Zoe Mills, 7, was reportedly bitten on the forehead by the family’s blue cattle dog at home on Friday and rushed to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead for vital surgery.

The attack comes just three weeks after an elderly Dubbo man and his dog were attacked by a boxer cross and a great dane.

As the girl left hospital yesterday morning, neither police nor Dubbo City Council said they were investigating.

The dog has not been impounded, a council spokesman said yesterday.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police media said there was nothing about the incident on record.

She understood it was a council matter.

But the council yesterday did not indicate any intention of intervening.

The dog was not at the city’s animal shelter and a ranger had not been called, the spokesman said.

Zoe had plastic surgery and a skin graft on Saturday to repair the damage to her face caused by the attack.

She was stable and was likely to have been discharged from hospital to home yesterday morning, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Father John Mills told the Sun-Herald his daughter was lucky her injuries were not more serious.

“We were lucky because the dog only got her on the forehead,” he said.

He gave little indication about what would happen to the dog.

It had lived with the family for eight years and was not aggressive, he said.

“He’s normally such a placid dog,” he told the Sun-Herald.

“I don’t really understand how it happened.”

The Sun-Herald reported that Mr Wills would consult his vet and a dog trainer before deciding if the dog would have to be destroyed.

“I know dogs can change and if they think the dog is dangerous, worst-case scenario we’ll have to have the poor fellow put down,” he said.

West Dubbo resident Patrick Whitla and his dog, Rusty, were injured when a neighbour’s “big dogs” attacked them when they were out for a walk.

Dubbo City Council impounded the dogs after the incident in Crick Street.

A week-long inquiry into the attack resulted in the owner of the great dane and boxer cross handing them over to be put down.

The owner incurred a financial penalty of about $2000.

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