Blair Staddon's six-year-old daughter was left with 12 puncture wounds to her right leg and buttock after they were attacked by a pack of dogs while out walking on a North Taranaki beach.

A Taranaki father watched in horror and felt helpless as he and his daughter were set upon by a pack of dogs at a North Taranaki beach.

Blair Staddon and his six-year-old daughter had been out walking along Otaraoa Rd beach, north of Waitara, on September 2, when they were approached by five dogs as they returned to the car.

Staddon said he put his arm around his little girl and tried to keep her moving but the pack began circling them.

He said the dogs' owner was well off in the distance and not in a position to keep them under control.

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"My daughter is freaking out, the dogs are darting in and out and I can't watch them all," Staddon said.

Stuff New Plymouth's Blair Staddon with a photo on his lap top of the puncture wounds on his six-year-old daughter's leg after they were attacked by a pack of five dogs at a North Taranaki beach.

"Then my daughter started screaming, 'dad they are biting me, dad they are biting me' I looked down and there was this face latched on to her leg and and it's not pulling her clothes, it was right around her leg."

He said he began bellowing and lunging at the dogs to try and scare them off and while the owner had arrived he wasn't able to control his animals either.

"They were fully still getting around him to get to us.

"They bailed us and went around encircling us and nipping in and nipping out and biting and pulling on clothes."

He said the owner told him the dogs usually wore shock collars but they were at home charging.

In desperation Staddon, who was also bitten on the back of his right leg above the knee, picked up his daughter and held her above his shoulders but it didn't end the unprovoked attack.

"They were jumping up at her, looking to leap up at her.

"We had the full pig dog attack on humans."

Eventually the owner was able to get his dogs back to his truck but wouldn't give Staddon his name before driving off.

"That was just the worst, the lowest moral fibre, that you could've come across.

"Who leaves a six-year-old bleeding on the beach, when it was your dogs that did it."

Staddon's daughter required medical treatment for 12 puncture wounds to her right leg and buttock.

He felt he had let his daughter down.

"I felt guilty as a dad because I couldn't stop it.

"I couldn't protect my kid from getting bitten by a pack of hunting dogs."

He also believed the owner should apologise to his daughter for what she had been through.

"At the very least he could man up and ring up and apologise."

NPDC compliance lead Cheryl McGrath confirmed a seven-year-old Catahoula Leopard, a breed traditionally used to hunt wild boar, would be euthanised because it was the pack leader while two others involved would be classified as dangerous and would be required to wear muzzles in public.

"The owner does hunt but the dogs are not classified as pig dogs," she said.

The owner had also received a $300 infringement notice for owning a dog that caused injury to a person.

McGrath said dogs didn't need to be on leads unless in an area where it was specified but owners should be close enough so they could control their animals using voice commands.

Staddon said he and his daughter were bitten by three of the dogs while the other two helped bail them up, and he believed action should've been taken against all five.

"I thought that the minimum would have been the three of them would go (be put down) because the three of them bit us."