Auckland Council is searching for the dog behind a brutal attack that left a 7-year-old boy needing stitches to his face and mouth.
Hunter Baldwin was rushed to Starship children's hospital before being transferred to the plastic surgery department at Middlemore Hospital on Sunday after the attack.
He received stitches to his face and needed further work done to mend his lip.
The six stitches he received on his cheek had affected his self-confidence, his mother told the Herald.
Auckland Council's manager of animal management Nikki Marchant-Ludlow said the council was working with the boy's parents and trying to find the dog and its owner.