife and that I couldn't save her was the worst part. These dogs are dangerous and need to be found to prevent this from happening to anyone else."
INVESTIGATION CLOSED
Auckland Council senior animal management officer Alex Rodwell says an investigation into the November 28 incident failed to identify the dog or its owner, and is now closed.
"The investigation can be reopened immediately should the offending dog and or dog owner be located or if new information becomes available," she says.
"We encourage anyone with any information about this incident to phone 301 0101."
Rodwell says the council has received no complaints of attacks involving dogs of a similar description in the Redoubt Rd area.
(Auckland stuff.co.nz - Jan 11, 2016)
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