Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

These images show the moment her best friend’s dog – a German Shepherd – bites a teenage girl’s face as she poses with it leaving her needing 40 stitches.

Lara Sanson, 17, who reportedly lives in the province of Tucuman, north-western Argentina, was posing with her best friend’s dog, called Kenai, when it bit her in the face as she hugged it.

The teenager shared the photos of her posing with German Shepherd and in one of the snaps the dog can be seen biting her face.

She told local newspaper La Nacion “I do not know if I touched its hip or if it reacted like this because it is old, or it was because I hugged it and scared it”.

According to reports, the teen girl received around 40 stitches, both internal and external reaching down to her gums in a two-hour operation after the pet dog attacked her. The images show the cuts covering her face.

She said she felt little pain when the bite took place not after leaving the operating theatre, adding “I only had some bother due to the inflammation and eating problems”.

Vet Juan Enrique Romero told La Nacion that Kenai might have reacted in that way due to its age as with time, “its pains are growing and a pain could have generated this reaction”.

Sanson said the dog will not be put down. She posted the photos online with the caption “a photo shoot goes wrong” and the post has received over 300,000 likes.

‘JLI750’ commented: “A dog should never be hugged from the neck, don’t put your face near it, as their instinct tells them you are going to attack them, the neck is the most vulnerable part of a dog. Glad it was not worse.”

‘nicoleetorrees’ added: “It is a question of education”.

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