WHAT TO DO ABOUT DANGEROUS DOGS - AND THOSE JUST PLAIN VICIOU...

[Colinn]

The death of the baby mauled by two rottweilers is horrific in the extreme and we all know that vicious attacks on people and other dogs are nothing new. What's to be done, I wonder?

Recently, my own dog, a young border collie we rescued from Battersea and who is very much an innocent abroad, was savagely attacked by a much more streetwise muscular bull-terrier/boxer cross while we were out walking.

I have owned dogs long enough to know that an occasional scrap is always possible - and it's never been a big deal.

But this was so much over the top. This dog piled into mine and bit him all over. My dog ran for his life, but was caught by the other one a full 300 yards further on and laid into again. My dog again raced away before getting dragged down and suffered another onslaught. My dog ran off for a third time and was caught again, before, luckily, a brave gentleman (an experienced bull terrier owner himself) managed to separate them and get the dog off. I dare not think what would have happened if he hadn't intervened.

My terrified dog ran home and I found him quivering and covered in blood in the front garden, with both front legs badly bitten and other tears all over his body. I was amazed that no serious injury was done and reckon that this was because he's such a fast, wriggler that the other dog couldn't get hold of him. Plus the fact he was on his back most of the time - hence the leg injuries.

I'll be generous and say that I do not believe that this dog's owner condoned the attack, but it doesn't alter the fact that he couldn't stop it once it started. Neither could he undo the damage.

This is surely the case with so many tragedies we hear about and at the end of the day it comes down to failure by the owner to keep the dog under control. A dog's behaviour is always the responsibility of its owner - it's not a responsibility any of us can take lightly.

 

[Tony_5068498]

On the news at about the same time three people were murdered by gangs of yobs , the two dogs were put down , I wqonder what will happen to the gangs of yobs⇨

Regards

Tony

 

[GillC1]

Well said Tony, but there are too many do gooders that would put a stop to that.

 

[Lol1]

There shouldn't be any doubt here, a dangerous dog should be put down. There again, how do you know it is dangerous? Some say that it's down to the type/breed of dog, but I have seen many supposedly dangerous dogs, be absolutely fantastic with others. I have also seen supposedly docile dogs, go mental when approached.

What we should be doing is blaming the owner much more and punishing them, as well as the dog. After all it's the owner who really knows what the dog is like, and should take the responsibility

 

[Ian.L]

I am a dog owner and agree with you lol its the owners to blame that poor little tot should not of been near them dogs if they were guard dogs my wifes cousin has several them that breed and her's are all fine. I have a golden retriever and it wouldn't harm a fly but was out walking when away on holiday and another golden ran and started attacking mine then ran off and then ten mins later owner came back and tried to attack me so its not the dogs fault its the owners fault and the owner and am not getting at all owners here.

 

[Eileen_5094103]

What a terrible story, I do hope that your dog gets better soon and soon forgets this awful attack. The death of the baby was dreadful but I feel that we are too quick to blame the dogs, and especially the type of dog. I live beside a river with an open area beside it where people like to walk their dogs. A few years ago I met a man out with 5 adult Golden Retrievers. They were very bouncy but friendly and my dog was happy to have a quick run about with them before we continued our walk. A couple of weeks later when I was out walking Poppy I saw the dogs by the river. Poppy was off the lead as usual and running on ahead eager for her swim in the river. Another dog was being walked by a woman and was about 100 yards in front of me, the group of Retrievers was another 50 yards ahead. Suddenly the pack of Retrievers raced over to the ladies dog and started attacking it. It was a terrifying situation. The lady was too scared to interveen and the owner of the Retrievers could only pull one dog away and when he let it go to get another one, the one he let go just joined the frey again. Poppy had run back to me as soon as it started so she was safe, but if she had been 50 yards further ahead?? The man eventually got them all back on leads, and the lady took her poor little dog off to the vet to be patched up.These were Retrievers!!, not the sort of dogs that are normally thought of as dangerous. Perhaps it is not the breed of dog that matters, as much as how it has been reared, and though I adore my two dogs, I am always mindful of the fact that they are just that - dogs - with their own instincts and behaviours, I do not expect them to think and behave like a human. I have a vague recollection, after a baby was killed by a dog a few years ago, of a dog behaviour expert offering a reason why the dog had done this.In the wild if a dog is in pain and making a crying/whining noise the other dogs in the pack will instinctively turn on it and kill it, effectively saving it a slow painful death. The expert suggested that the dog had interpreted the cries from the baby as cries of pain and had acted as it would do in the wild. If this is the case can we really blame the dog for following an instinct? - humans have taken dogs in to their homes, but we cannot expect them to think like us, surely the problem is our lack of understanding of dog behaviour.

