CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) – A young Clearwater boy is recovering from a vicious attack from his own family dog.

His mother explains the dog went after her 5-year-old for no reason. And now, she’s warning other parents of the need to be vigilant around kids and pets.

Extremely shy, the victim of the June 25 dog mauling has more than 100 stitches on his head. Doctors also had to re-attach his left ear.

It happened inside the family home as his mother was preparing to leave. Her daughter Elisa, alerted her.

“Ran to me, yelling, mommy mommy mommy. And I said, what’s wrong, and she’s like, King is on top of him” said Amy Pavelzik.

King, a 2 year old Amstaff terrier, who’d been abandoned, attacked unprovoked.

“I was trying to get him off. I opened my front door. I yelled for help because usually, someone’s walking by some time” said Pavelzik.

Going against her instincts, she tried her best to fight him off.

“I put my hands in his mouth and tried ripping his jaw off of my son” she explained.

The boy’s 7-year-old sister, Elisa, watched in horror.

“All of a sudden, the dog just jumped up and (her brother) like ran over to the ac vent on the floor. And then the dog chased after him” said Elisa.

In the chaos, she came up with a plan.

“I splashed water over of King’s face and it got him off” said Elisa.

“The only thing that saved his face at the moment, was the fact that he turned his head away and that’s when the dog grabbed right here” said Amy.

The victim is suffering from nightmares.

The family plans to give up King. They don’t want him back.

The children’s mother is setting up counseling to help them get over this violent event.