Authorities are trying to track down three dogs that attacked two Dunedin police officers at the weekend.
Two of the dogs were unregistered.
The constables were called to a South Dunedin house after reports of a domestic incident at 10am on Saturday.
While they were arresting a 19-year-old unemployed man at the property, the man allegedly ordered his three pit bull cross dogs to attack the officers, Senior Sergeant Craig Brown said.
The pair resorted to using pepper spray to ease the dogs' grip on their arms, but both officers suffered multiple puncture wounds.
One constable was treated for five puncture wounds, and the other for three. Both were expected to return to work today after being treated at and discharged from Dunedin Public Hospital on Saturday.
The dogs were not at the property when animal control arrived, Dunedin City Council animal control team leader Ros MacGill said.
"We don't know where the dogs are."
She confirmed the council had been seeking a warrant from the court, as two of the dogs were not registered.
The council had been working to register the dogs, which had been the subject of six complaints, but the owners had changed their address at least three times.
Complaints were about the dogs wandering, and "at times acting aggressively".
"We are relying on the police to help track them down, but we will certainly help the police if they need assistance to remove the dogs," Ms MacGill said.
A decision on the dogs' future would be in the hands of police and the courts, but if the owners "handed them over prior to that, they would be destroyed".
Snr Sgt Brown said the 19-year-old man would appear in the Dunedin District Court today charged with assault with a weapon, two charges of resisting and one of intimidation.
