After being bitten by a ’friendly-looking’ dog while cycling, a woman is speaking out about her experience to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

The Peel resident, who is a medical professional that wishes to remain anonymous, is urging owners to keep their pets on leads after her ankle was left badly wounded by a loose dog while riding a bike.

’I would just hate for it to happen to someone else, like children,’ she told the Manx Independent.

’Animals are attracted by speed. I think they go into instinct mode. People walking dogs need to realise that and their dogs need to be on leads because they’re on a public pathway.’

The incident, which resulted in the woman having deep bite marks and scratches on her right ankle and leg, took place earlier this month on a track off Poortown Road.

She said: ’I was heading back towards Peel and just towards the end of the track there is a left hand bend.

’As I was approaching the bend there were two medium-sized dogs. They were quite frisky, but they didn’t look particularly menacing.

’Because I knew the owner was probably around the corner I slowed down.

’I smiled and as I went past one of them turned around and grabbed my ankle. It happened so quickly I didn’t have enough time to react. It was such a shock.

’The dog let go straightaway and my ankle was bleeding like mad.

’The lady walking the dogs was incredibly apologetic. She said: "They’ve never done that before.".

’They were really friendly looking dogs that were well looked after and well groomed,’ she added.

Following the incident she gave her wounds a thorough wash, applied a pressure bandage and took antibiotics.

’It was still bleeding three days after,’ she said. ’Thankfully now, after two weeks, the wounds have scabbed over but you can see the extent of the swelling and bruising still.

’I will probably be left with some scarring on my leg.’

She warns that those who are not up to date with their tetanus jabs should get a booster if bitten by a dog.