A father of a 15-month old himself, the man leapt from his car to tackle the dog after seeing the animal mauling the boy in his pram.
Damian Hall said he was driving along a Burnside street in Melbourne's western suburbs when he saw the dog head-first in the pram and an elderly woman desperately trying to fight the animal, the Herald Sun reported.
He told the Herald Sun he first tried to battle the dog with a wrench from his vehicle before "taking it on" himself.
"The wrench had no effect. This thing was just possessed," Mr Hall said.
"When I first spotted it, it was half inside the pram with the child ... I stopped just short of where it was happening to give me enough time to get something solid and heavy out.
"It just flat out wanted the baby."
The child was eventually freed after a second man, Michael, came to Mr Hall's aid but the animal continued to lunge at the injured baby as the group drove away.
"It was distracted enough that I just scooped the baby out of the pram and handed him off," Mr Hall said.
"I asked the child's grandmother to drive, she was probably in shock, and it tried to come into the car and I used my shoe to fight it back," Michael said.
Another neighbour was attacked while she tried to call police.
"The poor lady came out on the phone and she tripped and it went her," Mr Hall said.
"It took a good chunk from her back."
Authorities confirmed the dog is a bull terrier cross, as locals claim they had alerted the Melton Shire to the animal just before the attack, and that the same dog had previously been recaptured after getting loose.
Earlier reports suggested the dog may have been a pit bull cross.
The boy remains at Sunshine Hospital in a stable condition, but with horrific facial injuries.
A council spokeswoman confirmed the dog was both registered and microchipped with the council as a "English bull terrier cross".
(Perth Now - Nov 18, 2011)
