Two children and their mother were attacked by their neighbor's pit bull.

The attack happened on the family’s property last week as the children were headed to school. A 4-year-old was pinned to the ground and needed 35 stitches. Both children had to be hospitalized. The mother couldn't pry the dog off her boys and was bitten in the arm. A neighbor who heard the screams was able to get the pit bull to release after hitting it multiple times with a hammer.

Angelique Anderson, the dog's owner, said her family had just moved to the neighborhood, and her grandmother forgot the new house didn't have a fence when she let the dog out into the yard. Andersen voluntarily surrendered the dog to animal control and agreed to have him euthanized. She had raised the 3-year-old dog since he was a puppy and never had any incidents with him before.

Toms River Assistant Township Attorney Anthony Merlino said the bites missed the child's carotid artery by just an inch, with wounds all over the face and neck.

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It's unfortunate that a pit bull was involved in an incident like this, because it only serves as evidence of the negative stereotypes that surround the breed. My brother-in-law has a pit bull, and she is genuinely one of the sweetest, calmest, most gentle dogs I've ever been around. I know everyone says that "I never thought my dog would do this", and it's hard to believe all owners because sadly you don't know how the dog was raised. The fact that the dog's owner voluntarily gave up her dog leads me to believe that this really was an unexpected incident. Maybe I'm naive, but I feel like a person who was raising a violent or neglected dog or part of some dog-fighting ring would put up more of a fight to keep their animal.

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