Joshua Rivera dog incident: How Joshua Rivera was mauled by his aunt’s therapy dog

An 11 year old boy identified as Joshua Rivera was critically injured after being mauled by his family’s bulldog during a terrifying incident inside his aunt’s apartment.

Joshua Rivera was bitten several times in the face and the arm by the dog, named Aries.

The attack occurred on Tuesday shortly before 3pm.

Rivera was quickly transported to a local hospital for surgery and is said to be in a stable condition following the horrific attack.

The incident had happened at his aunt Johanna Lopez-Ramos’s apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

According to abc, it took two people to pull the dog off of the young boy who was screaming.

His aunt told the outlet: ‘I just heard my nephew screaming and I came running out the back door and I just had to react quickly to separate them. 

‘I got bit myself trying to separate them.’

Joshua Rivera and his brother Julian live with their aunt after their mother died from cancer a few months ago.

Julian told the outlet: ‘The dog started biting him, attacking him and jumping over him. I saw it and I ran.’

According to his aunt, both Rivera and his twin have ADHD and may have been too excited with the dog, prompting the attack.

Rivera said she thought Aries was gentle, until she heard her nephew’s screams.

Aries was barricaded inside the apartment until ESU officers transported the dog out of the building.

The dog had been used as a therapy dog for Lopez-Ramos and her mental health.

Authorities took the animal away in a crate and Lopez-Ramos said she was going to have the dog put down.

It is not clear whether or not anyone will be charged in connection with the attack.