Action News was the only station present as paramedics rushed a 13-year-old boy and his father to Albert Einstein Medical Center after the vicious attack that left neighbors stunned.
"It's shocking because it's just unusual of it happening, and I'm sorry that it happened especially when it comes to little kids," neighbor Roger Chamberlain said.
Authorities say the two pit bull mixes escaped from their backyard through a hole in the fence and ended up in their next door neighbor's yard.
When the 13-year-old went to retrieve the dogs, he was mauled in the face and arms. When his father ran over to help him, they attacked him, too.
The father and son somehow managed to jump over the fence to safety.
"It's actually very unusual; we don't have many cases of dogs attacking their owners," Dr. Rachel Lee of the PSPCA said.
Clearly, pit bulls have long been abused to fight other dogs, sometimes to the death.
"They have been bred for dog fighting for a few 100 years, but lately in urban settings, they've been bred less properly, less selectively," Freddy Carbonera of the PSPCA said.
While it was not immediately known if these dogs were being trained for dog fighting, Dr. Lee says for the most part, pit bulls are generally people friendly
"There are people who randomly attack people and it's not that all people are bad, but that just happens. It's something in that scenario that made these dogs very nervous or very territorial about the environment that they were in and I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the breed or with the dog," Dr. Lee said.
Late Thursday night, reports say the father had been treated and released form Albert Einstein Medical Center. His son, however, remains hospitalized from his extensive injuries to his face and arm.
The dogs will remain in quarantine for at least ten days.
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