A little girl in Nanaimo is recovering after she was severely mauled in a vicious dog attack over the weekend.

Dave Skabaro said his 10-year-old daughter was in a friend's front yard Saturday along with her friend's younger brother when two dogs came running from up the street and began attacking people.

He said one of the dogs jumped on the girl and began biting her when other bystanders rushed in to help.

"The kids were screaming, there were people outside. There was another woman that came, I believe, to help and she was bit as well," Skabaro told CTV News Monday. "There were other people who came to help, thank god, pull the dogs off of her. Very likely saved her life, because if it had gone for her neck or her face, it'd be a very different story right now."

The girl was left with extensive bite injuries on her left arm and will miss school for at least a week.

Neighbour Kathy Torney said her eight-year-old son also jumped in to help, trying to fight one of the dogs off using his hockey stick.

"It was very traumatizing to go through," she said. "[For the] kids, very difficult to sleep, they don't feel safe in their front yard, they were scared to go to school today. It's been very difficult."

She said her young son Jaden is also troubled that he couldn't do more.

"He's verbalized feeling guilty that he was unable to chase after Rowan and keep hitting the dogs with a stick and protect them," she said. "He was verbalizing that he couldn't do more and he was too scared and I'm like, oh baby, even grown-ups are too scared of those kind of dogs."

Neighbours told CTV News it's not the first time the dogs involved have been in trouble.

They said in the moments following the attack, somebody scooped up the two dogs and quickly drove them away.

"I can't even imagine leaving children bleeding and screaming at the side of the road and, you know, just taking your dogs and not staying at the scene," said neighbour Pamela Bain. "It's just awful."

The dogs have previously been reported to Nanaimo Animal Control, according to neighbours. Skabaro believes that at this point, they have been seized and destroyed.

Asked Monday for comment, animal control referred CTV News to the city, who in turn referred the issue to the RCMP.

The RCMP did not release any information Monday, leaving those who live in the neighbourhood with many unanswered questions.