The government has also introduced a hotline for the public to report dangerous dogs. At the time of going to press, 229 people had called to report dangerous dogs.

The Department of Primary Industries is aware of 356 pit bulls, including cross breeds, and one Dogo Argentino, that have been placed on the Victorian declared dog register.

According to the Coroners Prevention Unit, 10 people were killed by dogs in Victoria between 1979 to 2010.

The unit was unable to provide the breeds of the dogs before the Weekly’s deadline, but a DPI spokesman said restricted breeds were not responsible for the majority of dog attacks and he believed the three most recent fatalities were caused by two rottweilers and a dingo cross-breed.

In fact, the restricted breeds hardly feature on the department’s list of 309 dangerous dogs that have attacked people.

The list was topped by 47 Staffordshire bull terriers including cross breeds, 30 rottweilers, including two labrador crosses, 22 German Shepherds, 19 Siberian huskies, 14 boxers and 13 Alaskan malamutes.

The top 15 also included whippets, Labradors, Australian kelpies, border collies and Dalmatians.

One American pit bull terrier had been listed as dangerous due to an attack.

The Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit found injuries caused by dogs steadily rose in the 10 years to June 2010 and accounted for 5180 hospital admissions across Victoria; almost a third of these patients were children aged under 14.

In a similar trend in Frankston and the peninsula, the number of hospitalisations due to dog attacks has steadily grown over the fi ve years to 2010, with a total of 205 hospitalisations.

Most of the injuries were open wounds and 64.

9 per cent of patients were in hospital for less than two days.

Frankston council CEO George Modrich said 22 dogs including guard dogs, attack trained dogs and dogs that had caused serious injury as a result of an attack, lived in the council area.

Only one of these was a pit bull and one additional pit bull had been destroyed since 2005.

‘‘All new applicants for dog registration must sign a declaration stating whether or not their dog is a restricted breed dog” Mr Modrich said.

‘‘We have two animal registration officers that conduct regular door knocks throughout our municipality.

Future inspections will also ensure the any dog located on the premises is not a listed restricted breed.’’

Of the 24,152 dogs registered in Mornington Peninsula Shire, only four are registered as restricted breed dogs, all of them pure-bred American pit bull terriers.

The shire’s acting manager of environmental protection Mark Upton said: ‘‘It is not possible to estimate how many American pit bull terriers there are in the shire that may be unregistered, or registered under the wrong breed category.’’

Shire rangers team leader Paul Bonnici said 12 general duties staff spent about 50 per cent of their time on animal management issues.

It was unclear how much their workload would increase when the new laws were enacted.

‘‘It is hoped the state government will assist the shire to properly resource the additional demand for service that is resulting from these changes,’’ he said.

The Municipal Association of Victoria has taken up the baton on behalf of municipalities throughout Victoria and is lobbying the state government for additional resources.

RSPCA spokesman Tim Pilgrim said it was too early to tell how the new laws would affect the association or whether there would be an increase in the number of dogs being surrendered to shelters such as the one in Pearcedale.

‘‘We are still consulting with other stakeholders, including the Bureau of Animal Welfare and other shelters,’’ Mr Pilgrim said.

Restricted breed dogs surrendered to the shelter cannot be rehoused and must be euthanased.

But the Pearcedale shelter had received very few calls about the new laws and rarely encountered pit bulls.

Mr Pilgrim said the DPI’s new visual standard for identifying restricted breeds, implemented earlier this month, could pose problems.

‘‘The statistics do show that any dog of any size has the ability to attack or bite and it is the responsibility of the owner to ensure their dog is properly socialised and trained.

‘‘The RSPCA has a saying about dog attacks — ‘it is the deed of the dog and not the breed of the dog.’’

This philosophy was shared by Mr Williams, who said a few years ago media attention and public fear centred around German shepherds and rottweilers.

‘‘Breeds are very quickly allocated a social status. Pit bulls were bred to be with humans.

It is not a natural thing for a pit bull to go and bite a human. It’s only that the pit bull style dog draws more media impact than a Lab biting.’’

Mr Williams said there was ‘‘absolutely no need,’’ for restricted or dangerous dogs to be destroyed.

‘‘I think an education program is required. Even the most highly stressed dogs can be rehabilitated. The dog should not be a decision maker. If humans don’t fi ll that role the dog will.’’

Mr Williams said although his clients, including some on the Mornington Peninsula and in Frankston, were afraid to tell him that their dogs were pit bulls, he had 100 per cent success in rehabilitating the animals when the owners were willing to work hard and follow the rules.

Every pit bull owner we have worked with diligently has brought their dog back to a happy, relaxed state.

‘‘It is all about educating humans. Does a dog deserve to die because we haven’t done our job?’’