An 11-year-old Maplewood boy is expected to leave the hospital Thursday after a pair of dogs seriously injured him in an attack moments after he stepped off his school bus.

Carter McKay, 11, of Maplewood, shown before he was attacked by dogs on Monday as he walked from his school bus to his front door. Family photo

Carter McKay, a sixth grader, got off the bus after classes at John Glenn Middle School in Maplewood Monday afternoon. He usually gets home first, while his mom is at work, followed by his older brother a few minutes later.

But on Monday, there were two dogs standing in his yard when he got home, said his mother Christina Frokjer.

“He said they didn’t growl or anything, but they were coming after him, so he backed up into the other yard and they ended up being able to get him down on the ground,” Frokjer said. The two dogs bit him repeatedly in the leg as he lay screaming on the ground.

The sound caught the attention of a neighbor as well as a woman who’d been driving and stopped to check her GPS. The woman got out of her car and used an umbrella to drive off the dogs as Carter lay injured.

The neighbor across the street tried to help, as well, and was also bitten by the dogs.

The woman got Carter into her car and called 911. Police and an ambulance arrived and took Carter to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he’s been hospitalized for three days.

“Walking into the emergency room, I just had no idea what I was walking into,” Frokjer said. “I’m glad that somebody was there for him, and it didn’t turn into a worse situation, because there are a lot of traumatic stories, and these dogs are vicious. Especially to have two of them, he didn’t have a chance.”

Frojker said the dogs lived across the street and apparently got out of an open gate. She said one of the dogs didn’t have current vaccination records, so Carter also has to undergo rabies vaccinations as a precaution

His legs are completely wrapped in bandages, and his wounds had to be left open to try and prevent infection from the dog bites. “He’s still in a lot of pain,” Frokjer said.

Carter McKay, 11, was mauled by neighborhood dogs on Monday, moments after getting off his school bus in Maplewood. His legs and feet are shown here wrapped in bandages as he was being treated at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Family photo

Maplewood police say they seized the animals, and both were euthanized by animal control officials in St. Paul.

Maplewood police commander Dave Kvam said there was no indication that the dog attacks were provoked by Carter or anyone else. He said the city attorney is reviewing the case for violations of city leash ordinances, and for failure of the owner to quickly provide immunization records for one of the dogs.