A Florida woman’s afternoon dog walk turned into a fight for her life — and her puppy’s — after an alligator lunged out of a creek and tried to drag the animal underwater.

Danie Wright, who lives in Land O’Lakes, about 20 miles north of Tampa, said the attack came without warning. She had taken her 4-month-old shih tzu, Dax, for their usual stroll near a stagnant, moss-covered creek behind her house. Out of the water rose a five-foot gator, its teeth snapping onto Dax’s collar before pulling him into the murk.

“The next thing I heard was a squeak like my dog,” Wright said. “I turned and looked, and an alligator had him. The alligator’s front teeth were through the collar of my dog.”

What followed was a struggle that would sound unbelievable if she hadn’t walked away with bite marks to prove it. Wright clung to the leash, refusing to let go, as the gator yanked her into the water along with Dax. With her right hand, she grabbed hold of her puppy’s collar, hauling him onto the bank and out of danger. But that meant her left arm was still in the reptile’s jaws.

That’s when instinct — and maybe a little of her past life as a college rugby player — took over. “I just punched and punched and punched,” she said. “I punched him in the eye enough that he kind of let go.” She didn’t stop there, throwing elbows, knees, whatever she could, until she managed to flip the gator onto its back and wriggle her arm free.

Wright’s forearm was shredded, but she was alive, and Dax was miraculously unharmed. Bloodied and covered in moss, she staggered back to shore and called for help. Deputies from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office arrived alongside fire and rescue crews. Two state-licensed alligator trappers later captured the animal.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said the incident is a reminder that gators often target dogs near water, a fact that doesn’t surprise Wright now. “I learned to be more alert,” she said. “Leave your phone at home, you know, pay attention.”

Wright received a tetanus shot and antibiotics but didn’t need stitches. “I was so lucky it was a small alligator,” she admitted. Her puppy, for his part, was already back to wagging his tail.

The state averages about eight serious alligator bites per year. Fatal encounters are rare, but attacks have risen slightly as suburban development pushes more people — and pets — into gator habitat. Earlier this year, an 11-foot alligator capsized a canoe in Polk County, killing a 61-year-old woman.

Still, the image of Wright, 53 years old and determined, throwing punches into the eye of a reptile to save a five-pound dog, feels almost cinematic. But for her, it was just instinct. “If you live in Florida or anywhere there are gators, you have to keep your eye out 24/7,” she said. “I never saw the alligator coming.”