SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. — A San Tan Valley mother is recovering from a brutal dog attack and sharing a warning she hopes others take seriously: even a dog that seems gentle and familiar can become dangerous without warning.

Cara Newell said the dog that nearly killed her wasn’t a stranger. Her family had been temporarily caring for Odin, a 5-year-old mastiff, for about a month. Despite his size, she says he had never shown signs of aggression—until last Friday night.

Newell remembers the sounds of the attack vividly.

“I actually laid in bed last night, and I just kept hearing the chomps, the growls,” she said.

It was a moment she never thought she’d face.

“Never would I have thought that I could have been killed by a dog,” she said.

Just hours before, she had been relaxing with him.

“He would sleep next to me on the side of the bed. He would come up and lay with me on the couch,” Newell said.

Odin also got along well with their two dogs, Malibu and Korra. “There was never any signs of aggression,” she said.

But on Friday night, Newell noticed Malibu and Korra fighting.

“My kids were there to witness, so I felt like I needed to do something, because they were begging me, Mom, get them to stop, get them to stop fighting. I’m trying. I’m trying. I’m trying,” she recalled.

After she got the dogs separated, Odin was accidentally let inside.

“Odin literally came straight to me, no sound, no growling, and just took me on and tried to kill me,” Newell said.

Odin attacked her, biting her back, jaw, and arm, and tearing off part of her ear.

Her children tried to call for help.

“My kids tried to go to every single Alexa in the house to call 911, none of them responded,” she said.

In that moment, Newell said all she could think about was her children.

“I cannot die in front of my children. I have to keep going. I have to get this dog off of me, because I don’t want to die in front of my kids,” she recalled.

Her two young children helped pull the dog off.

“There’s no way that I would have made it out of there if it weren’t for my kids,” she said.

Emergency crews rushed Newell to the hospital, where she underwent hours of reconstructive surgery the next morning.

“It’s been a test of patience, for sure, but also it shows how precious life is,” she said.

Now, she hopes her story serves as a warning to other pet owners. Newell believes the attack was triggered by the fight between her two female dogs.

“If they weren’t fighting, and I opened that door, he would’ve come right in wagging his tail like he always did,” she said.

“I’ve always heard you don’t get in the middle of a dog fight. You don’t get in between dogs when they fight, but it’s always just been, you know, like, yeah, that’s what they say. But like, no, literally, don’t do it. Don’t do it because you’re gonna die,” she said.

Her children, 7 and 8, are still processing what happened, and she expects both will need therapy.

“…Especially when they witnessed most of my face being ripped off by an animal that they loved,” she added.

Newell said she’s now terrified of large dogs and doesn’t think she’ll ever own one again. She’s also urging families to make sure devices like Alexa or Google Home are set up to call 911.

Pinal County Animal Care and Control confirmed Odin was impounded and is currently undergoing a mandatory 10-day quarantine at the county’s facility. According to the agency, the dog was signed over by the owner and will not be adopted out because of the severity of the attack. After the quarantine period ends, Odin will be humanely euthanized, PCACC said.

The family has now organized a fundraiser to raise money for Newell’s hospital bills and lost wages while she’s out of work.