Boy savaged after being jumped by friend's dog

Images of Cameron Pita's injuries immediately after the attack are too horrific to show. Photo / Vision Media

A 9-year-old boy is recovering with 88 stitches after being savaged in a dog attack.

Cameron Pita was visiting a friend near his home in Palmerston North when he went to pat the family dog, a weimaraner-shorthaired pointer cross.

"I stopped patting it and then it just jumped at me," said Pita. "It happened pretty fast. It bit my face first then went to the other spot."

Pita suffered a large gash in his cheek and cuts on his arm, chest and stomach.

His mother Andrea Tyson saw Cameron's injuries when ambulance officers arrived.

"My legs gave away - I was in a state of shock. At least he's alive. At least his face was fixable." She said the dog's owners were "devastated" and had the animal destroyed immediately.