My scars make me beautiful

Dog bite girl, four, wins pageant

- LUCY THORNTON

A GIRL who needed surgery after a horrific dog attack has won a national pageant and declared: "My scars make me beautiful".

Elouise Smith, four, entered Little Miss Glamour UK in a bid to rebuild her confidence after being bitten by a family friend's Staffordshire bull terrier.

Mum Stacey Murray, 34, said: "We've been teaching her that her scars are her story - that's what makes her beautiful.

"She always tells people she got 'bitten by a doggy', but tells them: 'My scars make me beautiful."

Elouise spent five days in hospital after she was bitten in Doncaster, South Yorks, in December.

She was set upon during a regular play date at her friend's house.

Stacey recalled how she received a phone call to say there had been "an accident".