A six-year-old boy is in a critical condition after being savaged by a Rottweiler. The child was playing outdoors in a residential area in Uttwil, canton Thurgau, when the dog attacked.

Police said the boy was rescued by a neighbour who heard his screams. The dog was put down on the spot.

The child was flown to hospital in St Gallen immediately after the attack on Wednesday. He is still in intensive care.

The police said they were trying to establish how the dog escaped from a house while its owner was away, and found its way out of the property, which is surrounded by a two metre high fence.

The attack comes less than two months after a national conference on dangerous dogs convened in the wake of a deadly attack in Germany earlier this year.

Participants at that meeting, which included federal veterinary officials, animal rights groups and politicians, proposed tightening restrictions on dog owners.

However, a ban was considered inappropriate as many experts said the behaviour of certain breeds had more to do with the way they are reared, than with their nature.

The five-and-a-half-year-old Rottweiler involved in Wednesday's attack was from a registered breeder in Germany, and reportedly went through training at the age of eight months.

swissinfo with agencies

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