A brutal dog attack sends a woman to the hospital in critical condition. Our Christian Farrell spoke with a dog trainer about the incident.

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TOWN OF WALLKILL, N.Y. - If there's anyone who knows what makes a dog tick, it is Pat Whitacre. Whitacre is a dog trainer at the Pet's Alive animal shelter. But, even with years of experience working with dogs, Whitacre describes himself as being cautious with animals.

"One of our rules is if it can't be done safely, we don't do it. You don't put someone, or yourself, an employee, or a volunteer, in harms way if you have any indication that's there's likely to be a problem," said Whitacre.

Friday morning there was a serious problem at The Pet Camp on Bart Bull Road in The Town of Wallkill. A 46-year-old woman is now in critical condition after police say a dog attacked her. Police say the victim was an employee at the animal boarding facility. According to police the woman was taking the dog out for exercise when it turned on her. She suffered massive cuts to both arms and her head. The dog involved in the attack police say is a 13-month-old Bull Mastiff mixed dog.

"The Bull Mastiff and any of the larger breeds tend to be more attention getting because they are big. It's not unusual for them to weigh 80 to 100 pounds, or sometimes a lot more than that," said Whitacre.

According to their website, the Pet Camp has over 18 acres of fenced in property for dogs to exercise. It's billed as an alternative to dog boarding and kennels. Employees there declined to comment on the incident. Animal experts say a lot of different factors can change a dog's behavior.

"There are so many other variables that go into dog behavior though that you run through a million questions in your mind - what were the circumstances, what was different, what type of handling was going on, were there distractions that startled or confused the dog," said Whitacre.