A Texas mother let her animal instincts take over by sticking her arm in a pit bull's mouth and biting its ear off while it was attacking her two-year-old daughter, CBS News reported.

"You do whatever you can," mother Chelsi Camp told KHOU.com. "I don't have physical strength at my side."

Camp, 23, agreed to watch her boyfriend's pit bull at the family's apartment in late March. The dog seemed nice, Camp said, until he smelled and suddenly attacked her daughter, Mackenzi "Kenzi" Plass, ABC affiliate KTRK in Houston reported.

Although she described the pit bull as usually being friendly, she blamed the pit bull's violent attack on her daughter's smell.

"When he smelled her, that's when you saw it flip because I think he smelled my dog on her," Camp said.

When the dog started to attack the child, Camp shoved her fist down the dog's throat and bit off its ear. While she fought the dog, she told Kenzi to roll onto her stomach to avoid choking on blood, according to USA Today.

"I only know to fight so how else do you get somebody to stop," Camp explained. "I mean I would do the same thing with a human being."

Camp managed to call 911 as she fought off the pit bull. An officer who arrived on scene at the South Shore apartments on East League City Parkway shot the dog, which was still attacking Camp, according to CBS News.

The dog was later euthanized.

Although Camp and Kenzi have nearly made a full recovery several weeks later, the toddler has been advised to stay out of direct sunlight for a year as she heals.

"I can actually hold her again. I couldn't hold her for the first week that was the hardest part," Camp said. "She's a strong little girl and a fighter. She's meant to be here."