The Hamilton woman has undergone three surgeries and multiple skin grafts to repair the damage from the "out of the blue" attack almost 20 months ago.
One witness described it as the most horrific sight she's ever seen.
Lovett still battles to find the reason why her five year old pit bull turned on her, sinking his teeth into her arm, torso and leg.
"I had nothing but love for my dog, he had respect for me, did whatever he was told but there something not right that day. I can't explain it."
"He wasn't beaten, he wasn't made to be aggressive, he wasn't scared of me, we were tight - I could not have loved that boy more."
Sitting in the kitchen of the same suburban Nawton home, Lovett looks out the window onto the driveway where the attack happened on September 30, 2014.
Detroit had become riled at another dog wandering past the fence of the Avalon Dr home.
"I remember stepping out from behind that tree and telling him to get inside, walking back over my car and he was at my side, jumping up at me."
She remembers thinking "what are you doing?".
"I turned around and said 'get down', then it started. I remember trying to get in my car and him pulling me out, and hearing Tumanako's girlfriend's voice."
Tumanako Pairama and his partner, Sarah-Lee Maraki, were walking along when they saw a panicked woman on the street screaming, "Help that girl, her dog!"
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| Tumanako Pairama saved her life |
The roadworker jumped a two metre high security fence, found a broom nearby and smashed the dog off Lovett.
It it wasn't for the man she calls "her angel" she wouldn't be alive today.
"He absolutely saved my life. He still pops in from time to time, to say hello and see how I am doing. He's lovely."
For the first six months after the attack, Lovett felt her world was spinning out of control. She stopped wanting to see people. It was a struggle to even get dressed.
"To begin with, I was not very well, quite depressed. It felt like I had lost everything in one go and coming home to an empty house was difficult."
Animal control officers seized Detroit and with her permission he was ethunanised.
"This was the first time I had been truly alone, before that I always had my dogs with me."
Before Detroit, Lovett owned his mother Indica. Now both their ashes sit in wooden boxes on the dining table.
"To come home to nothing is tough, there are memories everywhere. Everything reminds me of him."
"It was messed up and then, I think it was just a decision that I needed to snap out of it so I surrounded myself with family and good friends - just started living again."
A new job at a boarding kennel helped the trained vet nurse get back on her feet.
"I am not scared of dogs. I don't blame the dog for doing it to me. It could be anything from a family dog to a pack of pig dogs."
But life is not without it's challenges for Lovett, who has lost most of the feeling in her left arm. In March this year underwent another surgery to repair a large tear to her breast. Doctors also cut out a skin graft from her arm and tethered the multiple scar tissue stuck to her muscles.
Lovett doesn't blame her dog, and despite recent claims says it is not about the pitbull breed.
"The only thing about the breed is that when pit bulls do attack, it is more vicious because of their makeup. They have a really strong bite, they don't just bite and let go - when a pit bull attacks the damage it inflicts is a lot greater."
It was a case of redirection, she says. Detroit's thirst for the dog passing by came back onto his owner.
But dog owners do need to take responsibility for their dogs, says Lovett. They need to ensure they are trained properly, muzzled under council requirements and put on a lead.
"They need to be watched around kids all the time, and taught how to approach them but every situation is unique."
When asked whether Lovett will ever own a dog again she says "one day when the time is right". Until then she is taking solace in her new pet rabbit - Ruger.
(Stuff NZ - April 17, 2016)
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