Kyle Dyer’s first interview after she was bitten on live TV by a dog

Kyle Dyer, the veteran TV anchor who was bitten in the face by an 85-pound dog during a live broadcast earlier this month has spoken out about the frightening experience two weeks after her attack.

The veteran anchor of Denver’s KUSA-TV gave her first interview yesterday, proudly showing scars on her face, which include a V-shaped scar on her upper lip where skin had to be grafted.

Kyle Dyer told the Denver Post that the first thoughts that went through her mind after the Argentine Mastiff bit her was: “I’m bleeding, and it had to be on television!”

Despite the painful weeks of recovery, two surgeries, and the long road ahead, Kyle Dyer said she feels lucky and calls the attack “a fluke”.

“It could have been so much worse,” she said.

“It may seem like a superficial business, but the people out there in Colorado are not superficial,” Kyle Dyer told the Denver Post.

The TV anchor said she’s received an outpouring of support from people who have also been bitten by dogs and who are wishing for a speedy recovery.

“I just keep reading those letters and know that I’m going to heal. I’m going to be better than ever,” she said.

The news of the attack spread like wildfire around the world. Kyle Dyer said she personally witnessed the breadth of the news by way of her niece, who lives in Lithuania.

Kyle Dyer said her niece read about the attack in the town’s local newspaper. “There’s so many different learning things that have come out of this,” she said.

Kyle Dyer was injured February 8 while doing an on-air segment with the dog’s owner and a fire-fighter who had rescued the Mastiff from an icy pond in suburban Lakewood the day before.

She was petting the dog’s head seconds before it bit her.’

Over Valentine’s Day weekend, Kyle Dyer wrote on her Facebook page that her mouth was stitched shut so the graft over her lips could receive better blood circulation.

While more surgeries may be in her future, Kyle Dyer won’t know for certain until this summer, as doctors asses her progress.

Kyle Dyer, who had been working at the Denver station for over 15 years, underwent reconstructive surgery and over 70 stitches after the attack.

She said she harbors no ill will toward the dog.

“It was just an accident,” Kyle Dyer said, saying that she’s glad he is back with his owners.

Unless the dog has rabies – which it is not showing signs of – it will not be put down.

Even if the vaccinations are current, the dog’s owners will definitely face two charges from Denver Animal Care and Control: a penalty for having the dog bite someone and a second penalty for having the dog off its leash at the time.

“While we normally walk Max on-leash, we understand that by letting him off-leash in an open area away from anyone was still a mistake. We will never walk him off-leash in public areas after this,” the dog’s owners said in their statement.

Max was brought into the studio after the station’s news chopper captured video footage of a firefighter rescuing Max from a freezing pond Monday after he fell through the ice and couldn’t make it out.

“I know that she is a great journalist who loves happy stories – this was a happy story,” Kyle Dyer’s co-anchor Gary Shapiro said in a note to fans.

“Kyle was glad she got assigned to it, because she loves animals,” Gary Shapiro said.

Though she is out of the hospital, her recovery is just beginning.

Kyle Dyer, who is married and has children, is expected to take several weeks to return to work.