Tauranga dog trainer Renee Mabey teaching children dog safety after attacks

Neewood Pups owner Renee Mabey had noticed an education “gap” and would pilot a programme in Oropi School to teach students about dog safety. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

A Tauranga dog trainer is teaching children dog safety after reported attacks in the region.

Renee Mabey, owner of Neewood Pups, said she had noticed an education “gap” and would pilot a programme in Oropi School to teach children about dog safety.

“It’s all about prevention and making everyday situations safer for the children, families, and the dogs as well.”

Neewood Pups owner Renee Mabey with her dog ‘Badger’, a short haired Border Collie-cross. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

The Bay of Plenty Times reported on multiple dog attacks in March, including one that left a woman hospitalised and another resulting in the death of a pet.

One dog owner called for mandatory prosecution of all owners of dogs involved in violent injury attacks - a call Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell supports.

Data showed there were 71 reported attacks on people in Tauranga and 30 in the Western Bay of Plenty district in the year to June 30, 2025.

The most serious case in the period was that of 4-year-old Timothy Tu’uaki Rolleston-Bryan, also known as Timoti, who died in March.

The Government last month ordered a review of the decades-old Dog Control Act in a bid to crack down on roaming and uncontrolled dogs.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said Local Government NZ and councils had been clear that the Act was outdated and stopping them from doing their jobs.

Bridging the education ‘gap’

Mabey said she worked with families to address their dogs’ behaviours “that we don’t really love”.

“The owners get overwhelmed and frustrated, and the dog’s behaviour intensifies.

“Usually that’s because there’s kind of a misunderstanding of what the dog’s trying to communicate to us and what their needs are.”

She worked with owners to identify these and how to reduce the likelihood of such behaviours.

Mabey said she had taught her 6-year-old son about dog safety.

“I see out and about in the community ... dogs are showing early warning signs, and we are not recognising them, and situations are escalating.

“It just made me kind of realise that there’s a gap because we expect our kids to be safe around our dogs, but we’re not teaching them.”

Dog trainer Renee Mabey, owner of Neewood Pups, aims for her pilot programme on educating children about dog safety to be rolled out to other schools nationally. Photo / Supplied

Mabey said she wrote a dog safety pilot programme for primary school children. Lessons included understanding dogs’ body language and greeting dogs safely.

“Basically, the goal is to help children better understand dogs so that they can be safer around them in everyday situations ... ”

She hoped for it to roll out nationally.

“My opinion is that desexing helps with prevention, and then obviously we have enforcement at the other end, but we have a massive gap in the middle, which is education.

“I believe that if we educate earlier ... we are likely to be able to stop things from happening through education.”

Oropi School principal Andrew King. Photo / Mead Norton

Oropi School principal Andrew King said the school would do the programme in week one of term two.

King said the programme was “timely” and believed it should be rolled out to other schools.

“We have come across many issues recently [regarding] dog behaviour, and the key is educating people about how to behave around unknown dogs.”

He said children needed to feel confident with how to interact with dogs in public places, should they be faced with this situation, and how to minimise the chances of a dog becoming aggressive.

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.