A former army officer has told how she was left with life-changing injuries and 'convinced she was going to die' after she was trampled by a herd of cows while out walking her Labrador.
Janicke Tvedt, 55, had been walking her eight-year-old Labrador Goose with her partner David Hood, 57, when they stumbled across a 30-strong herd of cows in Masham, North Yorkshire.
Within minutes, the ex-army officer, who served in Bosnia, had been taken down and pinned against a fence as the animals, who feared her Labrador was a threat to their calves, stamped on her body.
She managed to escape when her army training kicked in and she went into 'survival mode'.
The mother-of-two climbed a tree, where she slipped in and out of consciousness before finally being airlifted to hospital.
Ms Tvedt was left with seven broken ribs, hoof marks on her chest and legs and needed part of her colon removed following the terrifying ordeal last July.
Janicke Tvedt, 55, was left with seven broken ribs, hoof marks on her chest and legs and needed part of her colon removed after she was attacked by cows
The former army officer had been walking her eight-year-old Labrador Goose (pictured together) when they stumbled across a 30-strong herd of cows in Masham, North Yorkshire
She said: 'I was convinced I was going to die.
'I was trying to get in contact with my son because as far as I was concerned, that was it - I wasn't going to see anyone again.
'Had there been a child or an elderly person there, they would not have survived - that's how serious the attack was.'
Now Ms Tvedt, who followed a farmer's gatepost instruction to keep her dog on a lead, is urging those who find themselves in a similar situation to let their pets run free.
She explained: 'What you're supposed to do when you're under attack by cattle is you're supposed to let the dog off the lead and kick the dog away.
'It's the dog that's the issue. They see it as a predator.'
On the day of the attack, Ms Tvedt, who now works as a life coach, had set out on the walk with her partner and their dog close to the market town of Masham, near Harrogate, on July 25 last year.
It was a footpath that she has taken before without incident, but on this occasion, as she rounded a hedge, she came face-to-face with a horned cow and its two calves.
She said: 'The cow was obviously startled by us, so she bolted directly at the dog, who was on a lead. She kicked the dog, and the dog ended up rolling on the ground.
'Then loads more cows came to her defence. They pinned us against the hedge. I had the dog very tightly on the lead, which is what I thought I was supposed to do.
'I stood there really still with my partner, not trying to be aggressive towards the cows, and after about ten minutes of sniffing us, I thought they were going to leave.
'Then a cow attacked the dog again, but in doing so, it hit me in the knees as well, and knocked me to the ground.'
Now lying flat on her back, the cows trampled the former army
