More than 1500 complaints despite dog ban

Orlando Shepherd with his son Shepherd Mea in 2014 after a horrific dog attack on a Housing New Zealand property. Photo / Doug Sherring

Nuisance and aggressive dogs on Housing New Zealand properties generated 1515 complaints to the state housing provider last year - despite a strict no-dog policy.

And staff visiting Housing New Zealand properties reported 14 aggressive dog incidents with five staff members receiving bites.

Dogs are banned from Housing New Zealand's 64,000 properties unless needed for medical reasons or in exceptional circumstances where special permission is granted.

To have a dog tenants needed to provide a certificate from an organisation listed in the Dog Control Act such as Hearing Dogs for Deaf People NZ.

"We also allow disability assist dogs, or where a dog is seen as being important to therapy for mental illness or other chronic health condition," a Housing New Zealand spokesperson said.

"Further, if a tenant believes that have exceptional circumstances as to why they need a dog then they can request to have their property assessed by their Tenancy Manager."

If a dog is found to be on a property without consent the tenant has 14 days to find another home for it or face eviction.

Of the dog attacks on staff only one tenant had permission to keep the animal.

In all cases the dogs were removed from the properties and when the tenant had permission the permission was revoked.

The attacks on staff included bites to limbs, hands, feet, legs and the chest area and required treatment at emergency and doctors' clinics.

The information, released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, revealed attacks on staff were centrally recorded as workplace accidents.

But dog attacks on visitors or tenants of Housing New Zealand properties, including children, were not centrally recorded so numbers were not available to the Herald.

A Housing New Zealand spokesperson said dog attacks on other people related to a tenancy were not held for a number of reasons.

"There are a variety of factors such whether the dog belongs to visitors, is a stray or roaming or belongs to a private property owners next to or nearby Housing New Zealand properties."

"Therefore there would be no practical or sensible reason to hold this information given its random nature."

In February South Auckland father Orlando Shepherd will be sentenced after his pit-bull dog attacked his young son a horrific attack which saw the young boy fighting for his life.

In the 2014 incident Shepherd's dog Musha picked the then two-year-old up by his head, thrashed around and dragged him, he was severely injured around the face and head and has lasting nerve damage.

Shepherd pleaded guilty to the charge but then tried to withdraw his plea saying he didn't realise the dog was dangerous. His bid was unsuccessful and the guilty plea remained.

Shepherd was evicted from his Housing New Zealand property because he did not have permission to have a dog.

Other attacks on Housing New Zealand properties involving unpermitted dogs include:

November 2015: A man employed to test a Housing New Zealand house for methamphetamine was severely injured and spent days in hospital after the tenant locked him in the kitchen with two vicious dogs. The owner was found guilty of wounding the man with reckless disregard and owning the pitbulls which attacked him. The dogs were destroyed.

April 2016: Seven-year-old Darnell Minarapa-Brown was pinned down and attacked by his uncle's dog in Takanini, needing more than 100 facial stitches. He also had a metal plate inserted into his fractured nose and cheek after being mauled by the pitbull. The dog was destroyed.