Young lad Vick Zidko was calmly walking down the stairs when the family dog launched a ferocious attack on him, tearing off part of his scalp.
The pet, which had been bought on Facebook two weeks earlier, leapt on the lad and dragged him down the steps.
Vick, six, screamed in terror as he was viciously scratched and bitten on his head and back.
His sister said a memory that is haunting her is her little brother “pleading with the dog to stop”.
The boy’s family saved his life by prising open the American Staffordshire terrier’s clamped jaws.
As his mother tried to calm him down after the savage attack, Vick asked her: “Mummy, am I dying?”
He spent five days in hospital where medics battled to reattach the torn-off piece of scalp.
The boy had more than 50 stitches in his head and face. He also suffered deep cuts to his back.
In the hope of preventing yet more attacks across Britain, Vick’s loved ones have decided to speak out to support the Mirror’s campaign on dangerous dogs.
His dad Vitalijus said: “It’s a nightmare and we never want any other family to go through this.”
The forklift truck driver added they thought “long and hard” about getting a dog before spotting a Facebook post and falling in love with the picture of a puppy being advertised for sale for £200.
Vitalijus, 41, said the post was put online by the breeder and that the six-month-old dog was called Diesel and described as a Staffie.
He added: “When we saw him he was really soft and jumping around. He captured our hearts.
“But after we got him home it became apparent he was completely untrained.”
The dog was chewing a bone last Thursday at 7pm just before the attack began. Vick’s sister Gabriel, 18, said: “Vick came down the stairs quietly and Diesel started barking.
“He pounced on Vick, dragging him down two of the stairs. It was as if he saw Vick as a chew toy.
“He was ragging him about and scratching him.
“I started screaming and my stepdad [Vitalijus] and mum ran in. What sticks in my brain was my little brother pleading ‘stop, Diesel, stop’. I was trying to get the dog off. My mum was screaming ‘Oh my God, stop stop stop’.
“My stepdad jumped in front of me and tried choking the dog out, and that’s when my mum scooped Vick up. My stepdad told me to call an ambulance and he put [the dog] in the bathroom.”
The dad also needed hospital treatment because his arm – which he put in the dog’s mouth to stop the attack – was punctured by Diesel’s teeth. Gabriel, who was also covered in blood, said: “All I heard was my mum’s screams because she had seen the injuries.”
Mum Eugenija, 41, wept as she recalled the attack. She said: “I grabbed Vick and ran to the bedroom, locking the door.
“I was trying to calm him down. I put a towel on his head to stop the bleeding. He saw all the blood and said, ‘Mummy, am I dying?’.
“Then he asked is [his twin brother] Nick and Gabriel OK.” The piece of scalp ended up on the floor at the home in Highfields, Doncaster, South Yorks, and was almost stepped on by a police officer.
It was later taken to hospital alongside a bag of frozen chips.
Eugenija, who moved to the UK from Lithuania 20 years ago, said: “The doctors could not believe how Vick kept smiling. He’s my superman.
“He’s having bad dreams and said he sees a ‘doggy attacking me again’.
“He said, ‘Promise me we’ll have no more dogs in our house’. The medics and our neighbours were amazing. He has to go back for another operation, we think.” The lad has a protective cover over the piece of scalp.
The attack prompted police to issue a warning about buying dogs from social media adverts.
Officers are investigating. The dog was taken by police and put to sleep.
The Mirror is calling for changes such as an overhaul of the Dangerous Dogs Act including the possibility of tougher penalties for offenders.
Voice of the Mirror
Hundreds of children are mauled by dogs every year.
Many suffer awful injuries. Too often they pay with their lives.
This should be the cause of a national outcry. But no matter how high the toll, the Government refuses to act.
The public wants action. A Mirror poll found 86% back tougher penalties. Charities are united in urging new legislation.
It should be impossible to buy a lethal dog from an unlicensed breeder. It is a scandal these animals can be traded online.
In the last year there have been 12 deaths and 20,000 injuries but the Government has done nothing.
Every child deserves protection.
But when it comes to dog attacks, ministers just don’t care.