 

[Steve L]

First of all I would like to say that for any parent a child being attacked by a dog is distressing at the least and I do offer my sympathetic thoughts to the childs parents for their loss.

However, dogs don't attack just for the hell of it. it is either because they have been trained to do so or feel threatened and afraid of attack themselves.

My old black labrador snarled at my nephew one day and after watching closely I discovered that my nephew was actually putting his fingers into both nostrels of the dogs nose. No wonder the dog was saying sod off.

 

[sparkes]

Sorry Steve I have to disagree there

At easter, two dogs from a neighbouring van dashed out of their awning straight past ours to go for my kids, My kids where nowhere near them or their owners van at the time. I managed to catch both of them by the neck and took them back to their owner who I told that if they do that again, I would destroy the pair of them.

I love my dog, but will never allow him to harm anyone. As for my family, they come first and if I have to defend them I will. The owner saw in my eyes that I was not giving him an empty threat and kept them locked up for the rest of their time on site.

As far as I am concerned I see no difference between a doberman and a Golden retriever. Both can be as friendly as anything, but both can kill a child in minutes. All dogs should have their temperament checked by a vet and a certificate issued. this certificate should then be used to identify a dog that may cause an issue in public and restrictions applied

Steve

 

[Damian]

Yet again, because of an incident involving dogs and humans, we see all the usual cries for "dangerous dogs" to be either put down, or whatever, and now Sparkes has suggested a vet checking the temperament of dogs.

Everyone who gets an animal, no matter what kind, should research the animals history BEFORE going and buying, in the current cases, a fluffy puppy, cos it "looks cute", without knowing the REASON and traits of the breed.

A vet is no better placed to "check the temperament" of a dog than anyone else, face it, no matter how good your dog may appear, you do not know for certain what event or situation will cause it to become agressive and attack something else, for whatever reason.

WHY do people assume all dogs like all other dogs, it does NOT happen, they all have their likes and dislikes.

Taking the recent events, in both cases the dogs were put in situations where a "stranger" was in THEIR territory, the child in the pub, it was the GRANDPARENTS dogs, not the childs parents dogs, and the grandchild was in the dogs normal territory.

In the Sussex case, the same thing,,,child at grandparents place, grandchild in dogs territory.

All dogs will guard their own living place, as it is THEIRS, and when we have introduced new dogs into our home, it has been on a very gradual and very well controlled basis.

Just taking a "strange" newcomer into a situation and thinking everything is going to be ok, is very naieve, and stupid.

Every dog is capable of inflicting very serious injuries , to people or other animals, after all, they are ALL descended from the Wolf, and are pack animals, and hunter killers by default.

As has been said before , there are no bad dogs, but many bad owners, and if an owner wants a Guard Dog, then thats what it should be, and not be expected to be a "family pet" one minute and a Guard the next,and kept in such a way as not to have to make its own decisions as to what is expected at any one moment, and in the current cases ,get it wrong.

To identify a dog "that may cause an issue in public" would cover every single dog around right now.

Restrictions are in place in the form of the "Dangerous Dogs Act"

but maybe there should be a "Dangerous Owners Act " as well.

