A Lake Forest woman shot a dog after it attacked her children outside their home Wednesday, authorities said.

Two of the woman’s daughters, ages 3 and 6, were walking to a neighbor’s house on a quiet cul de sac late Wednesday morning when a dog, thought to be a boxer or a pit bull mix, sprang at the 6-year-old, according to Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

The woman, holding her 1-year-old daughter and accompanied by her 14-year-old son, was drawn from the house by the children’s screams. Outside, they found the dog on top of the girl, furiously biting her.

A neighbor tried to get the dog off the girl by spraying it with Windex, Amormino said. When that didn’t work, the 14-year-old leaped at the dog, punching it until it let the child free.

The woman scooped up her daughters and ran to her house, Amormino said, but the dog chased them, at one point snapping at the 1-year-old's pant legs. The family made it safely inside, but the dog stayed on the porch outside, growling.