A toddler was left with horror injuries after the family's 'perfect' St Bernard tried to rip her face off - and had to be put down.
Mum Lizanne Naudé, 32, ran to help when she heard screams for her in the kitchen - and found her one-year-old covered in blood.
The mum-of-two realised their St Bernard - which weighed 60kg and stood at 6ft-tall on its back legs - had attacked her tiny daughter Mené and bit her on the face.
The tot was left scarred and needed skin grafts after Bernie the dog's huge teeth tore through her skin and ripped her lip in two.
Lizanne, from Johannesburg, South Africa, says the dog was a well-trained family pet which was once "calm and placid" - and had never behaved in that way before.
But after the dog went onto sink his teeth into dad Jaco Naudé's arm when they were putting him into the car to go to the RSPCA, he had to be put down.
Now tech support lead Lizanne wants to warn other parents that you can "never really trust animal instinct" after the attack came from nowhere - and left the whole family traumatised.
She said: "I heard shouting and as soon as I saw her, my mother instinct kicked in - I wasn't thinking except how to stop the blood from pouring.
"Her lip was completely ripped open and she had a huge wound near her neck - it's amazing that didn't hit a major artery.
"We had no idea how she would even look after the skin grafts and face surgery because she was so bandaged up.
"It's been nearly a year now but the impact has been huge - it's hard not to think about the worst that could have happened.
"My daughter and son are both traumatised and my husband and I both have nightmares about it.
"We had had him almost a year and he was house trained and perfect with the kids - he'd never flinch and we'd never had any issues but that day he just changed.
"He gave no signs he was going to attack - animal instinct you can never really trust and you need to be aware of it.
"We're thankful at the end of the day because it could have been so much more serious, but it's been a hell of a rollercoaster."
Lizanne told how the horrifying attack, which happened on August 22, 2021, came totally out of the blue.
Her young daughter Mené, aged one, was sat with one of their family dogs in the kitchen while dad Jaco, 32, cooked the dinner.
Out of the blue, the St Bernard, which dwarfed the tiny girl, was overcome with a random bout of aggression and sank his teeth into her face.
The dog left Mené with blood pouring down her face and neck from her countless wounds - and mum Lizanne ran inside when she heard screams from her daughter as well as Jaco and their son Lihan, four.
Lizanne said: "I saw bite marks and blood, and Mené was screaming.
"At this stage, I wasn't thinking about anything except to comfort her and try to stop the blood.
"I had no idea what I was doing but it was instinctive, I wanted to keep her close to me."
The horrified parents rushed the tot to hospital where doctors operated on her wounds, including a deep cut across her neck, and a tear from her top lip all the way up to her nose.
They had to do skin grafts and realign her skin to reform her lip, as well as attend to her deep neck wound.
The following day, the dog was being bundled into the car to go to the SPCA shelter, when it savaged Jaco's arm too.
It was decided by vets that a dog who attacked on more than one occasion was too much of a risk and could not be rehabilitated - and it had to be put down.
"I couldn't understand it," Lizanne said. "In that moment, it was like having a different dog."
She added: "He'd been absolutely fine for almost a year.
"Until that point he had been perfect with the kids. He was well trained and we'd never had any issues with him."
Every week the family would have to return to the hospital to check all 14 wounds to ensure none of them had become infected.
Mené's entire face was bandaged up to the point that her skin was barely visible - and the parents had no idea how she would look until the bandages came off.
The impact on the whole family was crippling - with Lizanne and Jaco regularly having nightmares about it, while little Lihan kept telling friends at school how bad it was.
Now, Mené's wounds have healed although she has been left with lots of red scars that she is having treatment for at a scar clinic.
But the trauma has left her unable to speak properly and she still 'babbles' now - despite being able to say some words before the accident.
Lizanne said: "It has had a traumatic effect on her and on our whole family.
"We still don't understand it - Mené used to love sitting next to Bernie and stroking his fur.
"He loved it too, she would never pull his fur or ears, even at a young age.
"But we are very thankful at the end of the day - the doctor said we are lucky everything was well aligned so it didn't hit her eye or neck.
"It could have been so much worse and hopefully by the age of ten she won't have any visible scars left."
She now wants to warn other parents to be aware of the "unpredictable" animal instinct of even the most docile of pets.
She said: "He gave no signs he was going to attack - animal instinct you can never really trust.
"At the end of the day animals are animals and you can't forget that. It's been a hell of a rollercoaster."
