MADRID, Iowa » An Iowa woman whose nose was severely injured by an attacking dog says her husband bit the animal to make it stop its assault.

Caren and Laine Henry told The Des Moines Register on Thursday that a 50-pound Labrador mix ran out of a yard near Laine’s father’s home in rural Madrid on Sunday to attack the couple while they were walking their pet beagle.

Caren Henry said the dog bit her abdomen and right thigh, scratched at her eyes, then clamped onto her nose, tearing it off. She said her husband was bit on an arm when he tried to help her.

"It could have been so much worse," she said. "If I hadn’t been wearing my sunglasses, I’m sure I would be missing an eye. If it had gotten ahold of my throat, I’d be dead."

Caren Henry said the dog wouldn’t stop the attack despite her husband trying to fight it off.

"He finally had to bite the dog in its nose, and it let loose," she said.

Henry has begun a series of reconstructive surgeries she hopes will restore her nose.

The dog is under quarantine for six weeks at the home from which it escaped and attacked the couple, but Dallas County doesn’t have a vicious-dog ordinance that would require criminal penalties or lead to the dog being euthanized.

After the quarantine is completed, it could be released to its owner.

It’s unclear who owns the dog. The resident who has been caring for the dog said it belongs to a homeless man.