Auckland Council has received 11,000 roaming dog reports in the past year - a 40% increase on last year's numbers - and Kiwis are now eight times more likely to be hospitalised from a dog bite injury in contrast to 40 years ago.
The increase in "unwanted" dog behaviour, including attacks, aggressive behaviour and roaming, was highlighted in last night's Sunday programme.
Manager of Auckland Council's Animal Management Team Elly Waitoa joined Breakfast this morning with Sandra Dee and Colby, two shelter pups up for adoption, to discuss the causes behind these spikes and what can be done to put the numbers on a leash.
She attributed the rise in aggression to COVID restrictions since 2020, which saw a rise in dog adoptions as people stayed home, but also a decrease in the socialising dogs need to reduce aggressive behaviour.
"There's a lot of aggression out there from that lack of socialisation... [during lockdowns] they're not getting out to puppy school or out walking, or [seeing] people coming on to properties like friends and family, so dogs weren't used to that," she said.
Waitoa "absolutely" believes there are no bad dogs, but bad owners, and highlighted the importance of raising puppies right to prevent future aggression.
"They all start off like this," she said, looking down at Sandra Dee in her lap, "even the dogs that have caused the most serious attacks on people or stock or animals."
"The training has to go in at this age to prevent them from becoming aggressive and unsocial when they get older."
She noted that most of the aggressive dogs that get put in shelters come from owners who are defensive and doubtful of the damage canines are capable of.
"There needs to be that mindset shift from 'my dog would never do that,' so like 'my dog would never attack stock, my dog would never kill the neighbour's cat or wouldn't attack a person... my dog loves children'," she said.
"There needs to be that shift from 'my dog would never' to 'my dog would if the circumstances were there'."
In terms of protecting children, Waitoa said dogs should never be left alone with unsupervised young ones.
"Kids get excited, they run around and we need to stop putting that responsibility on children to recognise the subtle signs of a dog before it's going to attack. Any dog that gets stressed will react one way or another."
Watch the full interview in the video above.
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