The dog was tied up on the front porch when 4-year-old Colin tried to pet it. The dog immediately attacked the boy, biting his face.

KENOSHA, Wis. (WTHR) — A 4-year-old Wisconsin boy is recovering from surgery after being mauled by a dog that is now nowhere to be found.

The Kiely family had an acquaintance at their home last week, and she brought her dog — a white pitbull — with her. The dog was tied up on the front porch when 4-year-old Colin tried to pet it. Security cameras on the home show the dog immediately attack, biting Colin's face.

Colin's father, Paul, carried the boy to a nearby hospital, where he underwent a 2.5-hour surgery.

"This is life-changing," Paul told TMJ4. "You go from a happy 4-year-old boy — perfect child — to having to face multiple surgeries for the rest of your life, revision surgery, plastic surgery. No child should have to go through that."

County health officials say the dog was not licensed with the city and there's no evidence it was up to date on its rabies vaccine. The dog's owner took the dog to an unknown location and has not been cooperative since.

She did talk to TMJ4, saying her dog was provoked, whether the child meant to do it or not.

"Colin was unsupervised petting a big dog," AnneMarie Archambeault said. "My dog was fine, wagging (its) tail, but as soon as eye contact happened, and he leaned further down, that's testing dominance. Aggressive or not, that's taken as a threat to any animal."

Police continue to investigate the incident as health officials have requested they hand down citations on Archambeault.

"It's unbelievably frustrating," Paul said. "It's just a matter of time before this dog bites somebody else."