By Christine Lavelle
TWO school boys were mauled by their new pet dog while they slept on their couch in front of the television.
Brothers Wayne, 13, and Sean Darling, 12, suffered around 70 wounds between them after new edition to the family â Clyde the dog â savaged them without warning in the living room of their home in Bonnyrigg, Edinburgh.
The boysâ mum Etta Paterson, 50, told how her sons are lucky to be alive after the ordeal, which left them âlying in a pool of blood.â
She said Wayne and Sean, both pupils at Lasswade High School, had fallen asleep on the couch after watching TV on Sunday night, with Clyde – an Old English Bull Terrier crossed with a bull mastiff – sleeping next to Wayneâs feet.
Third-year pupil Wayne woke at around 1.30am to find the two-and-a-half year-old dog attacking his leg, and he immediately screamed for help.
Sean had been sleeping on the couch opposite and was wakened by the screams.
He jumped to his older brotherâs aid by kicking the dog in the face â but Clyde soon turned on him.
‘Sounded like the dog was killing them’
Ms Paterson, a mum-of-six, said: âI was sleeping upstairs and was wakened by the most terrifying scream.
âIt sounded like the dog was killing them.
âI didnât know what I was opening the door to.
âWayne was lying in a pool of blood and the whole sofa was covered in Seanâs blood.
âThere was blood on the walls.â
Wayne added: âI lifted the covers and my leg had been ripped to shreds.â
And, whenever Ms Paterson tried to edge closer to her sons, Clyde would get nearer to Wayneâs face.
Ms Paterson, who had managed to grab a hammer and knife from the kitchen to try and protect her family, said: âIâm 50 years old and I have never felt fear like that in my life.
âI thought it was going to kill them.
âI couldnât get near them â the dog went absolutely crazy every time I moved closer.â
Clyde â who was given to the family by a friend – had only been with them for one week and Ms Paterson insisted he had showed no previous signs of violence.
‘Worst decision’
He has been destroyed after finally being subdued by police dog handlers in the familyâs home.
Ms Paterson said: âGetting him was the worst decision I have ever made in my life.
âClyde had been out playing with my grandkids in the back garden that very day.
âMy grandson, Kerr, who will be two in October, was meant to be staying over that night but I wasnât feeling great so I took him home.
âThank God he didnât stay because I know it could have been so much worse.â
Barricaded
Ms Paterson managed to get her boys to the kitchen, where they barricaded themselves in by pushing a table against the door to prevent the 3ft-tall dog from opening it.
When police and dog handlers arrived one hour after the ordeal began, Clyde was trapped in the hallway.
He received a number of electric shocks before passing out and was given a lethal injection from a vet.
Wayne and Sean were taken to Edinburghâs Royal Infirmary, where they received several stitches, and Wayne was given crutches to help him walk after sustaining a bite on the sole of his foot.
Both are expected to be scarred for life after the attack, and Sean suffered around 30 separate wounds on his right arm, while big brother Wayne had 40 on his right leg.
Police are investigating the incident.