IT WAS only a matter of time before Bunnings’ new dog-friendly policy ended in tears.

Just days after the popular home improvement chain confirmed that customers were now allowed to take their pooches inside stores, a Melbourne child has allegedly been bitten on the leg.

Five-year-old Madeline Hungerford is recovering at home after an incident at the Bunnings store in Melton yesterday.

“We just don’t think dogs should be there,” Ms Hungerford told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell this morning.

“Bunnings on a Sunday is really busy ... It’s just not a good environment for a dog.”

She said the family had been walking through the store when their little girl was set upon.

“We were walking past two little dogs, one was being patted at the time and Madeline tried to pat the other one,” Ms Hungerford said.

But before her little girl could get within patting range, she said, the dog — believed to be a Jack Russell terrier — allegedly bit her on the leg.

“It’s broken the skin just below her knee,” she said.

“She’s got two bite marks that broke the skin, a couple of bite marks around the side and bruising and swelling.”

In a cruel twist of fate, Madeline had only just become comfortable around dogs when the incident occurred.

“Madeline, like any child, went through a phase where she was petrified by dogs and she’s actually just gotten over that,” Ms Hungerford said.

“We just hope this doesn’t put her back to where she used to be, and scar her for life.”

Ms Hungerford said Bunnings staff had responded appropriately, including paying Madeline’s medical bills, but argued that the new policy should be scrapped.

She said the busy environment of the hardware story may have been to blame and did not want the dog to be put down.

“We believe that it was just bad timing and we just don’t think dogs should be there,” Ms Hungerford said.

“For four of us trying to navigate through Bunnings was hard enough, let alone having dogs there as well.”

She said she did not understand why dog owners would want to take their pets to the store.

“Most Bunnings are not in walking distance for anybody — you’re not going in there for a bottle of milk, you’re going in there for large items, so you can’t really walk anywhere.”

She said the dogs’ owner was horrified by the incident.

“He apologised, he was very distraught about it and he said the dogs had never done this before,” Ms Hungerford said.

“Even after the dogs had been take outside, they were still barking at people.”

News.com.au revealed on Thursday Bunnings had unveiled a new policy of welcoming pets into stores.

Bunnings operations director Michael Schneider then said that while customers weren’t being encouraged to bring pets inside, “as long as pets are under appropriate control, are not aggressive and do not compromise the safety of our team or customers they are welcome”.

“Our team members have full discretion to deny any pet entry to the store,” he said, adding that assistance animals “have always been and will always be allowed entry into our stores”.

While a majority of readers supported the move in an online poll, some expressed concern.

“I can see this backfiring very quickly,” wrote reader Chris.

“The concept sounds great, but kids rushing to pat some tradie’s rottweiler may not end so great. What if the dog needs to go to the toilet when in the store? The noise of dogs barking when they see other dogs? Customers may now have a reason to shop at Masters than Bunnings.”

In response to News.com.au’s request for further comment, Bunnings Managing Director John Gillam said the retailer was weighing up customer feedback on the policy, which it had quietly introduced in April.

“We’ve had some great customer ideas such as ‘weekdays only’ or ‘only if muzzled’ and we will evaluate whether these make sense,” Mr Gillam said in a statement.

“We were very sorry to hear of the incident at our Melton store yesterday. We note that our team did a good job looking after everyone involved.”

He said dogs had been visiting the hardware chain’s stores for decades “in a low key way”.

“Some have come in on the back of a tradies ute and other smaller dogs have been carried in by their owners ... We made a common sense decision to recognise in our policies that well behaved pet dogs are permitted,” Mr Gillam said.

“We will continue to evolve our policy so that it meets community expectations.”

dana.mccauley@news.com.au

@Dana_Adele