A FIVE year-old boy had to have two operations after being savagely mauled by his new pet dog.

Riley Shakes-Giles was stroking Sandy, a four-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier/alsation cross, on Monday when it bit his face.

"We had to rush him to hospital and he had operations on his eye and on his lip," said his mum Gemma, 23.

"His eyelid was hanging off, it was awful.

"I was in the kitchen at the time, with Sandy, and Riley came into the kitchen and started stroking her.

"I turned around to carry on washing the dishes and I just heard him scream and run off.

"It was just one bite, but it was really bad."

The family, of Matson, only picked Sandy up on Saturday from a private seller, who also lives in Matson.

"We asked the woman time and time again if the dog was okay around children and she assured us he was," added Gemma, who also lives with her partner Steve Robins.

"She told us that Sandy was fine with kids."

They are now trying to get the dog put down or put into a shelter, but they have hit a stumbling block.

"We just can't afford to get her put down," said Gemma. "I get £80 every two weeks from income support and it costs £75 to get her terminated, it's just not possible.

"The police have been no help either and shelters won't take her on the basis that she has attacked someone.

"We really don't know what to do with her."

The family are currently staying with Gemma's mother in Podsmead.

Riley, who goes to Robinswood Primary School, refuses to return to the family home, where Sandy is currently being kept.

Gemma said: "He is totally petrified and won't go back there.

"You can't blame him though. We just need to get it sorted. He wants his bedroom back and his toys, but there's no way he will go back while we still have Sandy."

Cathryn Stack, who gave the Sandy to the family, claims she firmly believed the dog would be fine around people.

She said: "It never once attacked any of the children, but it did fight with some of the other dogs.

"As far as I was concerned, the dog was fine around children."

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: "We received a call from a couple in Matson at 6.45pm on Monday February 22 after their pet dog bit their five-year old son.

"The boy was taken by ambulance to hospital to receive treatment for the bite."