A three-year-old boy has suffered serious facial injuries in an attack by a dog at his home in Lancashire.

The boy was attacked by the family pet, a Rottweiler/Alsatian cross, at the house in Fulwood, Preston.

Police were called to the scene and the boy was taken to the Royal Preston Hospital where he is to have emergency surgery after receiving bite wounds.

Lancashire Constabulary said the dog had since been destroyed. An investigation into the incident has opened but police said it appeared to have been a "tragic accident".