The victim, who did not want to be identified, remains in Dunedin Hospital after the attack, which happened while she was delivering the Otago Daily Times in Walter St, the Glen, on Tuesday morning.
Her partner told the ODT yesterday the attack had left her struggling to sleep.
''The little sleep she is getting, she's having nightmares of the event,'' he said.
''She's very traumatised ... and has been crying a lot all day.''
The Dunedin City Council confirmed yesterday it intended to prosecute the owner of the three Irish wolfhounds involved in the attack.
Two were voluntarily destroyed on Tuesday and yesterday, after a meeting between the owner and the council, the third dog was put down.
It had remained in the council pound since the attack.
Council animal control officers received notes from police and confirmed there was evidence to support the destruction of the third dog, a council spokesman said.
''The owner took responsibility for having the third dog euthanised privately by a vet,'' a council statement said.
''While the situation is distressing for all involved, the DCC is responsible for the safety of its residents and enforcing dog control laws and is taking action appropriate to the seriousness of this issue.''
The victim's partner said he was saddened by the news of the dog's destruction and during conversations with his partner she indicated ''she was quite prepared to let the third dog live''.
''[She] absolutely adores dogs.''
The attack had focused his beliefs on dog control and he believed greater restrictions on the number of dogs an individual could own should be investigated.
''It's not physically possible to restrain an animal that large on its own, let alone three,'' he said.
''If that had been a child instead, that child would be dead.
''Those dogs were right back to wolves - it was like three wolves.
''You can't fully trust a dog or a horse, or any animal for that matter.''
The couple were dog owners and she spent time volunteering with the SPCA.
His partner's anxiety had been increased by her loss of work, he said.
She had a mortgage on a house in Lawrence, he said.
''She's fretting about whether the bank just might foreclose.''
She bought the house with an inheritance and had intended on retiring there.
She would undergo more surgery today as doctors tried to repair the damage and muscle loss suffered in the attack.
She would remain in hospital for at least a further week, he said.
''She can't walk properly,'' he said.
''There's nothing there to support her, there's no muscle - not to mention the pain factor.''
Council communications and marketing manager Graham McKerracher said 71 dog attacks were recorded in Dunedin during the past 12 months, none involving Irish wolfhounds before the latest incident.
The three dogs had not come to the council's attention before Tuesday's attack, he said.
He could not comment further on Tuesday's attack because of the council's prosecution.
