NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A man was just walking to work when he came face-to-face with two dangerous dogs that left him mauled and terrified.

As CBS2’s Matt Kozar reported exclusively Saturday night, Francesco Bove, 62, did his best to fight off the dogs as they bit him and pulled him across the street Friday morning.

Police said the vicious attack happened around 9:40 a.m. Friday on Belmont Avenue between 187th and 188th streets in the Belmont section of the Bronx, WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported.

Bove was on his way to work at a nearby church at the time, and said he approached the dogs because they were wagging their tails at him and seemed friendly. He is a dog lover.

But he said when he stretched out his hand, the dogs leapt at him.