'Pocket Bully' dog attack in Kingstanding leaves schoolboy fearing for his life

A schoolboy attacked by a 'Pocket Bully' dog in Birmingham has been left worrying that he was going to die.

The teenager had visited his friend's house in Kingstanding and within 15 minutes, the family's two-year-old Pocket Bully attacked the child, taking 'chunks' out of his legs.

A 'Pocket Bully' is similar to the infamous XL Bully - just smaller.

The boy rang his mum - who has asked for the family to remain anonymous - begging her to call an ambulance.

After his parents arrived at the house and administered first aid, paramedics treated the schoolboy and rushed him to Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The teenager's mum says she has not come forward with what happened in June in order to protect her family.

But after the spate of dog attacks in the news - like the attack on a girl in Birmingham on September 9, and the fatal attack on Ian Price in Stonnall on September 13 - the family decided they wanted to tell their story.

His mum said: "Everybody’s talking about these XL Bullies.

"Nobody is looking at Pocket Bullies. They look like the big ones but are smaller and are just as dangerous."My son went to a friend’s house. And within 15 minutes of being with his friend he was attacked.

"The family had a two-year-old Pocket Bully dog and three children. I have known the family for 10 years."

She continued: "Within 15 minutes, there was blood everywhere. My son phoned me and said ‘I’m being attacked by a dog. you need to save me mum’. I said to him ‘you need put pressure on it – to stop the bleeding’.

"He said ‘I’ve got bits missing from my legs’. He said ‘please get me an ambulance mum’."She added: "He thought he was going to die. The dog was smashing into the door to try and get back to him."

The friend's dad had apparently left the house to go to the shops - the victim's friend and had to drag the dog off the injured boy.

The mum said: "My husband arrived after about five minutes and I was there after about seven. He said to me ‘get an ambulance’ in a horrifically panicked sort of a way. I knew then how bad it was."My husband works with chainsaws and knew what to do and administered first aid. I ran upstairs and saw the blood. The chaos. The amount of times my son said ‘I’m going to die’."

After being rushed to hospital, the teenager had to undergo surgery.He reportedly lost the sides of both his ankles, a chunk from the back of his thigh, and had multiple 'holes' in his legs. The teenager had to go into a four-hour surgery under general anaesthetic.After the operation, the 13-year-old was kept in hospital for three days, and put on morphine to stop the pain.

His mum said there were fears that "they would have to do skin grafts on his ankles and thigh but they didn’t need to and I was amazed.

She added; "They had to debride [remove damaged tissue] each wound. They couldn’t close any up as they were so open. We were worried about him getting an infection in the wounds."The schoolboy's mother praised the work of the emergency services, saying: "The paramedics just got it right.

"The hospital was amazing. Couldn’t fault them at all. Or the police."

She says the hospital now has a different protocol for dog attacks: "When he was in hospital he went to the same wound nurses.

"They said in the old days before lockdown if we had a dog bite we would discuss it. But it’s so common now."

The day of the attack had been very hot - the mother says it's been suggested that the dog "may have been triggered by the heat."

The teenager is still affected by the attack three months on. His mum said; "He has got really significant scars down both legs. He had to have 27 stitches.

"He’s afraid of these dogs now. He’s afraid to go to sleep. I have to convince him to go to school every day."

She continued; "When he was coming out of the anaesthetic he looked like he was having a fit. But he was fighting the dog, trying to save his life. Now, when he shuts his eyes he sees the dog biting a piece of his leg."

She also says that the death of Ian Price after a dog attack deeply affected her and her family.

"I absolutely burst into tears and sobbed my heart out", she said, recalling when she heard about the fatal dog attack.

"My mum was on holiday on the Isle of Wight and rang me and she burst into tears. It was so close to home what happened. And I was so grateful I got to go with my son in an ambulance and not in a hearse."

A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said: "We were called to an address off Kings Road, Kingstanding on June 25 after a boy was bitten by a dog. Officers attended and seized the dog, taking it to a secure kennel.

"The boy was taken to hospital for treatment for leg injuries."

The dog was put to sleep - police say no further action has been taken.

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