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An elderly woman was recovering last night after a rottweiler bit her on the face outside a supermarket.
The attack comes two days after Murupara woman Virginia Ohlson died after she was savaged by two roaming dogs.
In yesterday's attack the woman, about 85, bent down to pat the dog, which was tied up outside the Birkenhead New World on the North Shore. "It jumped up and bit her on the face," said police spokesman Kevin Loughlin.
The woman was treated at North Shore Hospital for minor injuries.
Mr Loughlin said police would be talking to the dog's owner, who was present when the attack happened about 1.45pm.
The Murupara tragedy prompted Prime Minister Helen Clark to say laws against dangerous dogs should be reviewed and further blacklisting considered.
The Government toughened the law and penalties in 2003 after the attack on 7-year-old Carolina Anderson in an Auckland park. But Ms Ohlson's death made it timely to consider them further, the PM said.
"I have asked officials to see where there are other, more useful courses we could explore, whether the law could be pushed further in the interests of public safety."
Auckland SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge said more enforcement of the present laws was sufficient.
"I hate to use the old knee-jerk terminology, but I wonder if this is a knee-jerk reaction. The law as it stands is adequate, if it was enforced and if people abided by it.
"But you can make laws until you are blue in the face, and people will still break them. That is why this sort of situation happens."
Mr Kerridge said it was impractical to blacklist certain cross-breeds because of the difficulties in identifying breeds.
The Dog Control Amendment Act increased council enforcement powers, provided for dogs classed as dangerous to be restrained and muzzled in public, and increased penalties on owners whose dogs attacked people.
Helen Clark admitted cross-breeding made it difficult to identify breeds and she was aware of a reaction from responsible dog owners.
On Sunday, Whakatane District Council chief executive Diane Turner said the dogs that attacked Ms Ohlson, a pitbull and a staffordshire cross, were unregistered. But the Prime Minister said yesterday that the dogs were registered but to a person who was not their owner.
"They were not securely fenced or muzzled and the owner of dogs that attack like that is subject to charges for extremely heavy offences."
Whakatane Mayor Colin Holmes said last night the Prime Minister was wrong and he insisted the dogs were not registered.