 

[BrianStAlbans]

We re-homed our dog ,Alsatian/Lab cross, because of an incident some years ago. While walking along the seafront with the dog on a short lead with a strap "muzzle" around his nose/mouth a small boy leant over to stroke him. The dog reacted a managed to cut the boys face, small 1 inch cut and not deep. I don't think the dog actually bit the boy but however it happened the fact was the dog had cut the boy. A lot of people will say that it was the boys own fault , which to a certain extent is true but in my mind the dogs reaction could not be justified. As at the time I had 2 young children I re-homed the dog with the RSPCA on the understanding that he would go some where were he was unlikely to come into contact with children. I know this was probably a one off but I really could not trust him again and the incident has made me wary of all dogs. I thought, like most owners ,my dog was ok with kids until this happened and would say that no matter how sure you are about your dog there is a chance you are wrong. It's not worth the risk ,dogs and young children, in my mind, should not mix.

Brian

 

[Viking1]

Damian

I thick you have missed some thick with this.

When you say a dog will guard their own living I now they will but the kid must have been round to the GRANDPARENTS more than one befor this had happened to them. So I can not see how the dogs would thick they were strangers and the one on the news this moring it seem that a lot of poeple noow that the dog was dangerous.

So thick shud have been dun in the fist place to have stop this.

Mark

 

[Damian]

Mark, I understand what you are saying, but without knowing what the exact circumstances are, or were, regarding the child and how many times, if any, it had been in contact with the dogs previously, it is impossible to know what went so wrong for the dogs to do what they did.

To say something should have been done before it happened,well, that is a totally impossible thing to do, as who knows when it will happen, if ever, so how can stops be put in place.

The only way to ensure dogs dont harm children is to keep the two apart at all times, which would remove a wonderful relationship when it happens and would eventually lead to so many people brought up terrified of dogs that it may well end up with all dogs being put down, and why, because they do what is a normal reaction to some kind of threat, real or percieved, to themselves or their owners.

 

[Colinn]

What a terrible story, I do hope that your dog gets better soon and soon forgets this awful attack. The death of the baby was dreadful but I feel that we are too quick to blame the dogs, and especially the type of dog. I live beside a river with an open area beside it where people like to walk their dogs. A few years ago I met a man out with 5 adult Golden Retrievers. They were very bouncy but friendly and my dog was happy to have a quick run about with them before we continued our walk. A couple of weeks later when I was out walking Poppy I saw the dogs by the river. Poppy was off the lead as usual and running on ahead eager for her swim in the river. Another dog was being walked by a woman and was about 100 yards in front of me, the group of Retrievers was another 50 yards ahead. Suddenly the pack of Retrievers raced over to the ladies dog and started attacking it. It was a terrifying situation. The lady was too scared to interveen and the owner of the Retrievers could only pull one dog away and when he let it go to get another one, the one he let go just joined the frey again. Poppy had run back to me as soon as it started so she was safe, but if she had been 50 yards further ahead?? The man eventually got them all back on leads, and the lady took her poor little dog off to the vet to be patched up.These were Retrievers!!, not the sort of dogs that are normally thought of as dangerous. Perhaps it is not the breed of dog that matters, as much as how it has been reared, and though I adore my two dogs, I am always mindful of the fact that they are just that - dogs - with their own instincts and behaviours, I do not expect them to think and behave like a human. I have a vague recollection, after a baby was killed by a dog a few years ago, of a dog behaviour expert offering a reason why the dog had done this.In the wild if a dog is in pain and making a crying/whining noise the other dogs in the pack will instinctively turn on it and kill it, effectively saving it a slow painful death. The expert suggested that the dog had interpreted the cries from the baby as cries of pain and had acted as it would do in the wild. If this is the case can we really blame the dog for following an instinct? - humans have taken dogs in to their homes, but we cannot expect them to think like us, surely the problem is our lack of understanding of dog behaviour.

I'm always wary of my dog approaching groups of dogs. Pack instincts are strong and if something does kick-off it is difficult to call off all the dogs and the dog on the receiving end doesn't have a chance...

 

[Viking1]

Damian

On the news yesterday morning it was said that people who lived near the dog had ask them to do so thick about it on a number of times and the man who went to free the kid said that when he haired the screams that he new it was that dog.(well that is what the new read said.

So I can not see how it was impossible to tell.

It makes me mad the owner must have now the dog cud not be trusted but he still let them be together.

Mark