A woman from Atlanta, Indiana, is recovering after a horrifying and unexpected attack by her own dog left her with part of her upper lip torn off. What made the ordeal even more shocking was what she discovered after returning home from the hospital. “I didn’t feel the actual bite; I could just feel blood all over,” said 41-year-old Kelli Maxxwell.
The incident happened one evening in October while Kelli was at home with Scout, her five-year-old Great Pyrenees. She said she had been calmly petting him when, without warning, the dog jumped up and mauled her face. The attack was sudden and violent, leaving the left side of her upper lip completely torn away. Kelli also suffered injuries to her arm that required eight stitches.
In a moment of panic, Kelli managed to escape downstairs to her husband, Thomas, 38. The family’s other dog, a ten-year-old pit bull named Sadie, ran into the room during the attack. Kelli believes Sadie intervened and stopped Scout from continuing, as per the Daily Express.
“It was dark, so I couldn’t see what happened, but I saw her run up to him and he let me go,” she said. Kelli was rushed to Ascension St Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, where plastic surgeons performed an emergency one-hour procedure. Doctors created a flap of tissue to reconstruct where her lip had been. She may need additional reconstructive surgery in the future.
Police and hospital staff filed a dog bite report, triggering Indiana protocol requiring Scout to be quarantined for two weeks before euthanasia. Instead, Kelli and Thomas made the decision to have Scout euthanized the following day through a local veterinarian. They said the choice was made to protect their two stepdaughters, aged nine and 12.
“I want to say that having never been through something like behaviourally euthanizing a dog, I don’t believe it’s anyone’s first choice,” Kelli said. “If someone…jumps to the conclusion of ‘you’ve killed your dog,’ that’s not what we wanted to do.”
Scout had been part of the family since he was six weeks old, brought home through a foster-to-adopt program at the Clinton County Humane Society and formally adopted at six months. Kelli described him as loving and playful. “Scout was a very playful, loving dog and a mischief maker as a puppy,” she said.
After the attack, Thomas locked Scout in a bathroom and called 911. Their daughters were taken to a relative’s home while Kelli received treatment. At the hospital, the severity of her injury became clear. “When she came in, I had not realized at that point my lip had gone,” Kelli said. “That’s when she informed me there wasn’t anything to reattach.”
Later, back at home, the reality became even more surreal. Kelli found the missing piece of her lip on the bedroom floor. “Is that my lip on the floor?” she asked her husband. Now in therapy, Kelli hopes her story serves as a warning. She says the experience taught her that “even good dogs can have bad days.”
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