A little boy has been left unable to smile after his pet dog ripped off his cheek while they watched a Disney film in bed.
Brantley Manion, five, was pounced on by Marley, a Mountain Cur English pointer cross, on January 8.
Mom Amanda Dally, of Wentzville, Missouri, said she and her husband Christopher, 34, heard screams coming from his bedroom.
She said: “We ran in there and we had to take Marley off him. She wouldn’t stop, it was really vicious.
“She was on top of Brantley and we couldn’t see him. Christopher pulled her off and Brantley was laying there holding his face together. She had sliced his face, it was a crazy night.”
Amanda, 35, revealed that the right side of Brantley’s face was left hanging following the savage attack by the three-year-old dog.
His mouth has been left paralyzed on one side due to torn ligaments.
Amanda said: “It was completely ripped so you could see his teeth through his cheek.
“There was blood everywhere, all over Marley and the bed.”
She doesn’t know how the attack happened as she branded Marley “the sweetest”, adding she was “so protective”.
Brantley’s lacerations were stitched up after a three-hour operation.
Amanda said she doesn’t know how many operations Brantley will need in the future.
And, she doesn’t know if he will be left scarred for life.
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She added: “He needs more surgery because he can’t smile. His mouth was completely in half so they had to reconnect the corners of his mouth.
“He can’t smile, it’s like one side of his face is paralyzed. but the scarring isn’t bad.”
The family got Marley when Brantley was just two-years-old.
He and his siblings Mckenzie, 13, and Isabella and Wyatte, both 10, had to convince Christopher to get the pooch.
Christopher was attacked by a Siberian husky when he was younger and didn’t like dogs.
Brantley insisted Marley didn’t mean to attack him but the family have been forced to put their dog down.
He spent a week in hospital and his parents have been left with a $16,000 medical bill.
The family has created a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses and are trying to raise $1,000.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.
