A dog attack at the Whakatāne Heads on Monday has left a Whakatāne widower without his best mate, Buddy.

The family of John Whiteley are concerned the 83-year-old has experienced such a violent loss of his Maltese dog, and the dog responsible is still out there, free to attack another victim.

“Next time it could be a child that is attacked,” says family member Alison Whiteley.

Buddy had been John’s wife Annette’s dog, and part of the family for 13 years. When Annette died just over a year ago, the dog became John’s close companion.

Buddy was popular with neighbours in town and with residents of Coastlands where they regularly walked.

The pair were walking at The Heads, past the furthest car park when the small dog was attacked by a large black dog, which John says looked to him like a Labrador-cross, but another witness describes it as a Staffordshire terrier cross.

John says there were a lot of dogs about at the time, just before midday. He had just commented to a friend he had met up with that he counted about seven dogs running loose.

Buddy had been sitting at his heels and the friend he had been talking to had a Jack Russell sitting beside him. He hadn’t seen the attacking dog as it came up behind him.

The next thing he knew, it had Buddy in its mouth and was shaking him. He tried to grab the dog, but it was difficult as it was not wearing a collar.

After the attack, a woman called the dog back to her and left the scene with it.

John took Buddy to the vet with puncture wounds to his face and a broken jaw and was told by the veterinarian that he would have to be put down.

A family member told Local Democracy Reporting the dog had been in a lot of pain and was crying all the way to the vet.

The incident was reported to the police and to Whakatāne District Council.

John says he's surprised to be told by a council staff member when he phoned to report the attack, that dogs did not have to wear collars on the beach.

Council regulation and monitoring team leader Verna Kinney says The Heads was an off-leash exercise area, however, owners must always have their dogs under control.

“If you do not have good voice control or good recall of your dog, you do not have good control.”

She says the information John had been given by a staff member about dogs not having to wear collars when on the beach was incorrect.

“At all times dogs must wear a collar with a current registration tag on it when out in public. The Dog Control Act says any dog not wearing a collar with a current registration label or disc attached will (until the contrary is proved) be deemed to be unregistered.”

There is an active investigation into the incident and the dog control team has stepped up its patrols in the area.

Verna says they are making enquiries as to whether anyone in the area had camera footage of the attack and asked that anyone with information about the dog come forward.

“To date, we haven’t been given a good description of the dog or owner,” says Verna.

Anyone who was at The Heads at the time of the attack or who may have information that could lead to the identification of the dog or owner can contact the council on 07 306 0500.

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