The father of a five-year-old boy left with permanent facial injuries from a dog attack last year is still coming to grips with charges against the dog's owner being dismissed.

In Tauranga District Court on Tuesday, Anthony Hedgeman and Tara Julian successfully defended the charge of owning a dog that attacked a person causing serious injury at a judge alone trial.

Charlie, now five-years-old, and his older sister and mother, Miranda Devereaux, were visiting Anthony Hedgeman and Tara Julian's Baycroft Avenue home on July 12, when he was attacked by the couple's bull mastiff dog.

The then four-year-old approached the dog in the backyard of the property while it was chewing on a bone.

The pre-schooler suffered facial injuries and was rushed to Tauranga Hospital before being flown to Waikato Hospital for specialist care.

The attack was reported to Tauranga City Council on July 13 when the dog was promptly impounded and has since been put down.

In court yesterday the pair defended the charge on the basis they had taken all reasonable steps to prevent the risk of an attack.

Judge Thomas Ingram dismissed the charges saying there is no evidence Hedgeman and Julian had failed to protect their visitors from an attack.

Charlie's father, Henry Pokai, says he is still recovering from the initial shock of hearing the dismissal.

'We are still pretty gobsmacked. I just don't know how it ever got to that point, neither does the council [Tauranga City Council],” says Henry.

'To me this ruling is turning back the clock on dog control or dog management ten years. In the day when we are all meant to be safety conscious and OSH is on to everybody do this and do this; here comes a judge that goes throws it out of court because he felt there was a responsible adult.”

He says the decision makes Tauranga City Council's animal team's job seem 'fruitless” if such incidents are swept aside without any prosecution.

Eight months on from the attack and Charlie is receiving ongoing treatment for the facial injuries, needing scar treatment in Hamilton every couple of months and facial massages four times.

'He's got a happy spirit and is sort of weary of dogs, both him and his sister. We have got our own little dog [a poodle] that we love dearly but it's the bigger dogs and the dogs that are roaming free that scare them,” says Henry.

Tauranga City Council animal services team leader Brent Lincoln says council is not discounting lodging an appeal against the decision, but admits this is not any time soon.

'It is one area that we need to explore to get the clarification on what the judge has said so we are quite a way off that,” says Brent.

During the trial council had both a number of witnesses – including Miranda – and a dog expert that were not called upon by Judge Ingram to give evidence.