Jodie Griffiths, who was 35 years old at the time, was working when her boyfriend gave her the devastating news that their son Romy, who was just two years old at the time, had been gravely bitten.
While the youngster and his siblings were enjoying themselves with their new toy flying helicopters in the living room, the family dog Blizzard, who was eight years old, was sound asleep on the sofa nearby.
Daniel Griffiths, Romy’s dad, had only glanced away for a split second when the child shouted out in anguish, and when he went back to look at him, he found him covered in blood after a single bite had torn through his nose.
The assault resulted in extensive lacerations across tiny Romy’s nose and face, as well as a cracked jaw and even the loss of some of his teeth. There are disturbing images of the aftermath of the incident.
The child’s parents claim that their Staffordshire bull terrier, who they called their son’s “best friend,” had never shown any sign of aggression in the past. Because of this, they are certain that the dog was startled awake by the flying toy and that he rushed for the child’s face in an attempt to comfort him.
After the owner gave Blizzard up to the authorities so that he might be rehomed, the dog was given a “thorough assessment,” and after it was concluded that the circumstances surrounding the event made it impossible for him to be rehomed, he was put down.
Now, the ultrasound assistant has shown other parents the horrifying images she took of her son’s injuries in order to warn them about the dangers of dog attacks, especially when the dogs in question are trusted members of the family.
Jodie, from Walsall, said, “The kids were playing in the front room with their flying helicopters and the dog was asleep on the chair.” Jodie was referring to the scene in which the dog was snoozing on the chair.
“My boyfriend had gotten up to go to the kitchen, but he didn’t even get there – he heard Romy scream and turned around, and that was just how quickly everything occurred. My partner had gotten up to go to the kitchen.
“I believe that one of the flying helicopters jolted the dog awake, and Romy’s face must have been right there. The dog must have been looking directly at her.
“While I was at work, my partner called to tell me that our dog had bitten the infant. I immediately became quite anxious and couldn’t believe what had happened. I am still having trouble wrapping my brain around it at this point.
“When I arrived home, Romy was drenched in blood, and so was my boyfriend, who had also been covered in his blood.
“At first, he was yelling, but then he began nodding off to sleep, and the medics stated that it was due of the shock. After that, they administered morphine to him until it was time for him to go into surgery.
Because he wouldn’t allow anybody look at his face before the operation, we didn’t have a good idea of how serious it was until after the procedure.
“It fractured his jaw, ripped all of his nose, and ripped out three teeth from the root – he had to have hundreds and hundreds of stitches; they lost count of how many there were in total.”
“The damage was really bad on the inside of his nose, and they said that if the dog had bit down a little bit more, his whole nose would have been bitten off.” “The damage was really bad on the inside of his nose.”
Following the distressing phone call, Jodie hastened home, where she found her parents already on route to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton with their little child. The assault took place in the month of December.
After that, Romy was sent to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where he had surgery the next day to have his nose stitched back together.
Due to the considerable damage to the child’s face, the procedure that was supposed to take two hours ended up requiring five hours instead, and the toddler then needed to spend two nights in the hospital to recuperate.
According to reports, the adored mutt Blizzard had been a member of the family for the most of his eight-year existence, ever since he was a puppy. However, the dog had never shown any symptoms of aggressiveness in the past.
Jodie said that law enforcement officials visited their house the same day the incident occurred and decided that it was a “accident,” which meant that Blizzard may continue to live with the family if they so desired.
However, the mother of eight acknowledges that she will never again be able to trust the dog around her children, and as a result, they have made the decision to turn him over to the authorities.
Jodie shared her thoughts, stating, “Blizzard has always been a family dog who has loved to play, loved a fuss, and wanted to get involved with everything.”
“He was a kind dog, and the children really adored having him around. Romy considered him to be her closest friend.
“I do not believe that it was a premeditated assault. All of the damage was caused by only one bite; he has not prolonged the assault or dragged him around or anything like that.
“At the end of the day, I will always put my children first, and it was the best thing for the dog to go, in the hopes that it will be adopted by another family.”
If he had been near my children again, I never would have trusted him again, and now I don’t trust any dog.
“One came up to Romy in the street when he was in the pram, and I spun the pram around and started screaming hysterically to get it away from him.”
Because of the extensive stitching that was done to Romy’s nose, he has to have regular checkups at the hospital as he gets older. This is because there is a chance that the stitching will hinder his nose from expanding in proportion to the rest of his face as he gets taller.
The doctors have cautioned that he may need a second surgery by the time he is four years old and another surgery when he is a teenager in order to realign his nose and nostrils to fit his maturing face.
After being forced to find a new home for the pet she believed she could trust with her children, the mother now aims to disseminate information to other parents about the dangers of keeping a dog in the same house as their children.
Jodie shared her thoughts, saying, “Even looking at him now I can’t believe he’s got to live with this scar but he is healing beautifully.”
“I want to bring light to this issue, and I wouldn’t suggest anybody with children to have a dog because even if it’s an accident, it still has the potential to happen.
“People love their dogs and say things like’my dog would never do that,’ but when we were younger, we used to say the same thing.”
The following is a statement made by a spokeswoman for the West Midlands Police: “On the 27th of December 2021, we were called to [an address] in Wolverhampton in response to complaints that a youngster had been bitten by a dog.
“The little child, who was only two years old, was transported to the hospital and received treatment for major facial injuries.
According to Section 3 of the Dangerous Dog Act, the dog, which was a mix of a Staffordshire bull terrier and a terrier, was taken away.
The dog’s ownership has been handed over to the police department. As a result of the aggressive behaviour, it was determined that the dog would never be able to find a new home, therefore it was put down in a compassionate manner.