Incredible story of how Florida woman survived horror dog attack that left her arm and leg shredded to the bone

A 55-year-old Florida woman has revealed how she survived a horror dog attack that left her arms and leg shredded by playing dead in a trench for hours.  

Stephanie Walker, a former food truck owner and mom-of-three, was returning to her 40-acre farm in Hamilton County at midnight in September 2022 when the nightmare unfolded. 

It was pitch black and after checking on her dogs in the feed room she noticed that a rescue pitbull mix named Buddy, who she was looking after temporarily for a friend, had not been to the bathroom. 

She grabbed a flash light and a leash so she could walk him - but when she stepped out the barn, the 80-pound dog with a 'huge' neck and head began to growl. 

Seconds later, he pounced. He latched onto her right arm and ripped it apart. Then he sank his teeth into her thigh and tore a huge chunk out of it before attacking her arms again, which is when she heard the bone break.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Walker said: 'I was screaming "Buddy stop! Why are you doing this?" I was having a conversation with a dog that was trying to kill me'

'I knew at that point it was 'do or die. There was no one coming to rescue me.'

Stephanie Walker, 55, grew up with dogs, and said that she always owned at least four at a time

Buddy, a pitbull mix, from Miami-Dade Animal Control, was a rescue that had been living with her for three weeks before the near-fatal attack 

She spent six-weeks in the burn unit at the University of Gainesville Hospital in Florida 

Walker desperately tried to fight back and choke the dog with the leash she still had in her left hand but did not have the strength. 

'I was screaming, begging him to stop,' she recalled. 

Alone, unarmed and terrified, it was at that moment she felt her mentality shift and froze. She stayed as still as possible while the dog grabbed her left shoulder.

She managed to drag herself to a nearby trench that stretched across her property - around 32 inches deep and 18 inches wide. 

She said: 'I remember thinking fighting this dog isn't working for me - I am going to play dead.'

She curled up in the fetal position in order protect her torso, and sat in the mud, dirt and gravel, as heavy rain poured down on her. 

'I had put my long hair in a bun and I remember being terrified he was going to scalp me,' she said.

'He started to sniff my right ear twice. I didn't flinch and then he disappeared,' she said. 

With no idea of how much time had passed, Walker eventually crawled out of the ditch and started limping towards the road. 

Her flashlight was gone and the only light was coming from the headlights of a passing car. 

Moments later she thought she saw a deer hopping across the road, only to realize to her horror it was Buddy - he was back. 

'I literally almost died. All I could think of was I have no idea how to get away from this dog now. I am out in the open and literally standing in the middle of the road,' she said.

The car had driven by without stopping and Buddy was inching closer to her.

She froze, pulling her arms close into her body, and fought the urge to run.  

'He came over, sniffed both my arms and then ran off into the woods with another dog,' she said. 

At that point, Walker walked as quickly as she could towards the barn.

'My right arm was completely disabled and I had three working fingers on my left arm but was able to turn the handle,' she said.

Once inside, she remembers feeling overwhelmed by thirst and so weak she did not even have the strength to locate her cell phone. 

'I sat in on the bed. I cried. I screamed. I prayed then I passed out,' she recalled.

It wasn't until 5am when her alarm went off that she was able to locate the phone under the bed. 

Finally, after five hours of hell, the paramedics, police and her son arrived to help. 

She said the moment she got into the ambulance, the dog was seen running down the road towards the barn looking for her.

She told the sheriff the dog was a menace and to 'shoot' him. That gunshot was the last thing she heard before falling into a deep medicated sleep. 

'Then it was over,' she recalled.

Stephanie Walker said she is no longer rescuing dogs and is taking life one day at a time 

Walker's right arm was ripped apart and needed to be reconstructed after the attack

The dog tore big chunks out of Walker's leg during the vicious attack

Walker was transported to a local hospital about 20 miles away. 

Doctors were concerned about how much blood she had lost and quickly airlifted to the University of Florida Gainesville Hospital.

Walker spent the next six weeks in the hospital's burn unit. She had serious infections from the dog bites after lying in the dirt and mud in the trench. 

Her broken right arm had to be completely reconstructed and her left arm was missing portions of skin. Her right thigh was also badly damaged. 

'The driving thought that kept me alive was that I did not want my 19-year-old daughter to find me dead on the farm,' she said.

Walker explained that she was only looking after Buddy for a few weeks before he went to live with a woman in New Hampshire.

She said she was never informed by the Miami-Dade County shelter that the dog was dangerous, but the driver who transported him to her home had mentioned he was aggressive. At her home, he growled a bit but appeared calmer. 

'I thought I was safe since I was in my own home,' she said. 'I had an exit strategy, but once I was out on the farm in that open space there was no exit strategy I had no weapon. I didn't carry a gun, it never occurred to me.' 

The barn on Walker's 40-acre farm located in Hamilton County, and where Buddy and the other dogs were housed 

The feed room (pictured) Walker hid in after the attack before help arrived 

Walkers right arm stitched up but still with visible scars, bruising and bleeding 

Walker's arm showing some signs of improvement 

It has been more than two years since the horrifying ordeal, and although most of Walkers wounds have healed she has limitations from the injuries she sustained.

'I have very little dexterity in my right hand. I can't cook. I can't hold a knife. I can't pick up a pen. I can't type- it is weird things like that - that you take for granted that I simply cannot do.' 

Unable to do the heavy lifting, Walker sold the farm and moved to Georgia.

Now she is fighting for legislation to help protect others from dangerous dogs and testified in Tallahassee for the Pam Rock Dangerous Dog Bill, named after a postal worker who was killed by two loose dogs in 2022. 

The bill did not pass but she hopes it will gain more momentum in the future. 

For now, she is just taking life one day at a time. And incredibly, while she is no longer rescuing dogs, she still has six pups of her own living with her at home.