Dog registrations may have increased slightly in the past year but the number of menacing dogs has dropped by 33% - which could have influenced the fall in serious attacks on people from four to just one.
The latest dog control report, presented at the Queenstown Lakes District Council's full council meeting last month, said in addition to the number of menacing and dangerous dogs dropping ''to a significant degree'' there had also been a drop in dog attacks and incidents of rushing.
The report noted there had been an increase in the number of complaints about roaming and barking dogs and fouling, but added that this could be attributed to either a general increase in issues or people being more aware of reporting.
In the 2012-13 year, one dangerous dog was reported, down from two the previous year, and 10 menacing dogs, down from 15 the year before.
The total number of dogs registered for 2012-13 was 3728, compared with 3713 the year before and 3277 for the 2010-11 year.
The drop in menacing dogs was the result of the dogs being taken out of the district, the report said.
In the 2012-13 year there was one serious dog attack on a person, down from four the previous year, and five minor attacks, up from four.
A total of 743 complaints, the majority of which were about roaming dogs, were received in the last year, compared with 496 the previous year.
The number of infringements issued dropped from 123 to 102.
It was noted that because of the many holiday homes in the district, there was often an influx of dogs at particular times and there were no methods to keep track of visiting dogs.
The report said the number of dog attacks on other animals had decreased.
