THE father of a three-year-old boy who had 20 stitches in his face after being savaged by the family pet today described how the child was lucky to be alive.

Little Keilen Willis, of Grasmere Avenue, Padiham, was attacked by the family's Japanese Akita called Simba as the two slept together on a rug in front of the fire.

Keilen and Simba had grown up together and the family said she had never shown any signs of viciousness towards them.

Dad Damian, 24, of Laithe Street, Burnley, said RSPCA officers believed the dog had a bad dream and attacked the nearest thing when he woke up.

Keilen, who lives with mum Rachael Clawson, 20, was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary and underwent an operation to have 20 stitches inserted into his face following the incident on Saturday night.

He was later transferred to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, where he remains comfortable.

The dog has lived with Racheal and Keilen for four years since it was a pup. The dog has since been destroyed.

Damian said: "It was such a shock because Keilen has grown up with the dog. He has never done anything like this before but it is very scary to know that a dog you have cared for all its life would turn like this.

"Keilen is very lucky to be alive because when these dogs turn they can be very vicious, but we had never seen that side of him until this incident.

"It is a very sad time for us because we had all grown to love the dog, but at the end of the day we just couldn't risk keeping him."

Damian contacted the police after paramedics took Keilen to hospital.

Sergeant John Fryer from Padiham Police said: "Damian came to us at about am on Sunday morning to report what had happened.

"The youngster received some nasty facial injuries from a dog which is usually bred for fighting. He was very lucky to not loose his eye because it just missed that part of his face."