An angry cow tried to toss a spaniel into the air along a towpath in Oxford before targeting the dog's owner.

Sarah Ayers, 55, was walking her two dogs, Sally, nine, and one-year-old Emily, on Port Meadow when a heifer attacked them. The dogs were not on a lead but were walking very close to their owner.

She said: "It circled in front of Sally and made a very concerted attempt to toss her by getting its head under her abdomen. Fortunately Sally is a small spaniel and the cow was unable to get enough leverage to raise her off the ground."

The dog was knocked over and suffered minor injuries but the cow then turned its attention to the other dog, Emily.

Ms Ayers, of Wytham View, Eynsham, shouted at the cow and later set off a handheld alarm when it tried to charge at them "bullfighting-style". She said it was an unprovoked attack and there were no calves in sight.

On Tuesday, Paul Harris told the Oxford Mail how he sustained life-threatening injuries after being trampled by a cow while cycling with his children by the river near Godstow Lock.

He was airlifted to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital and spent three days in intensive care with a punctured lung and broken ribs.

Today, more than two weeks after the attack, Ms Ayers is still traumatised by the incident.

She said: "We were very lucky that this cow did not have horns and that I managed to scare it away. Others might not be so lucky -- would Paul Harris have survived if the cow which attacked him had horns?"

Isobel Bretherton, spokesman for the National Farmers' Union for the South East, said the majority of attacks occurred when dogs were present or cows were defending their calves.

She said: "It is unusual for somebody to be chased if they are simply walking along but when you have a dog, herd animals perceive it as a threat.

"If a dog is off the lead, it is like a red rag to a bull and cows will chase them out of the field."

Ms Bretherton said there was no law forcing farmers to remove animals' horns and urged people to read the Countryside Code at www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk.

In October 2003, six-year-old Rosie May Covendale was left with two black eyes and bruising after being charged at by a cow while she was with her mother Samantha at the former Wolvercote bathing place at Port Meadow.

Lorraine Richards was trampled to death as she walked her dog in a field of cows and calves in Warwickshire in June. Some of the animals in the field were pregnant.

Nearly 1,000 people are hurt in accidents involving cattle annually.