Dog bites boy’s head

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 32

Dog bites boy’s head

PA Napier A Napier boy, aged five, received 90 stitches to a series of head gashes after being attacked by a dog. Rhys Christison was playing football with friends on the front lawn a few doors from his parents’ home at Clive, 10km from Napier, on Monday, when the attack happened at 9.30 a.m. The boy nearly lost an eye and required urgent surgery, but the consequences could have been even more severe, according to his mother, Vickie.

“If the dog had got him by the throat he wouldn’t be here,” she said from Napier Hospital where Rhys was recovering from the attack. She said Rhys was grabbed by a nine-month-old Rottweiler which bit his head and shook him as if he were a tiny rag doll. Rhys’ father, Mr Mike Christison, said Rhys and his friends were kicking the football about when the dog entered the play, possibly trying to take the ball. “Then it took to Rhys,” Mr Christison said. The other boys grabbed

at the dog which had Rhy’s head firmly in its jaws and managed to drag the dog away. Rhys, with blood streaming from his head ran home to his shocked mother who rushed him to hospital. “I heard screaming and I knew it was Rhys. I went to the door and saw the blood on his face ... I thought at first he’d been pushed over,” Mrs Christison said. The police were called and the dog was shot. The police were considering prosecuting the owner of the dog.