tiny 21-month-old toddler.

And the dog, belonging to the child's uncle, has been given a stay of execution while the assessment is made into its behaviour.

Dog Control Officer Mr. Leonard (Shinah) Simons has been instructed by the owner Mr. Bryant Richards to destroy the animal.

Donte Brown was still recovering from his horrific injuries in the intensive care unit at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital today, three days after the attack on Monday.

Donte, and his aunt, were walking two dog's in the Lighthouse Hill area. The Rottweiler, which was not on a leash, savaged the child as his aunt tried to pick him up.

Luckily Mr. Mike Kelly, 60, a former Police officer, was passing the area and heard the attack. He punched and kicked the dog forcing it to drop Donte from its jaws.

Mr. Kelly then rushed the baby and his aunt to the hospital where surgeons operated for hours on his wounds. Throughout the trip he had to give the aunt advice on how to keep the child breathing.

He had bites and scratches to his head, arms and legs. His scalp was said to be almost hanging off and he had a deep wound in his forehead.

The dog, weighing some 150-200 pounds and described as a "monster'' by Mr.

Kelly, was later caught after it had returned home to Mr. Richards' house in Lighthouse Lane, Southampton.

Since then Mr. Simons has been carrying out an assessment into why it suddenly turned nasty on a child it was obviously familiar with.

The dog has apparently got a history of violence, having killed a number of rabbits some time ago.

Mr. Simons expects the assessment to take until the end of the week, when the dog is likely to be destroyed with a fatal injection.

He said: "I have to carry out a series of tests over a few days to try and see what made this dog change.'' Television viewers saw Mr. Simons and the Rottweiler on VSB television on Tuesday evening. The dog was very passive and lay on the dog control officer's lap.

He said: "We must look into this because what happened with this dog could happen to anyone.''