A LITTLE girl was left hospitalised after two “out of control” dogs crashed into a group of children at Silver Sands Beach in Aberdour.

Maggie Munro, age 5, was thrown into the air when she was knocked over, leaving her with a broken femur.

The extent of her injuries resulted in several nights in the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, where she was given an anaesthetic so surgeons could realign the bone and put on a cast that reaches from her hip to toe.

The family say the two dogs narrowly missed colliding with their nine-month-old baby daughter Molly before Maggie took the “full brunt of the impact”.

Her dad, Gregor, branded the dog owners “cowards” after they walked off, leaving the family to ring for an ambulance.

He said: "It could have been far worse – what has happened to Maggie is terrible but she’s a wee trouper, we dread to think what would have happened if they hit our nine-month-old.

"Your femur is the hardest bone to break so it gives you an idea how hard the impact was."

Maggie, her two sisters and mum, Mhairi, from Duddingston, were visiting their cousins and uncle in West Fife when the accident happened last Thursday afternoon.

Now Maggie can only go to the toilet lying down and may miss out on the start of the school term, while her dad has had to take several weeks off work so he can help his wife with their three kids.

He said: "We are not anti-dogs but owners have got to keep their pets under control and I hope this serves as a warning of what can happen.

"I thought it was just a freak accident but unfortunately we were told this happens more than you think.

“The dogs just took the legs from underneath her so we’re not sure if it was the hit from the dogs or the fall that caused the break.

“It was quite a shock for them all but my wife could tell just by looking at Maggie that she was really in a lot of pain.”

The parents were initially told their daughter would be in hospital for several weeks but NHS staff managed to work it so she could come home.

“Typically it was their first time seeing their cousins since lockdown and they’re just getting that bid of freedom again,” Gregor said.

“But to be honest we see the same sort of things at Portobello all the time where dogs are running at 15/20 mph with owners having no control over them.

“What’s worse is that they didn’t hang about to see if Maggie was ok.

"One owner offered a weak apology but the other didn’t acknowledge what had happened.

"I felt that was particularly low. They are accountable for their dogs after all.

“We were actually hoping to get a dog ourselves soon and thankfully I don’t think this has scared Maggie.

“I’m hoping in some way that those owners see this story and realise what they’ve done so they can be more mindful in the future.”