Thu Jul 24, 11:51 PM ET
Almeida grabbed the dog by the neck and bit back biting so hard that he lost a canine tooth.
Almeida tells the O Globo newspaper: "It is better to lose a tooth than one's life."
Stonemasons working nearby chased the dog away before it could attack again.
The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said the boy received four stitches at a local hospital while the dog was taken to a pound and may be killed.
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