A TWO-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after she was mauled by a dog.

Franki Travers, of Northside, had to be rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where she underwent an operation to stitch her face.

Grandmother Wendy Askew said: “She was walking to school with her mam and siblings and she stopped to look at a dog in a garden.

“It went up to her and bit her.

“She’s only two and she loves dogs.”

Franki was left with four puncture wounds under her bottom lip and also needed stitches on her chin.

“She had to have anaesthetic and surgery to stitch the wounds, and she may be scarred for life.

“She was just the right height to peep through the fence. What if it had jumped out or got to her jugular?”

Wendy said she had heard rumours from other residents that the dog who bit Franki had been violent in the past.

It is understood the dog in question has now been destroyed.

However the experience has not change Franki’s love of dogs.

Wendy said: “We have two huskies and the next day she was out in the garden with them.

“It’s good she isn’t scared of dogs.”

The family want their experience to be a warning for other families, so they can be more vigilant around other people’s gardens and dogs.

A Facebook post written by Franki’s mother was shared almost 50 times and received nearly 200 messages of support.

A spokesman for Cumbria police confirmed they received a report that a child had been bitten last Thursday at around 9am, in Northside.

The report was made around an hour after the incident.

“The child was taken first to hospital in Whitehaven.

“The incident remains under investigation.”