The girl was bitten by a dog in Featherston. The child's mother posted this image to Facebook.

GRAPHIC IMAGE: A 4-year-old girl is missing a chunk of her arm after being bitten by a dog.

The girl was playing at a friend's house in Featherston, Wairarapa, on Saturday when an unattended dog wandered into the yard.

The mother of the girl, who did not want her or her daughter's identity published, said the first she knew of the attack was when the child and her friend came "screaming out of the bushes".

"She was on a play date when it came up behind her and bit her.

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"She has about a teaspoon [of flesh] missing from behind her elbow and puncture marks in her tendon."

Wellington Free Ambulance was called, but an ambulance was not dispatched. The girl was taken to hospital by her mother where the wound was cleaned and dressed.

Wellington Free spokeswoman Diane Livingston said they had received a call about a child being bitten by a dog about 6pm.

Clinical advice was given over the phone. No further action was taken.

The mother said her child was "quite happy" and "boisterous" after the being bitten.

The incident was reported to animal control and the mother said she wanted the dog caught to prevent the same thing happening to someone else.

It was unclear what sort of dog had bitten her daughter.

She favoured a measured response from authorities, but did not want to comment on what action should be taken.

"It was an accident and no-one can be blamed for it. What if my daughter provoked it?"

She said unsupervised dogs wandering around Featherston was a problem and more needed to be done to keep the public safe.

An operator at City Care, who takes animal control calls on behalf of the South Wairarapa District Council, confirmed the incident had been logged and the bylaws officer was looking into it.

No-one from the South Wairarapa District Council was available for comment.