Little Toni Clannachan was pinned to the ground by the vicious American Akita before the brutal animal shook her in its powerful jaws.
The ten-year-old was rushed to hospital where she is now recovering from her terrifying ordeal.
But last night her dad James Dixon told how nurses caring for her have had to cover up all the mirrors on the ward — because the youngster is still too scared to see the effects of the horror attack.
Devastated James, 40, said: “She doesn’t want to see her face. She is frightened to go to the toilet in case she sees a mirror. The nurses have covered them up for her.
“She loves animals, she has a terrier of her own. But she’s been asking if the dog has been put down — she is that frightened.”
The horror is the second sickening dog attack in a week after ten-year-old Rhianna Kidd was savaged by Rottweilers in Dundee.
James told how he had found Toni at the home of the Akita’s owner, Gaynor McCabe, with her 11-year-old son Gabriel and another boy before the horror happened on Tuesday.
He said: “The dog was just sitting out the back at the bottom of the garden and the kids were playing quite happily with two ferrets that Gaynor keeps.
“Toni was going to stay for dinner, so I said I was going home to tell her mum where she was.”
But moments after James left the house in Kilmarnock, Gabriel’s friend raced after him and told him the powerful beast — named Kruger — had turned on Toni.
And the dad was horrified when he saw her devastating injuries.
James said: “I’d only got about a hundred yards when the other boy came running after me to tell me the dog had bitten Toni.
“I ran back expecting her to have a bite on the arm. But I walked into the front room and she had a tea towel over her mouth, a five-inch hole in her cheek and her bottom lip was hanging off — you could see her teeth.
“She wasn’t crying, she was just sitting there in total shock.
“There wasn’t as much blood as you’d think, just a great big hole. It was really shocking.”
Gaynor’s mother called an ambulance and Toni was rushed to Crosshouse Hospital. James travelled with his daughter, while an another neighbour told the youngster’s mum Carol Clannachan, 39, what had happened.
Ton needed four hours of emergency surgery and around 150 stitches.
She spent a night in intensive case before being moved to the children’s ward, where her condition is described as stable. Her parents, who also have 19-year-old daughter Kayleigh, have kept a vigil at her bedside.
And James revealed brave Toni has been able to describe the attack to police.
He said: “She told me she came to the side of the house to say cheerio to me and as she turned the dog just jumped up and grabbed her by the face.
“She said it pinned her to the floor and shook her about.
“I believe the boy who lives over the fence jumped over and pulled the dog off her. He rescued her and could well have saved her life. I can’t thank the lad enough.”
Akitas — originally from Japan — were used to hunt wild animals including BEARS and are fierce fighters. James said he and Carol had read about the previous attack on little Rhianna and called for more to be done about the growing menace of devil dogs.
He said: “We saw the story about the girl in Dundee, but you never imagine that it is going to be your child. An inch lower and it would have ripped her throat out. We are devastated about what has happened but glad it wasn’t worse. Dogs like that shouldn’t be in the house. They aren’t bred as pets. It is called a fighting dog. They are killing machines.”
Neighbours in the area said owner Gaynor, 41, ran a dog grooming business but had been warned before about her animal’s behaviour.
One local, who helped drag the dog off Toni, said: “She could have been killed.”
Strathclyde Police last night said the dog would be held while they investigate the attack.
Gaynor refused to answer the door at her semi-detached house.
(Scottish Sun - September 2, 2010)
