Girl, 4, mauled by dog recovering after surgery

[Engaged To Ouellet]

The stepfather of a four-year-old girl mauled by an unregistered dog at their Melbourne home said he was amazed by how brave she was.

Katie Strickland suffered horrific head injuries after a six-month-old Rhodesian ridgeback cross escaped from a backyard enclosure and attacked her.

"The dog's just grabbed her by the hair and pulled her hair a fair bit, and just split her skin on her head open a bit," stepfather Dale Morrison told Nine News.

"She was actually really calm, she was talking, she just turned around and said 'that dog doesn't like me'."

The girl was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital in a serious condition and after nine hours of surgery, her condition has now been listed as stable.

The dog has since been seized by the Cardinia Shire Council and is due to be put down, with the owner likely to face criminal charges.

It is believed the family was looking after the dog for someone else.

Advanced life-support paramedic Mike Jevons said they immediately cleaned and dressed the girl's wounds to stop bleeding and gave her pain relief.

"The four-year-old suffered horrific head injuries," Mr Jevons said.

Cardinia Shire spokesman Paul Dunlop said the dog will remain impounded while an investigation into the incident is underway.

He said the council did not have power to put the animal down until the owner signed it over to the council or a court found a person responsible for the dog.

Council officers expect to interview the dog's owner this week.

Mr Dunlop said it is believed the family was looking after the dog for someone else.

"As part of the investigation, it's something we're looking into in the next few days," he said.

However, the fact the dog was on the family's property made them responsible.

Three other dogs were on the property, two of which were also unregistered.

Mr Dunlop said there had never been an incident recorded at the property before.

The family said they had taken all the precautions. Mr Morrison said the attack serves as a warning to other parents to ensure dogs are supervised at all times when around children. "A dog that you don't know, or you're not familiar with, you just can't let it near any children," he told Nine News. The incident follows another dog attack last August in which a four-year-old Melbourne girl was killed.

Ayen Chol was mauled to death by a neighbour's pit bull mastiff dog in her St Albans home, in northwest Melbourne.

The dog's owner has been charged over the attack and is due to face the Sunshine Magistrates Court in February charged with multiple offences under the Domestic Animals Act.

The dog also attacked Ayen's 31-year-old cousin, and her cousin's five-year-old daughter.

The dog was later put down by the local council.

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This is the reason why I got rid of my dogs before Gabbie was born, even trusted family pets can just snap one day.

[DramaShark]

Thanks ETE. The writer of this article needs to do their work though. They mention a Pit Bull Mastiff, Pit Bulls and Bull Mastiffs are two completely seperate breeds of dogs

[The Mac]

i hate crap like this cuz they always blame the dog not the cmplete toolbag who trained it...my family pet was a Rottie/boxer cross and he was great, we ahd pits to its all in how they r trained ppl train them to be vicious then r shocked when they try eating their kid

[Engaged To Ouellet]

To be fair there are a few dog breeds that just aren't suitable to be family pets, but people want to look badass by having a pig hunting dog as their family pet. Though the fault there is with the owner not the dog I suppose, I mean you cant put a Great White in your pool them blame the shark when it hits whoever goes for a swim.