Police said the 2-year-old suffered serious facial injuries Tuesday evening and remains hospitalized as investigators review what happened.
MIAMI GARDENS, FL — A 2-year-old boy was hospitalized after two family dogs attacked him in the backyard of a Miami Gardens home Tuesday evening, police said, leaving the child with severe facial injuries and prompting an investigation into how the attack unfolded.
Authorities said the attack was reported just before 7 p.m. in the 3600 block of Northwest 191st Street, in a residential neighborhood in north Miami-Dade County. Miami Gardens police said officers arrived to find that the toddler had been bitten in the face by two dogs described by some local reports as pit bulls and by one television station, citing police, as mixed-breed dogs. The child was first taken by air to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and later transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where police said he was expected to undergo surgery. By Wednesday, officials said he was in stable condition, but many details about the moments before the attack remained unclear.
Police said the boy was in the backyard of the home when the dogs attacked him. Officer Diana Delgado of the Miami Gardens Police Department said officers received the call at about 6:51 p.m. near Northwest 36th Avenue and 191st Street. Investigators have not said how long the child had been outside, whether the dogs were loose in the yard the entire time or whether anyone directly witnessed the first bite. Delgado said the child was at home with an adult and other juveniles when he went into the backyard. She said the dogs were not strangers to the boy and were the home’s pets. “We do not know what led up to the bite or the dog bite or the attack at this time,” Delgado said in televised remarks as investigators worked the scene. Video from local stations showed crime-scene personnel moving in and out of the house while relatives waited nearby.
Emergency crews treated the child at the scene before calling for a helicopter because of the extent of his injuries. Television footage showed the toddler being airlifted from a nearby middle school after paramedics brought him from the house. Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital initially received the boy, and officials later said he was moved to Jackson Memorial Hospital for additional treatment. Police did not publicly release the child’s name Wednesday, and they did not say whether his parents or guardians had spoken in public. Neighbors who spoke briefly to local television crews said they knew of the family but had little information about the attack itself. No arrests were announced, and police said they were treating the case as an apparent accident while the investigation continued. Even so, officers and animal control personnel still had to sort through basic questions, including exactly where each dog was during the attack and whether there had been any earlier complaints involving the animals.
The case also raised the routine legal and procedural steps that follow a serious dog attack in Florida. Under state law, animal control authorities investigate reports involving dogs that may be dangerous, gather statements and records, and determine whether an animal should be formally classified as dangerous. In Miami-Dade County, a dog declared dangerous must be registered with Animal Services. Florida law defines severe injury to include disfiguring lacerations that require sutures or reconstructive surgery, a standard that can become important when authorities consider classification or penalties. Police had not said Wednesday whether either dog had ever been the subject of a prior dangerous-dog designation, a complaint history or a separate enforcement action. In cases involving a child, investigators also often reconstruct supervision, access to the yard and the condition of fences, gates and enclosures, though police had not released those findings here.
By Wednesday afternoon, Miami-Dade Animal Services confirmed that the two dogs had been humanely euthanized after the owner voluntarily surrendered them. That development answered one immediate question left open in early police accounts, which had not yet confirmed whether Animal Control had taken custody of the animals. It did not resolve the larger ones. Police still had not said whether any adult would face a citation or criminal charge, and authorities had not released a timeline for the completion of their investigation. They also had not publicly described the dogs’ ages, weights or prior behavior, or explained whether the animals had attacked at once or one after the other. For the family, the immediate focus remained the boy’s medical care. For investigators, the next step was piecing together a precise account of what happened in the yard during those critical moments Tuesday night.
Outside the home, the scene on Tuesday and into Wednesday reflected both confusion and shock. Yellow tape, police vehicles and the comings and goings of investigators drew neighbors to the block, while family members stood nearby waiting for updates. Delgado said the child remained stable despite the seriousness of the injuries, a point that gave the case a measure of relief amid the uncertainty. The neighborhood, a stretch of single-family homes near Northwest 191st Street, was otherwise quiet as officers documented the property and animal services staff later removed the dogs. What remained by late Wednesday was a narrow public record and a broader private ordeal: a small child in a hospital, a family facing surgery and recovery, and a police inquiry still trying to explain how a familiar backyard turned into the site of a violent attack.
The boy remained hospitalized Wednesday, police said, and investigators had not announced charges or a final finding. The next public milestone is likely any update from Miami Gardens police or Miami-Dade Animal Services on the completed investigation and whether any enforcement action will follow.
Author note: Last updated March 11, 2026.