A 36-year-old woman is this morning in a stable condition after spending nine hours in surgery overnight following a horrific attack by up eight pig dogs in the Waikato yesterday.
The woman, named by the New Zealand Herald as Margit Christensen, was set upon as she jogged along a rural road in Arapuni, 37km east of Te Awamutu, about 1pm.
A friend, who was cycling alongside, went for help but the dogs had left the scene by the time emergency services arrived.
A doctor at Waikato Hospital said the victim lay in the foetal position during the attack, which lasted about 15 minutes, and that doing so had probably saved her life.
Waikato Hospital spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill said today she received multiple lacerations to her scalp, arms and legs and spent nine hours in surgery overnight.
She was in a stable condition in a ward today.
It is understood that she is likely to have to undergo months of plastic surgery for her wounds.
Sergeant Jason Shailer of Putaruru police said the dogs had been seized and their owner had signed an order of destruction.
A decision on whether the owner would be charged in relation to the incident would be made today.
He said it was still unclear why the dogs stopped the attack.
A neighbour of Mrs Christensen's said the friend who had been cycling alongside her came to his door seeking help.
He went with the woman and found Mrs Christensen sitting on the roadside, he told The Herald.
"I can't describe to you what she looked like. She talked to me -- she responded to my questions -- but she needed help," he said.
"The dogs were long gone when we arrived. I don't know why, but it was lucky they went off like that."
Another neighbour said she was about to have lunch when she heard her dog -- which was tied up -- barking "madly".
"I didn't think anything of it. It was only until a few minutes later I saw a police car go past and an ambulance parked down the road...(My dog) must have been barking at the dogs."
