Warning: Photos and details in this article and video may be disturbing to some.

A woman attacked by a large dog in the parking lot of a Metro Vancouver strip mall required 85 staples to hold the flesh on her legs together.

The Mission, B.C. mother had just stepped out of her truck in the lot in Aldergrove Tuesday night when she saw the large, fawn-coloured dog.

"Didn't do anything but attack. Got ahold of her right leg," her sister, Kim Tamminga, recalled.

The woman, Shelby Kirnaghan MacNeil, managed to get her leg out of the dog's mouth and curled into a ball on the ground. But the huge mastiff-type dog continued to bite her legs and buttocks, she said.

In a Facebook post, the 45-year-old said she was screaming as the dog "shook me like a rag doll."

"She heard a distinct whistle and the attack stopped," Tamminga said. The dog ran off.

A Good Samaritan gave her his belt to she could tie off her leg to stop the bleeding. In MacNeil's Facebook post, she thanked him in capital letters.

She was driven to Abbotsford General Hospital, but because the emergency room had a one-hour wait, she went on to the hospital in Mission. That's where she got 85 staples and two stitches, and will be kept on an IV for two weeks.

The largest of her wounds was in her calf.

"She's being kept in the hospital and it's going to be a long, long haul for her," Tamminga said.

Mounties were called to the scene of the attack, but were unable to find any evidence including surveillance camera footage that would point them toward the dog or its owner.

Normally, the Langley Animal Protection Society would try to capture the dog, but when CTV News contacted LAPS about its investigation, they said they hadn't heard about the case. They said they were hoping that the victim -- who remains in hospital -- would call them to make a complaint and start an investigation.

The radio traffic of first responders that could have sparked an earlier media story that could have informed LAPS was recently encrypted, so they couldn't find out that way either.

That means technically, no agency is looking for the dog.

MacNeil's family wanted to warn the public that it could happen again. They're hopeful that the dog owner will turn themselves in.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Jon Woodward