A man who rescued a boy from a dog attack so violent the animal had to be shot dead by armed police has praised the courage of the terrified child.

Dean Crowe described horrific scenes he saw on Sunday when the 13-year-old was repeatedly bitten by the crazed animal on a kitchen floor in Great Horton. He had to attack the dog with a spade to rescue the boy.

“The last words I heard were, ‘I’m going to die, aren’t I?’ I think somebody up there must have given him strength,” Mr Crowe said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s hard enough to think he thought he was going to die, but for that to come out of his mouth. You wouldn’t be able to describe what he looked like, he was just covered in blood. It was horrible. The dog was covered in blood too.”

Residents were yesterday visited by police who said dogs roaming around would be removed from the street, Mr Crowe said.

The boy, named locally as Luka, was dragged downstairs by the animal at 7.20pm on Sunday. He was visiting his friend, Rachel, with his cousin, Loine, and girlfriend, Amina, in Frank Street.

Mr Crowe, 37, was alerted when neighbour Margaret Thomson banged on his front door for help. Her niece, Amina, 12, had run to Miss Thomson’s home, on neighbouring Cambridge Street.

Mr Crowe ran inside the house and saw Luka on the kitchen floor through a glass panelled door. “Luka was on the floor, the dog was at his neck and Luka was shaking and the dog wouldn’t let go,” Mr Crowe said.

Mr Crowe banged on the door to distract the dog and shouted for it to get off the boy.

“When he [Luka] stopped shaking, the dog got off him and came for me. Luka moved his arm trying to get up and the dog went for him again,” he added.

It was then that the boy seemed to be losing consciousness, he said.

Mr Crowe tried to distract the dog and shouted and kicked at it before hitting it with a spade. He told the boy, who finally pulled himself out of the room after the dog went back to him twice more, to play dead.

Mr Crowe told police to stay back and armed backup was called. The dog was shot twice so paramedics could get into the house. Mr Crowe, who has only lived in the area for eight weeks, did not think about his own safety. He said: “I was more worried about the boy. Any bravery award should go to the boy. He’s braver than any of us, to be honest.”

Miss Thomson, 24, said the dog had only been living with Rachel a few days. “It was supposed to be a really kind dog. But for it to do that, it must have been badly treated in the past,” she said.

Mr Crowe, who has been prescribed sleeping tablets since the attack, said no-one was to blame. A police spokesman said investigations were continuing.