BELLEVILLE, Ill. – A week after two dogs attacked him, a Belleville man is recovering in a hospital and undergoing painful rabies treatment.

Kelli Schlich says she and her husband, Jerry, are dog lovers. They often watch and walk their children’s dogs, which they affectionately call their granddogs.

Around 4 p.m. last Thursday, Jerry and the dogs were finishing up their walk near a wooded area not far from Poor Clair Monastery.

“(Jerry) was on his way back walking in our side yard and two dogs came out of another yard that wasn’t their yard and attacked our oldest granddog,” Kelli said. “It had him by the throat and throwing him around.”

A few years back, Jerry had bilateral knee replacement and wound up falling on the ground during the dog attack. The two dogs bit and tore the flesh from Jerry’s legs.

“He was fighting and kicking and punching, and he said he didn’t know what was going to happen,” Kelli said.

Jerry described the dogs that attacked him as light in color, possibly some kind of Akita mix. He said they wore collars and had tags.

FOX 2 attempted to contact St. Clair County Animal Services, but they have not returned our calls.

Because they didn’t know if the dogs that bit him had rabies, Jerry had to receive a series of painful shots.

“He has started the rabies series, which was very unpleasant for him, and we’re just hoping (the owners) come forward,” Kelli said. “We want to find out they’re okay; that the dogs are not sick. They told us at the emergency room had this been a child, they wouldn’t survive the attack.”

Kelli wants to keep this from happening to anyone else.

“We’re just lucky he survived,” she said. “Because if they would have went for his throat, he would have been gone.”

Both Jerry and Kelli’s granddogs suffered multiple puncture wounds, but they are expected to recover from the attack.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the dogs you are urged to contact St. Clair County Animal Services or the Belleville Police Department.