Destiny Church pastor's pig dog mauls neighbour's dog to death

A family is "traumatised" after their pet dog was mauled to death outside their house by another dog owned by Destiny Church's Hamilton pastor.

Craig Webber's four-year-old griffin, Chewie, was let out on Thursday evening when the larger dog, owned by Pastor John Ferris, came onto their property and started attacking him.

Ferris owned a section a few doors down from the Webber family in Rotokauri which he had been working on for the last couple of months but which was not yet fenced, Webber said.

"His hunting dog, a pig dog, had come over and just started mauling our little dog," he told the Weekend Herald.

Ferris tried to call his dog off but by the time he'd arrived it was too late.

Chewie was rushed to the vet straight after the attack but his injuries were too severe and he had to be put down.

"The injuries were just horrific," Webber said.

"He had multiple broken bones, puncture wounds, a broken jaw in multiple places. The lot."

The worst thing was that two of his young daughters had seen it all happen.

"The kids are just absolutely devastated they've been inseparable for four years."

The girls had stayed home from school on Friday because they were so upset, he said.

"It's just... ugh. Just devastated. It was very traumatic."

Ferris had apologised by text message, offering to pay the vet's bill which came to just under $1000, but Webber said he had been too angry to take him up on the offer yet.

"He offered money at the time because I yelled at him - I couldn't give as sh*t about the bill, it's our baby, our kid's baby, it's not about the money.

"What if that was my kid or somebody else's child?"

In his text to Webber, Ferris said he was "feeling terrible for your lovely dog and family."

It was the first time the dog had made an attack like this, he said, and it had come as a huge shock.

When approached for comment, Ferris told the Weekend Herald he did not want to comment.

"My dog has attacked no human. That's fact," he said.

He would not comment further.

The dog was currently in the care of the Waikato District Council who were investigating the incident.

A council spokeswoman said she couldn't yet comment on whether or not the dog would be euthanised.