Dog owners are being warned to keep their dogs in a controlled environment or they may end up facing prosecution and death of their dog after the dog responsible for an attack on a four-year-old was destroyed.

Tauranga City Council animal services team leader Brent Lincoln is warning dog owners against leaving their dogs in a position where they can attack, following the destruction order on the staffordshire bull terrier cross dog on Friday.

Photo: file

The dog, which was tied to a post, attacked a four-year-old boy and his 23-year-old sister as they crossed the Papamoa property's front lawn on February 12.

The dog leapt from the deck at the boy, ripping his shorts and scratching his leg. His sister placed herself between the dog and her brother, and was bitten twice before managing to get her brother over a fence and escape herself.

'The main situation here is that the dog was in a position that if somebody did wander onto the property it could attack them, and that's the message I would like to get to owners,” says Brent.

'You can't leave your dog in those situations.

'If they do, they leave themselves liable for something like this. In this case it was really fortunate the young child was protected by the older sister, otherwise we could have been looking at a far worse situation.”

Animal services seized the dog and prosecuted the owner, who pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court on April 20 to being the owner of a dog which attacked a person.

She was fined $250 plus $132.89 court costs and ordered to pay $300 towards the victims' medical expenses. The dog was ordered to be destroyed and was put down on Friday after the owner surrendered the dog without appeal.