Pet Dog Bites 3-Year-Old Girl's Face During Daycare Outing

A 3-year-old girl was attacked by a pet dog while she was with other children on a daycare outing in Melbourne, Australia.

According to local reports, Daphne Demirkol was playing with the other children on the grounds of Abbotsford Convent under the care of her teachers when she came across a woman walking two dogs on a lawn.

The dogs, described as a “short, brindle brown in color and having a Staffordshire Bull Terrier appearance" and a "large, with wiry, shaggy cream-colored hair", approached the children. Demirkol reportedly moved forward to pat the dogs and that's when the smaller dog attacked her.

The teachers approached to help her but by then the dog had already bitten the child near her mouth and scratched on the right side of her face.

“The children weren’t trying to play with the dog or trying to pat the dog or anything,” Demirkol's mother, Denise, said, according to news.com.au. “The dog walker just walked straight up to the children before anyone could stop her. I understand that accidents can happen with dogs but this could have been avoided.”

The girl was taken to a hospital and treated for the injuries. While the incident took place in May, the attack was reported Monday.

“It could have been a lot worse and thankfully the dog didn’t attack her eyes or her lips,” the mother said. “But I don’t think it would have happened if the owner had been walking the dog or if someone with training was walking the dog. My thinking is that because dog walking is probably one of the easiest jobs you can get, the dog walker wanted to make money but didn’t necessarily know what she was doing.”