The horrific dog attack on 7-year-old Japanese girl Sakurako Uehara in Murupara last week has thrown the spotlight on canine safety.
Amid renewed calls for dangerous breeds to be banned, latest figures show Wanganui has almost 300 menacing or dangerous dogs.
The national dog database shows that at the end of last year, the Wanganui district had 7428 registered dogs. Of those, 266 were classified as menacing and 29 as dangerous.
Wanganui Pet Dog School owner and behavioural trainer Sarah Hesketh said supervising children around dogs was the bottom line.
"When people leave dogs to their own devices around children and assume that they are going to do the right thing until they return, that's when accidents happen. It doesn't matter how happy and confident the dogs are and how happy the children have always been."