Dog attack teen lucky to be alive

The Sydney teenager who lost his ear in a vicious dog attack has spoken exclusively to Seven News.

Surgeons have told Ben Arthur that he's lucky to be alive, but his ear was too damaged to reattach.

"I grabbed my ear and we went up to my mate's house and put my ear in the freezer," Ben said.

His ear was ripped off by a dog called "Angel", and her mate.

Their owner claims they're American Staffordshire terriers, but Ben thinks they're pitbulls.

"Two pitties ran around the corner and they just started unleashing on my dog," Ben said.

He tried to rescue his dog Costa when one of them grabbed him on the leg.

“As I bent down, grabbed my leg a bit, that's when one of them got me in the ear."

"There was all little kids across the street. It wasn't too pleasant for them. There was blood everywhere. I just heard screaming from little kids."

Police seized the dogs, with their guns drawn, and took them to the pound.

The dogs' owner wouldn't speak on camera, but says he feels sorry for Ben and wishes him well.

The owner met with Bankstown Council today to try to spare his pets from being put down.

Both dogs were euthanased this afternoon.

Pit bulls were banned in 2005, and although the dogs were micro-chipped as American staffies, dog experts believe these were cross-breeds, which weren’t banned.

"Most of the dog attacks that I have seen over 20 to 25 years have been cross breed dogs," Dr Peter Higgins from Dogs New South Wales said.

Ben's ear couldn't be reattached, but surgeons will construct a new one from rib cartilage. They say he's lucky to be alive.

"He said a few inches up and it could have punctured your main artery," Ben’s mother Jackie Smith said.