UNITED KINGDOM -- A ten-year-old boy suffered shocking injuries after being bitten then dragged along the ground by a bull mastiff.
Connor Sneddon required more than 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery to his left leg following the horror incident on Prestonpans' Hawthorn Road.
His injuries would have been worse had brave witnesses not tackled the 18-month-old dog and forced it to let go.
The dog, about seven stones in weight, was on a leash and being walked by its owner Debbie King at about 4.35pm when it suddenly bit the child's left leg and dragged him along the ground.
The animal has been destroyed at the request of Miss King who, despite her best efforts, was unable to prevent the attack.
She praised the quick action of Leanne Yorke, owner of LA Dance School on Hawthorn Road, who rushed to Connor's aid and helped pull the dog off the youngster, then administered first aid until paramedics arrived.
Leanne told the Courier: "I was locking up the studio gates and I heard screaming.
"When I saw what was happening I ran over and a man - named locally as John Tyrell - had come out of The Dasher (pub) and had hit the dog a couple of times to try and get him off the wee boy. I hit and kind of kicked it to try and help. It was such a strong dog and it took a lot of strength to get him off.
"Once it let go I just scooped Connor up and moved him away so I could give him first aid."
She added: "The owner was obviously distressed so she had been taken away (to a nearby shop) to calm down. She'd tried her hardest to stop the dog but it was too strong. I had never seen an injury like it.
"When I rolled up his trousers the front of his leg was covered with these big incisions and the bite had gone deep enough to fracture the bone. His calf muscle had been badly damaged but I knew the hospital would maybe be able to save that so I did as much as I could to keep it all together. There was blood everywhere."
Eleanor Thomson, cafe manageress at LA Dance, tracked down Connor's parents while Leanne tended to the boy's injury and they arrived on the scene before an ambulance arrived.
"Connor was so brave," added Leanne. "I think most kids would have been screaming their heads off but he coped brilliantly.
"He was very upset at first but he went into shock quite quickly so I kept trying to talk to him about lots of different things, like if he had a girlfriend and hisfavourite football team. I managed to get him calmed down.
"His parents have told me that I saved his life. I got such a fright when I heard him screaming but instinct just kicked in. It never occurred to me at the time that the dog could easily have turned and bitten me as well - all I could think about was that there was a child in serious danger."
The youngster was initially taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary before being transferred to St John's Hospital in Livingston.
The Courier understands that Connor required skin grafts to repair the damage to his leg and is facing further surgery.
He was discharged from hospital earlier this week and is now recovering at home.
He is currently using a wheelchair and is facing a year of recovery from his injuries.
The youngster's family was too upset to comment about the incident.
Miss King, who says she has been to see Connor since the attack, said she had no idea what had caused the animal, called Kaiser, to attack the boy.
"I was walking to the shop with the dog and the wee boy was just playing on his scooter with his friends," she said.
"It all happened too quickly for me to see what happened but I don't believe that the kid did anything at all to provoke it.
"I kept a hold of the dog and tried to pull him off but he just wouldn't let go of the boy's leg.
"It was a horrific bite. People may want to badmouth the dog but he was very much a family pet. I used dog walkers when I was working during the day who were happy to take him out and I have kids myself.
"He would sometimes bark at passers-by when he was in the garden but he wasn't aggressive or violent. I just can't explain why he did it.
"I loved him to bits. I was so shocked by what happened but after I saw him do something so horrific to a wee boy I knew there was no danger I was going to risk bringing him home."
East Lothian Council confirmed that it had received no reports of the bull mastiff being aggressive or violent prior to the September 17 attack.
The local authority has imposed nine Dog Control Notices (DCNs) following the introduction of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 in February this year.
The act is designed to give local authorities greater powers to deal with public complaints relating to dangerous and nuisance dogs through issue of a DCN, or 'doggy ASBO'.
The legislation allows for obligatory electronic chipping of nuisance dogs and can require the owners to: keep the dog on a lead and muzzled at all times when out of the house - including in the owners' garden; attend dog-behaviour training; have a male dog neutered or to permanently ban it from certain places.
The canines currently subject to DCNs in East Lothian are a mastiff/Staffordshire bull terrier cross, Jack Russell, Siberian husky, a boxer/Staffordshire bull terrier cross, three rottweillers and two Staffordshire bull terriers. They are located in Haddington, Dunbar, Tranent, Wallyford, Gifford and Prestonpans.
'Offences' range from biting members of the public to attacking other dogs and animals, causing injury, and a fatal injury to a cat.
The latest incident was an attack on a member of the public in Tranent by the mastiff/Staffordshire terrier cross in Tranent at 2.35am on September 4, which left an 18-year-old girl with serious injuries.
A council source described the wounds sustained by the girl as "horrific".
Despite the council's dog warden recommending that the animal be destroyed, the dog's owners, Ronald McGhie and Sarah Renton, from Tranent, refuse to have the four-year-old animal, called Jake, put down.
The couple, who have two small children aged two, and six-and-a-half weeks old, insist that the animal is not a danger and believe his behaviour will improve after he is neutered.
The animal must also be muzzled and kept on a lead at all times when outdoors.
(East Lothian Courier - Sept 29, 2011)
