An 11-year-old-boy displayed courage when he heroically stepped in to save his younger sister’s nine-year-old friend, who was being attacked by a pit bull.

The attack happened at around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at a mobile home park in Holland Township, Michigan, WOOD TV8 reported.

Dominic Morales was playing with his sister and her friend, Allison, in an inflatable pool when a pit bull belonging to a neighboring house jumped into the pool with the children.

After the pit bull hopped out, Allison tried to signal for the dog to go away but slipped and fell down while doing so. That’s when the dog suddenly started attacking and viciously biting the nine-year-old.

Without hesitation, after seeing the pit bull attack his sister’s friend, Dominic pulled the pit bull off of Allison but then was attacked by the dog as well.

Dominic was bitten on the leg and the dog was gnawing on his arm when his stepmom pulled the pit bull off by grabbing it on its collar.

Allison suffered serious injuries to her face on her ear, cheek, and eye during the attack and had to be hospitalized. There is no update on her condition as of yet, although photographs indicate that her injuries were quite extensive.

“She’s got a very small piece of skin right here by her ear that’s still there. Then, she had a great big gouge (on her cheek). The doctor had to pull it and stitch it, seriously,” Kerri Lyttaker, who is Allison’s grandmother, told Wood TV8. Lyttaker is unsure how severe the injuries are to Allison’s eye.

Dominic had to receive 21 stitches to his thigh and forearm following the attack. However, if it were not for Dominic’s quick thinking and bravery, Allison’s injuries could have even been much worse.

“Dominic saved my granddaughter,” Lyttaker said. “He’s a blessing,”

Jessica Gamboa, who is Dominic’s stepmother, told Wood TV8 that the owner of the dog and his family left the mobile home park shortly after the attack.

“They’re cowards. All they could say was ‘sorry.’ That’s all they could say,” Gamboa said. “They were told to keep that dog on a leash with somebody present. They failed to do that,”

The owner has since reportedly handed the dog over to Ottawa County Animal Control.

Lyttaker and Gamboa both claimed that the pit bull had been the subject of complaints made to the mobile home park before but that nothing was done about it.

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is reportedly investigating the attack and said it might bring criminal charges to the dog’s owner.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.