Asa King's six-year-old daughter is facing the rest of her life in a wig after a neighbour's pet dog tore off most of her scalp in a frenzied attack in north Queensland this month.



But the Cape York father of four says he feels no malice towards the animal, a Great Dane cross breed, or its horrified owners, who were "like grandparents" to his badly injured daughter Isabella.

Isabella is in a Brisbane hospital awaiting several rounds of painful skin graft surgery after a marathon eight-hour operation to reattach 70 per cent of her scalp - ripped off from the crown of her head to behind her ears - failed.

The result means Isabella's long, shiny locks will never grow back.

"Look, it was a dog the kids had played with many times before. I think it had been playing with her to begin with but something's happened and it has just pulled her to the ground and attacked," Mr King told brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday.