The day after being rescued from icy waters, Max, an 85-pound Mastiff was on TV when he bit a news anchors face. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It started as a heartwarming rescue story of a drowning dog being saved from icy waters by a hero firefighter.
But it all went horribly wrong when the dog appeared on a live TV morning show the next day and sank his fangs right into a pretty anchorwoman's face.
Animal expert Jill Bowers told INSIDE EDITION, "When she put her face in his face, it made him feel very uncomfortable and therefore he had to react."
The story started when Max, an 85-pound Mastiff, fell through the ice on a lake outside Denver, Colorado.
A firefighter wearing special cold-weather rescue gear raced against time, smashing his way through the ice to get to Max. Just as it looked like the dog was about to go under, the rescuer reached for Max and pulled him into his arms. The two were hauled back to shore and Max scampered off, still shivering, but was fine.
The next day, Max, his owner, and the rescuer appeared on a Denver TV station with anchor Kyle Dyer, who is well known locally as a devoted animal lover.
She kneeled next to Max to pet and fuss over him. The Mastiff seemed to love the attention. But as the anchorwoman leaned in to give Max a Valentine's smooch, the dog suddenly snapped at her and bit her on her face. She recoiled in pain.
Dyer is recovering after reconstructive surgery on her lip. Adding to her worries, fear of rabies, the dog's owner was given a citation for not having Max inoculated, although he says Max has had all of his shots. Max is being held in quarantine at a local shelter.
So what went wrong?
Bowers told INSIDE EDITION, "The dog did not look comfortable at all. While she was petting, she was petting fast, the dog started to lick his chops the whole time. And a lot of times people think wagging tales means happy, but that was an agitated wag that he was doing."
These kinds of attacks have happened on TV before.
One reporter got way too close to a tiger's claws and fangs at a zoo and the tiger's massive paws went through the bars and lunged for the reporter. And who could forget that horrific attack by a bear on an unsuspecting woman in a TV studio in Poland as she was sitting in a chair next to the giant bear and it pounced right on top of her.
Now, another reminder that adorable animal stories can take a violent turn.
