A Wanaka dog-owner has appealed a council ruling classifying her pair of smooth-haired collies as menacing.
Christine Pawson wants her two former working farm dogs to be struck from the Queenstown Lakes District Council's list of "menacing" canines.
She appeared before a council hearings panel in Wanaka on Monday to appeal the classification of her two dogs, Wallace and Suzie.
The council placed a menacing-dog classification on the two trained farm dogs at a meeting on April 21 after a British tourist complained of being attacked on February 24.
A report from Lakes Environmental regulatory and corporate manager Lee Webster said Warren Playford was allegedly attacked by Wallace and Suzie during a run near a rural road.
Mr Playford laid a complaint with Lakes Environmental - the council's regulatory arm - which alleged the two dogs had "rushed barking" at him and his partner during a run along Halliday Rd.
Mr Webster's report said an inquiry found the dogs had jumped on Mr Playford and bitten him on the back of his thighs.
Ms Pawson had helped Mr Playford after the attack and had taken him to the Wanaka Medical Centre for treatment and had paid all his medical bills, the report said.
After the incident the two dogs were desexed, while Ms Pawson "has been extremely apologetic and co-operative in all matters regarding this attack", Mr Webster said.
The Southland Times reported Ms Pawson told the hearings panel the incident involving her dogs was "out of character" and the pair had never bitten anyone before or since.
The animals were trained farm dogs and had originally belonged to her brother, John Pawson.
Mr Pawson, a respected farmer, businessman and community leader died in a climbing accident on Mt Aspiring in November 2008.
Since her brother's death, the dogs had been managed by various people, Ms Pawson said.
They were now secured in an enclosure further from the property's Halliday Rd boundary, she said.
The hearings panel reserved its decision on whether the two dogs would be reclassified.
