Edited by: TJVNews.com

A Long Island family is grappling with shock and heartbreak after a 9-year-old girl suffered devastating injuries in a vicious pit bull attack just steps away from her own home. The victim, Daniella Schlauch of Bay Shore, miraculously survived the mauling, but the consequences are severe — including a partially detached ear, hundreds of stitches and staples, a concussion, and lasting trauma that may require plastic surgery, The New York Post reported on Tuesday.

The terrifying incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when Daniella was simply getting out of a car in front of her home. Without warning, a neighbor’s unleashed pit bull charged toward her and lunged, immediately targeting her head and face.

“It pulled me down to the ground and it wouldn’t let go,” Daniella recounted to CBS New York, echoing the chilling brutality of the assault. “He was just really shaking my head right here, then he let go for a second and started doing it on my head up here.”

Her father, Pat Schlauch, who witnessed the attack unfold, didn’t hesitate. “I didn’t have time to think, but I knew I had to save my daughter’s life,” he told News12 Long Island. “The dog just jumped right on her. I was coming out of the house. I just jumped right on his back and held his head down so he couldn’t shake.”

The dog was eventually pulled off by its owner, but the damage had already been done. According to the report in The New York Post, Daniella was left with severe lacerations across her head, hand, and foot, as well as a gash through her eyebrow that narrowly missed her eye.

The fourth-grader required emergency medical attention, including nine staples in her scalp, a reattachment procedure on her ear, and so many stitches that doctors reportedly lost count, according to her father.

“It could have been so much worse,” Pat Schlauch told The New York Post. “He just missed her eye. She’s lucky to be alive.”

Doctors have confirmed that Daniella will need to see a plastic surgeon in the coming weeks, as the full extent of the cosmetic and functional damage becomes clearer.

As The New York Post reported, the pit bull is currently being held in a 10-day quarantine by the Town of Islip Animal Control, but the Schlauch family insists this is not nearly enough.

“We’re afraid to go outside of our house,” said Daniella’s mother, Teresa Schlauch, “because the dog is still unrestrained and it can escape and attack someone else.”

The family is demanding the dog’s permanent removal, citing both the severity of Daniella’s injuries and a troubling history of previous incidents. The New York Post report said the dog, they say, has a documented pattern of escaping the home by opening a simple latch on the neighbor’s back door — a problem that had been ignored far too long.

Worse still, the report in The New York Post revealed that the dog’s owners had no license for the animal and no fenced yard, serious legal oversights that have fueled the family’s concerns.

In an effort to hold the dog’s owners accountable, the family has filed a dangerous dog application — a legal mechanism under New York law which requires a judge to review the case within five days. Depending on the outcome, the judge may order the dog to be removed, retrained, or euthanized.

“It’s like the dog who attacked my sister has more rights than she does right now,” said Daniella’s brother, George Schlauch, highlighting the family’s growing sense of powerlessness and outrage. “This dog has been known to easily open the latch on the back door and escape, which it has done numerous times before.”

So far, The New York Post noted that efforts to reach the dog’s owner have been unsuccessful, and no public statement has been issued.

The Schlauch family is now calling not just for justice, but for systemic changes in how dangerous animals are handled in residential neighborhoods.

“We want to make sure this doesn’t happen to another child,” said Teresa Schlauch. “We can’t sleep at night knowing that dog is still there.”

As Daniella bravely begins her recovery — both physical and emotional — her story serves as a chilling reminder of the potentially fatal consequences of lax pet ownership and the need for strict enforcement of animal control laws.

For now, Bay Shore is watching, hoping that the legal system will recognize that a child’s safety and peace of mind must come before a dangerous dog’s second chance.