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Prime Minister Helen Clark says dangerous dogs give her the "creeps" and she is personally in favour of tougher dog laws.
Her comments came after the father of Carolina Anderson, whose injuries from a dog attack three years ago shocked the nation, said some dogs in New Zealand are "loaded guns waiting to go off".
There have been calls for tighter dog control after two-year-old Aotea Coxon was savaged by a dog in a Christchurch park on Sunday, requiring 290 stitches and a plate inserted in a broken jaw.
Miss Clark said she was "repulsed" by the attack.
"It gives you the creeps to think of dangerous dogs strolling around ready to pounce on innocent people. That is why I am more than happy to keep looking at how the law can be improved and how enforcement can be improved," Miss Clark said.
Miss Clark said she had "stronger views" on dog laws than most people, but every time there was a call for a tougher regime there was "pushback" from responsible dog owners and breeders.
The Government was currently waiting for a report that it had commissioned three months ago.
Carolina Anderson has had more than 10 operations in the past few years since her face was ripped apart by an American staffordshire terrier in a vicious attack in the Cox's Bay Reserve in Auckland in 2003.
Surgeons battled to restore the seven-year-old's face in a 12-hour operation after the dog tore chunks of it out.
Carolina, now 11, faced more operations although the family did not know how many, her father, John Anderson said.
He said it filled him with pride the way his "gutsy" daughter had handled the attack and the many operations which followed.
"She doesn't like having operations of which there are still a number ahead."
Mr Anderson had been waging a campaign to have dangerous dogs banned but said today after submissions to a parliamentary select committee in 2003 after the attack on Carolina, the pro-dog lobby had convinced politicians a ban was not practical.
Mr Anderson said if vicious dogs bred to fight could not be banned at least they should wear muzzles.
"Those sorts of dogs are loaded guns waiting to go off."
"We don't have the controls that we need. The first step would be muzzles on these sorts of dogs," he said.
He said the dogs were not needed and were unpredictable and highly dangerous.
"These things don't need to happen," said Mr Anderson, who said he was not a dog hater.
Carolina had her own dog, a lhasa apso, a small breed of dog originally from Tibet.
"It is not a big dog. It is an appropriate dog for a small city property and a small girl."
United Future leader Peter Dunne backed the call for a ban.
He said there have been eight serious attacks reported by the media in the last year - all of them involving pitbull terriers, bull mastiffs or staffordshire bull terriers.
"It is totally unacceptable that the Government is just standing by and watching as another child has her life turned upside down in such vicious circumstances," he said last night.
"The community is simply not a place for large, aggressive, territorial attack dogs."
Mr Dunne, whose party has a support agreement with the Government, said attacks would continue until dangerous dogs were banned.
Two-year-old Aotea was playing at a park in Christchurch yesterday morning when a staffordshire-cross began to maul her.
The little girl suffered severe facial injuries but is in a stable condition in hospital.
Police are considering charging the owners of the dog. It was destroyed with their permission yesterday afternoon.
- NZPA
