BUTLER, Tenn. – On Dalton Bailey’s first day back at school on Tuesday, his classmates crowded into the gym to hear his story of survival.

"I just pet the dog on the cheek, and I guess something wild bit it," he said of his ordeal.

On April 30, the Little Milligan third-grader was in his back yard in the Butler community of Carter County when the dog snapped and bit the boy near his left eye. Another dog then dug its teeth into Bailey’s body over and over again.

"They dragged me all the way down to the bushes ... and I was losing blood from my head," Dalton recalled. "I had a full set of clothes on – blue jeans, a shirt, socks and shoes. They just tore that off."

The 9-year-old remembered something he’d seen on TV, and covered his neck and face, pretending to be dead for what seemed like five or six minutes.

"I was thinking that I can’t play dead for any longer," he said. "I was thinking – why can’t anybody hear me screaming. I was using my voice!"

When the dogs finally left him alone, he ran inside his house. Paramedics were called and they airlifted him to a local hospital. He had dozens of bites on his back, legs, head – even his armpits.

J.R. Campbell, the school’s principal and a third-grade teacher, wanted Dalton to share his story with fellow students.

"If we can save somebody else or if we can keep some other small kid from maybe approaching a loose animal because ... everybody loves animals," Campbell said. "He’ll have to tell his story, probably, a hundred times."

If a dog attacks, animal-control officers recommend that a person not run or scream, but cover his or her neck and face.

Dalton hopes his story will make a difference among the 150 students at Little Milligan, as well as others.

"I could save someone else’s life if they get in an attack like that," he said.

jgreen@wjhl.com | (423) 232-8754