A Tauranga woman is happy her pet dog has made a full recovery after the 3.5kg pomeranian was 'basically skinned” by a large German shepherd.

Karen Peters took eight-year-old Charlie for a walk around Lake Rerewhakaaitu about 2pm on January 2 when a large German shepherd attacked him.

Charlie all better. Karen Peters and her very lucky hound Charlie. Photo Bruce Barnard.

Skinned from the top of his shoulder blade around to the front of his stomach, Charlie was raced to the vets at Rotorua SPCA.

Returning home to Tauranga, Karen took Charlie to Barkes Corner Veterinary Hospital and Brookfield Vetenary Clinic for stitches – and she has been nursing him at her Brookfield home since.

'After two weeks the skin that had lifted from his body from the attack actually died and started to rot,” says Karen.

'So we had that [the skin] removed. They removed all of the dead skin and pulled all of his excess skin up and stitched it all together in an H-shape and he had 45 stitches which have healed beautifully.”

Four weeks later, Charlie's vet bill has clocked up about $1700 which the owner of the German shepherd has offered to pay half of.

'I sent her an email to say thank you for the money that she put in, and sent her a couple of photos to show how he was healing,” says Karen.

Charlie is often seen out with Karen collecting money for charity and she's happy he's made a full recovery and is back to his 'normal cheeky” self.

Karen says Charlie will have his body shaved to raise money for Child Cancer Foundation in the Shave Your Lid for a Brave Kid initiative in mid-March. To donate, visit his page here.

'He's absolutely fine. I even took him to Fergusson Park last Thursday; and we've been going back ever since. And he's fine around all dogs, small dogs and big dogs.”

Since the attack, Karen posted a Facebook page for people to keep up to date with Charlie's progress, which she says has had 'overwhelming support”. View the Facebook page here.