The 8-year-old Bradford girl put what she had learned into practice on Monday when her neighbour's rottweiler rushed at her, latching on to her arm.
Natasha said yesterday she was playing with her sister and other neighbourhood children on Monday in the cul-de-sac where they live when one of the children of the family that owned the rottweiler let it out of its enclosed yard.
The dog sniffed the children and went back to the front door before the child from its family tried to grab its collar, she said.
But instead of going to him, the dog ran at Natasha, grabbing her ponytail in his mouth, she said.
"It came rushing at me and pulled me down."
Despite her friends' screams and the large dog sinking its teeth into her arm, she could not remember being scared and instinctively thought of what she had learnt at school.
"I covered my head with my arm and lay there because I didn't want him to bite me more," Natasha said.
Moments later, the dog's owner pulled the dog off the girl.
The rottweiler was later destroyed with the consent of its owner.
The Bradford School pupil spent yesterday at home.
She was "pretty sore", but otherwise "not too bad", she said.
Nursing gashes and puncture wounds up to 6cm deep on her arms and back, she spent some of the day playing with her pet dog, Jackson, a 3-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier.
"Most of them [dogs] are OK," she said.
Family members said they were proud of the calm way Natasha dealt with the situation.
Bradford School principal Lisa Dillon-Roberts said she was also proud of Natasha.
Dog safety programmes had been held annually at the school in association with the Dunedin City Council's animal control team, since an informal survey by school staff found roughly half the school's pupils said they had been bitten by a dog.
Natasha had been involved in two dog-safety programmes already and ironically another had been scheduled for next week, Mrs Dillon-Roberts said.
Council senior animal control officer Jim Pryde said it was excellent to hear children could relate to the programme and were retaining the information.
Without that knowledge, Natasha's injuries could have been much worse.
"She's a lucky, lucky girl. That was a big dog."
The dog's owner was distraught at what the dog had done and was the person who initially contacted police about the attack, he said.
Police said they were not aware of any previous complaints about the dog.
No charges would be laid in relation to the incident.
