A Griffith resident has called for greater enforcement of pet ownership laws after her shih-tzu was attacked by a larger dog.

Rebecca Rosato said her pet dog Sushi was attacked around 5:45 on Wednesday May 18 by a larger, unidentified dog at Ted Scobie Oval.

Mrs Rosato's husband was present at the time and said the larger dog was off-leash and unable to be called back by its owners as it engaged in the unprovoked attack.

"My husband says he should have taken the owners' details but the trauma of the situation was too much," Mrs Rosato said. "He wanted to go and attend to our dog's injuries."

Mrs Rosato said Sushi required urgent medical attention for deep puncture wounds and muscle damage.

"He is a different dog after what happened," she said. "He's so scared and shaking all the time.

"It's going to take both us and Sushi some time to recover from what happened."

While the larger dogs' owners are yet to be identified, Mrs Rosato said her family had received lots of support on social media.

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Mrs Rosato also said she doesn't want to start a manhunt.

"We just want the owners to come forward and have a conversation with us," she said. "Their dog is not safe and they need to change their behaviour.

"We would also like some assistance with the very expensive medical bills we're going to have as a result of their inactions."

The Griffith City Council released a statement in July 2021 urging greater responsibility among pet owners after council officers and police were called to 40 separate dog attacks between July 2020 and July 2021.

Under the Companion Animals Amendment Act 2013, owners of a dog which 'rushes at and attacks, bites, harasses, chases any person or animal' can be issued with an immediate $1320 fine.

Courts can also issue a maximum penalty of $22,000 or 2 years imprisonment in severe cases.

Mrs Rosato said these laws were not being enforced enough, and that more needs to be done to protect Griffith's pets.

"I would like to see more education of the community on the rules, and the potential fines," Mrs Rosato said.

She added she would also like to see more monitoring by council officials.

"I've never seen compliance officers in that area and I walk there daily," she said. "If there was more visibility then we'd see better compliance."

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