A ten-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a dog.

Toni Clannachan from Kilmarnock was bitten in the face by an Akita dog while she played in a school friend's garden at a house on Tuesday.

She was taken to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, where her condition is described as stable.

Toni's father, James Dixon, told the Daily Record newspaper: "These dogs shouldn't be with families or around kids. They are killing machines."

Speaking about the injuries to his daughter's face, he added: "If the dog had bit her an inch or so lower it would have severed an artery in her neck and I really think she would be dead."

The newspaper says that Toni needed more than 100 stitches for the injury from the attack.

A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said: "At 4.40pm on August 31 a ten-year-old female sustained facial injuries when she was bitten by a Japanese akita dog in the Kilmarnock area.

"She was conveyed to Crosshouse Hospital for treatment and is detained in a stable condition."

It is the second time this week a youngster has been seriously attacked by a dog. On Sunday ten-year-old Rhianna Kidd was mauled by two rottweilers while riding her bicycle in Dundee.

The primary school pupil was treated for a fractured jaw and has had to have plastic surgery. The dogs were put down earlier this week.

A 33-year-old woman was charged in connection with the attack under the Dangerous Dogs Act, Tayside Police said earlier this week.

Picture courtesy of Daily Record