A SUNSHINE Coast mother hopes her daughter will regain her full smile, but accepts the five-year-old may always be afraid of dogs after an attack left her with facial wounds.

Zoe Nolan, 5, was playing with other children at her neighbour's home in Nambour when the dog, which had only been at the property for three weeks, bit her on the face.

Zoe's mother Tegan Bonner said the attack came as the kids were playing, while she was inside next door.

"The dog walked around, sat at my daughter's feet, jumped up at her, bit her face pretty bad, knocked her to the ground,” Miss Bonner said.

"I went outside and just saw blood all over my child and her screaming.

"We rang the ambulance and they rang the police.”

Zoe Nolan, 5, was attacked by a dog the owners had received as a giveaway on Facebook. Zoe required plastic surgery to repair facial injuries after the dog bit her on the lip.

Paramedics took Zoe to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, and she was then transferred to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital for plastic surgery to fix her lip, which was badly torn.

Miss Bonner was hopeful Zoe would fully recover physically, but the bubbly five-year-old was still in pain when she smiled.

"I hope that she's able to smile with that bright smile that she usually has,” she said.

The attack on September 16 about 9am prompted the Sunshine Coast Council to euthanase the dog.

The council is expected to lay charges against the dog owner over the attack.

Council officers believed the dog was a dalmatian and labrador crossbreed, but Miss Bonner believed it was closer to a bull mastiff or bull Arab cross.

Zoe Nolan, 5, was attacked by a dog the owners had received as a giveaway on Facebook.

"(The owner) only had the dog for about three weeks. It was a give-away on Facebook,” Miss Bonner said.

Miss Bonner said after they returned home from hospital, the neighbour told her the dog's former owners had given it away because it had been chasing horses and livestock.

Miss Bonner urged families with children not to trust pet give-aways or sales advertised on social media or other websites.

"Especially if you have children, you've got to be aware,” she said.

She said advertisers could claim the dog was family friendly to get it off their hands.

"Know your dog, because if it does attack someone, not only your dog's going to be put down, but you're going to suffer charges from it,” Miss Bonner said.

"I felt bad (for the dog) in a sense, but in the same sense that dog had just caused my daughter a lot of harm.”

Miss Bonner said every time Zoe sees a dog - even a guide dog or a pet on a leash across the street - she clings to her mother and cries.

"She now is petrified of dogs,” Miss Bonner said.

It's something Miss Bonner can now relate to - despite having owned and adored dogs in the past, she said she would now be avoiding them wherever possible.

"I just don't ever want to put my children in a position where one, they're uncomfortable, and two, they could be subjected to another dog attack,” she said.

Sunshine Coast Council figures from last month revealed there were 59 declared dangerous dogs and 32 declared menacing dogs across the region.