A disabled pensioner was saved by a cooked chicken when her new pet dog suddenly turned vicious and started attacking her in the front garden.

Vera Rochester, 63, whose false leg came off in the attack, had just picked up the golden retriever called Prince when it lunged at her.

Miss Rochester, of Alnwick, Northumber-land, who lost her leg as a child after she was bitten by a spaniel, was knocked to the ground as the dog chewed on her arm.

Miss Rochester's 73-year-old sister, Frances, who was inside the house, ran out with the cooked chicken.

She managed to lure the dog off her sister with the roasted bird.

She then dragged a heavily bleeding Miss Rochester inside the house and rang the emergency services.

As a frantic Frances tried to explain what had happened, she shouted that her sister had lost her leg and the operator thought it had been torn off in the attack.

Miss Rochester said: "I could not believe what was happening. The only way she could get him off was with the chicken."

Miss Rochester had collected the dog from a family in nearby Alnwick Moor for a home trial.

The dog was later reunited with its original owners