PETALUMA -- Animal Services officers were completing their investigation of an attack by two Rottweilers on a 7-year-old boy Sunday afternoon.

The dogs charged Roberto Kampfner Jr. and his father, Roberto Kampfner, as they were walking home on El Paseo Drive around 2:45 p.m., Senior Animal Control Officer Jeff Charter said.

Kampfner lifted his son up and shielded him but the male and female Rottweilers inflicted about 20 deep tear-wounds to the boys' legs, Charter said.

"If the dad hadn't held him up, the boy probably wouldn't have survived," Charter said. The boy was treated at Petaluma Valley Hospital and is recuperating at home, Charter said.

The dogs were impounded and their owner, Kieran Burns, who lives on El Paseo Drive, signed them over to be euthanized, Charter said. The dogs are under a 10-day quarantine and will be put down around May 9.

Burns was not available for comment. Charter said Burns gave a statement at the scene but Charter said he could not say what was said.

Charter said neither dog was neutered and they "appear to have a propensity to go after children."

After the male dog, Fozzi, attacked an Irish terrier in May 2005, a potentially dangerous dog abatement order was issued, Charter said.

Both dogs got out of Burns' yard and came toward a mother and her daughter in August 2006, Charter said. One of the dogs nipped the girl in the ankle but the bite did not break the skin, Charter said. Burns received a misdemeanor citation for violating an abatement order, Charter said.

There have been other complaints about the dogs and Petaluma Animal Services is continuing its investigation.

The investigation will be sent to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, which will then decide whether charges should be filed.

While pit bull attacks have made news over the past several years, Rottweilers are responsible for 75 percent of all fatal dog bites, Charter said.