Bunnings is reviewing its policy of allowing dogs inside its stores after a five-year-old girl was bitten by a dog days after the hardware chain announced its new pet-friendly policy.
A woman rang radio 3AW on Monday to say her daughter, Madeline, was bitten by what she believed was a Jack Russell inside the Melton Bunnings store, about 35km west of Melbourne, on Sunday.
“It’s broken the skin just below her knee, she’s got two bite marks that have broken the skin and bruises and swelling,” Ebbie Hungerford told 3AW.
“We just don’t think dogs should be there. Bunnings on a Sunday is really busy ... just not a good environment for a dog.”
Hungerford said she and Madeline had been walking through the store when they walked past two dogs, one of which her daughter tried to pat, at which point it bit her.
Bunnings paid for her daughter’s medical bills, she said, adding that staff responded appropriately and she did not want the dog put down.
However, she said the store should rethink its new policy, announced last Thursday, of allowing “appropriately controlled” pets inside. Assistance dogs have always been allowed inside the stores.
Bunnings managing director, John Gillam, said owners had been bringing their dogs inside Bunnings stores “in a low-key way” for 20 years.
“Some have come in on the back of a tradies’ ute and other smaller dogs have been carried in by their owners,” he said.
“We made a common sense decision to recognise in our policies that well-behaved pet dogs are permitted.”
However, he said he was “very sorry” to hear that a girl had been bitten.
“We will continue to evolve our policy so that it meets community expectations,” Gillam said.
“We’ve had some great customer ideas such as ‘weekdays only’ or ‘only if muzzled’ and we will evaluate whether these make sense. We are grateful for all the feedback we’ve received.”
