UPDATE MARCH 16: Guido Mantilla Jr., who was attacked by two pit bulls at his neighbor's home, has been released from the hospital. Doctors say that he is still at risk to develop and infection and he still has 30 stitches in his head.
ORIGINAL STORY
A little boy is recovering after nearly being mauled to death by two pit bulls in a neighborhood near East Washington Avenue and North Hollywood Boulevard.
Guido Mantilla Sr. tells 13 Action News that he walked his 10-year-old son, Guido Mantilla Jr., down to a neighbors' house to play with their boy.
He hung out for more than an hour while the boys played but then he needed to leave to have dinner.
"I told my son, let's go to eat, let's go to have dinner," said Mantilla. "He looked at me with these puppy eyes and says daddy please, let me stay and have fun with my friend."
Mantilla wanted to make sure the neighbors' dogs remained in their kennel before leaving.
"I turned to that man and I asked him, I told him, please on one condition, do not let those animals out of the kennel."
Mantilla says the man agreed.
But according to Mantilla Jr., the man let the dogs out 15 minutes later.
"He let the dogs out and the dogs ran to me and started to bite me," said the young boy from the hospital bed.
Mantilla Jr., better known as Little Guido, has bite marks all over his body and 30 stitches on his face.
"I'm not here for a lawsuit, I'm here for justice," said Mantilla. "I want to know why he let those dogs out and why they almost ate my kid."
Mantilla wants to use this terrible incident to create change. He wants to create stricter laws for people who train dogs to kill.
"There has to be stricter laws, these guys can not convert these dogs and train them to be killer weapons, use them against people and get off scot free. I am a dog lover. I have dogs. But I don't train my dogs to kill."
Mantilla is in touch with local authorities to try and get laws changed.
He is using the hashtag #DaddyWhyMe after Little Guido came up with it.
The family is raising money to help with the cause. They say they do not need money for any medical bills, they've got it covered.
