A Tauranga woman is urging dog owners to take responsibility for their pets after she watched her 3.5kg dog be 'basically skinned” by a large German shepherd.

Karen Peters took her eight-year-old pomeranian Charlie for a walk around at Lake Rerewhakaaitu about 2pm on Thursday.

Eight-year-old pomeranian Charlie was attacked by a large German shepherd. Photos: supplied.

As she walked along, a large German shepherd approached Charlie and began attacking him.

'We were just going for a walk along the lakes and there were lots of dogs around and lots of kids around…and this German shepherd came friendly over to sniff my dog and then it snapped, it pinned him down, picked him up and shook him violently for about 12 times,” says Karen.

Traumatised, Karen bundled up Charlie and raced him to the vets at Rotorua SPCA.

'Basically he was skinned,” says Karen.

'The dog grabbed a mouthful of skin, instead of a mouthful of neck and body, and skinned him from the top of his shoulder blade all the way around to the front of his tummy across his chest.”

When Karen returned to the campsite to confront the owner of the German shepherd, she found her in shock.

'But we just sort of took off straight away and when we got back we spoke to them [she said] their dog has never done this before. It's a family dog.”

The woman has offered to cover the cost of Charlie's vet bills and are going to muzzle their dog when they take it out in public, says Karen.

Charlie is not allowed to walk for at least 14-days, says Karen, who is nursing him at their Brookfield home.

'He's fighting an infection at the moment but he's got 30 stitches in, there's at least four dead spots of skin that are probably going to need cutting out,” says Karen.

'I let him walk to go to the toilet, but I lift him up and down the stairs and onto the bed. He's pretty stiff because he's eight-and-a-half years old - it's not like he's a spring chicken.”

Karen wants dog owners to be aware of their dog's behaviour when out in public to avoid attacks like this happening again.

'People need to be aware that dogs need their basic manners as well. Charlie is a good little dog - this is completely unprovoked.”

This attack is the second involving Tauranga dogs in the last week.

Te Puke woman Vicki Scoggins was walking her 5-month-old poodle-fox terrier, Poppy, and her border collie, Frodo, at 7.45am on Thursday.

While walking in Jubilee Park, Vicki says a large dog ran through a gap in a fence and attacked Poppy.

'I heard this galloping kind of sound behind me and turned round and saw this dark brindle dog and it just came and grabbed my pup and shook her for about three minutes,” says Vicki.

'I thought she was dead in his jaw.”

Poppy has to be put down after being attacked by another dog in Te Puke.

Vicki says the owners, a man and a woman, came through the fence to help pull the dog off Poppy.

'The lady said I'll come and get the car in the car park and come and take you to the vets…but they didn't turn up.”

Vicki kept walking Poppy to Te Puke Vets, but it was closed so she phoned the afterhours number and they met her within 15 minutes.

'It sort of looked as if it might be positive to start, apart from her throat wounds. But they did an x-ray and she had a broken neck so we had to put her to sleep.”

Vicki has not heard from the owners of the other dog and is hoping they will come forward. They can contact her at [email protected]

Charlie.