The little girl was bitten several times by the dog, which was running free on Friday. Its owner’s whereabouts are still unknown. The child only escaped more serious injuries because her 15-year-old sister managed to chase the Great Dane away. After being treated by a pediatrician the child was able to return home.

The incident is the third dog attack on children within the last few days in the Lower Saxony. On Thursday, a pit bull seriously injured a two-year-old girl in Ovelgönne. The child and her mother were visiting her godmother when the godmother’s dog suddenly attacked the child. The toddler is now in intensive care, according to a police spokeswoman.

And a few days ago a Rottweiler attacked another 8-year-old girl in Bad Fallingbostel, when the child and her mother walked past a farmhouse. The child sustained serious bite wounds in her face and on her arms.

Following the spate of attacks German politicians are demanding more stringent controls and tougher punishments. Social Democratic parliamentarian Karl Lauterbach went so far as to demand that dog owners take full responsibility for any injuries.

“Attack dog owners are well aware of the risks their dogs pose to children and therefore should be punished with all severity as if they themselves had injured the children,” he told Bild newspaper on Saturday.

Georg Ehrmann, chairman of children’s charity Deutsche Kinderhilfe in Berlin, demanded that all dangerous races of dogs be put on a national list so that these animals be forced to wear muzzles and be on a leash at all times.