JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. >> Riverside County animal control officials say a toddler’s ear was torn off by his family’s pit bull.

The Department of Animal Services says the boy about 1 1/2 years old was at his home in Jurupa Valley Wednesday with his grandmother who believed he was sleeping when he ended up alone in the backyard with the dog. The grandmother heard screaming and found that the boy’s left ear had been torn off.

The boy’s mother signed papers authorizing the county to euthanize the 2-year-old licensed and neutered pit bull named Poncho.

The dog showed no aggression toward the officer who took him into custody and the mother says the dog had given the family no previous problems.

The names of the boy and his relatives weren’t released.