London, Sep 11 (IANS) A two-year-old boy in Britain needed 200 stitches on his face after a horrifying attack by his grandparents’ sheepdog.

Joshua Mann will be scarred for life following the savage attack, Daily Express reported Saturday.

He was stroking the dog, Rossie, when it suddenly clamped its jaws on his cheeks.

‘I thought he was going to die. He looked in so much pain,’ Joshua’s mother Lisa was quoted as saying.

The dog attacked the boy last Saturday when Joshua was at his grandparents’ farm in Andoversford, Glos.

Lisa said: ‘Joshua was stroking Rossie when she jumped up and latched on to his face. She pulled him to the ground and wouldn’t release him. His dad and -others ran over and started punching the dog to get him to let go.’

The boy was promptly taken to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where he underwent two operations.

‘I nearly passed out with the sight of blood. You could see right through his cheek to his teeth. The cut went through to the inside of his mouth. He also has wounds to his neck millimetres from the main artery carrying blood to the brain. He has scars all over his back, the back of his head and behind his ear,’ Lisa said.

The dog has since been put down.