Martha Stewart Splits Lip In Incident With Dog

Pet ownership: It isn’t child’s play.

Domestic diva Martha Stewart got nine stitches on her upper lip this week after her French bulldog walloped her as Stewart leaned in to whisper goodbye to the pooch.

The TV host said she must have “startled” Francesca as she tried to “whisper goodbye” as she was getting ready to leave her New York home.

“She bolted upright with such force that she hit me in the face like a boxing glove hitting an opponent’s face,” Stewart wrote on her personal blog Thursday. “I was entirely startled and my neck snapped back. I felt a bit of whiplash as blood gushed forth from my split lip.”

Martha managed to get plastic surgeon Dr. William Nolan down to the emergency room, and she rode down to Northern Westchester Hospital among “the falling snow” for minor surgery to her injured lip.

For her part, Francesca apparently feels rather down in the dumps about hurting Martha. The chat show hostess notes her four-legged pal “was as upset” as she was and spent the afternoon after the incident cowering in her bed.