What’s with all these dog attacks?

[xxcatcatcatxx]

Seems like there’s loads and just read about another. Not sure if it’s always been this was or if the news is just reporting it more.

it always seems to be disproportionately terrier types involved, I’m not a dog person so don’t know if it’s their natural temperament etc. Just feels like there’s so many at the moment. I wonder if they’ll add other breeds to the banned list of dangerous dogs or if it’s more to do with owners and upbringing.

@Frequency This is honestly the most helpful and insightful reply I’ve ever received for anything in my life. Thank you so much 🙂

You're welcome. Breed specific legislation is a bit of a passion of mine. It's completely useless because it's targeting the wrong end of the lead.

Since it is probably not legal to ban "chavs" from owning dogs all we can do is educate people in canine behaviour and ownership from a young age.

I have a degree in canine behaviour and training and even I wouldn't attempt any type of training that encouraged guarding, biting or chasing people without supervision and advice from an expert in the field yet you see idiots who probably didn't even pass GCSE English in local parks up and down the country encouraging their dogs to attack trees and praising them for showing aggressive behaviours. This is what is behind most of the attacks and why certain breeds seem to go through spates of attacking people. It's the breed that is popular at the time with this type of person.

Personal protection dog training can be done safely but the dog needs to be properly assessed to ensure it's temprement is correct for this type of trainining (very few dogs are safe to train this way even by an expert) and it needs to be done expertly and in order e.g you need to have a fucking solid "STOP!" command before you even attempt to train anything that might remotely look like or encourage aggression. The dog needs to see it as game not actual encouragement to attack humans.

I'm considering it for my crazy mutt but he will go through advanced obedience training before I even consider getting him assessed for suitability and I will be joining in training classes ran by experts. He's not a bull breed and I'm interested in it for sport. I would like to compete with him as he is a breed who needs a "job" to keep him stimulated and I think he would excel at Mondioring or tracking. Once he's finished his advanced obedience training I will decide with a trainer which would be best for him.

"I think a lot of people don’t know how to act around dogs. And parents don’t teach their children how act. They let their little darlings rush up to a strange dog and start touching it. Would you like a stranger coming up to your like that? Or would you react?"
I wish I didn't need to know how to react around dogs, I've had a dibilitating fear of them all my life which Ive tried to control since having my own child.
I have never in my life rushed up to any dog, let alone strange ones, I've stroked about 5dogs in my whole life and they were trusted friends trusted pets which I got to know and not dislike over a period of time.
How would I feel if a stranger came over and sniffed my feet or crotch, or snaffled my picnic or jumped up my front ruining my clothes??
Worse if they started chasing me or shouting for no apparent reason?
I'd hate it and think it's at best bloody antisocial and at worst actually threatening and scary behaviour.
But some dog owners seem to think this is acceptable behaviour for their stupid mutts.
It isn't.
I wouldnt allow my child to behave like that in public and he's 'soft as anything' 'wouldnt hurt a fly' and 'doesn't bite.'
I've had as many strange and annoying dogs encroaching on my personal space and peace and quiet as I have entitled fuck wit men, and I'd dare say there are more men about than dogs.
I don't want to interact with your dog.
At all. Ever.
Keep on a leash or teach it perfect recall.

Near me, there's a big, beautiful park and woodland area. I've been going there for many years. It's a fab place for a pram walk and for kids to play. I don't go there and certainly won't ever take my baby anymore because of increasingly frequent bad experiences with idiot dog owners.

I've noticed a huge increase in bull breed dogs, many with owners who you can take one look at and tell they're a nob.

The thing that really winds me up is the entitlement - after I asked an owner to please stop their staffie from following me and trying to stick its face into my pram, they replied "it's a dog park, what do you expect?" It's not a bleeding "dog park"! It's just a park! There's even a kids playground, picnic area, etc. but dog owners seem to think that their dogs needs surpass the needs of everyone else.

I've heard several people refer to the park as a "dog park" now. There was a local Facebook post where someone warned people about a dog they were attacked by in said park. Luckily no serious injury, probably mostly because the dog in question was a small not particularly powerful breed, but from the story it was clear that the dog and the owner were out of control. The majority of comments were as you'd expected, but there were two or three expressing the sentiment that parks are for dogs, not people. Utterly ridiculous.

When running in the park and woods most dogs ignore me, and if they don't most owners apologise and restrain or put them on a lead.

For the minority who don't apologise or put the dog on a lead, I've been given the following explanations why it's okay for their dog to chase/bark/jump at me.

• they're being friendly
• they're excited to be in the woods
• they're excited to see you
• they're just a puppy
• you're running too fast and scared them
• they're scared of people walking without dogs; they think it's weird
• I'm a childminder so he's fine
• they won't hurt you

These owners seem to come from all social backgrounds, and are likely really nice people (certainly the childminder is, I know her from the school run) - what unites them is a not having a clue about dogs.

I'd like to see a public information campaign to explain the basics. Maybe could be paid for via a licensing scheme - even if licenses themselves don't reduce any problems, the money gathered by licenses potentially could. So increasing public education, helping neglected dogs, subsidised training classes, that sort of thing.