Boy, two, mauled by terrier in West Yorkshire

Archie Besau was bitten on the face by the Patterdale Terrier after he wandered from the living room into the kitchen where it was asleep at his mother's friend's house.

Despite the child's injuries, the dog's owners did not have the terrier put to sleep and police say they can take no action because the incident took place in the dog's home.

The mauling happened on Saturday at the home of Shelley McTiernan in Lupset, Wakefield, while Archie and his mother Rachel, 24, were visiting.

The dog is understood to have attacked several times before.

Mrs Besau said: "Suddenly we could hear the dog attacking him and he screamed out. It was horrific, his lip was practically hanging off. He was still screaming his head off in the ambulance.

"Normally a dog would get put down for biting a person but the police told me they can't do anything as it was in its own house. It's disgusting.

"If it had been a person that had bitten Archie it would all be different. It seems dogs have more rights than humans do."

Ms McTiernan said she took the dog, called Dave, to the RSPCA this week with her daughter - but when they got there they could not bear to have it put down. Instead it was given to a family without children.

She said: "He's a loveable dog and I treated him like a baby. My children are heartbroken and emotionally we just couldn't put him down. But I'm horribly devastated and mortified by this tragic accident.

"I always make sure the dog is in the kitchen when children are around. But Archie wandered off unsupervised and disturbed him while he was sleeping."

Insp Sally Fryer, of West Yorkshire Police, said the bite was not considered an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

She said: "If the dog had run out of its owner's house and bitten someone it would have been an offence."