WEST UNION — The 4-year-old boy recuperating at a Greenville hospital from a pit bull attack could be going home this week, a friend of the family said Monday.

The dog attack took place at the West Union home of April Stowe on Aug. 20. Stowe said she visits her friend’s son regularly at the hospital and that their friendship has survived the bizarre chain of events that day.

Stowe said her boyfriend owned the pit bull. She said the dog was always chained up, but his collar had broken.

Stowe said the pit bull attacked the boy suddenly without warning. The dog’s bite punctured the boy’s right femoral artery.

“His jaws locked,” Stowe said. “Somehow, she (the boy’s mother) kicked the dog in the nose and that made him let go.”

Sheriff’s deputies put down the approximately150-pound pit bull when it appeared to make a menacing move toward EMS responders at the scene.

Stowe, who has two young children of her own, said she would never have another pit bull in her home again.

“It was so easy how he snapped,” Stowe said. “He never acted funny before and never showed signs of doing something like that.”

A report in the Sept. 15, 2000 Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association found that over a 20-year period 25 breeds of dogs have been involved in 238 human fatalities. The study found that pit bulls caused 66 of those fatalities and Rottweilers were involved in 39.

However, experts say that since 1975 dogs belonging to more than 30 breeds of dogs — including Dachshunds, Golden Retrievers and a Yorkshire Terrier — have been responsible for fatal attacks. Experts say responsible pet owners should teach their dogs basic obedience and learn about techniques for avoiding dog bites.

Regardless, Stowe said she would recommend against keeping a pit bull.