Yet another person killed from a dog attack.. what is going on

[icelolly12]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-64254413

Something needs to be done...reports of dog neglect taken more seriously, harsher prison sentences... any other ideas?

Awful, awful way to die, and makes me think twice about passing dogs off lead on walks.

Apologies! Confused you for someone else (their name started with 'Bi' so my brain assumed you were the same person

My grandad used to breed JRTs and would dock their tails in his kitchen shortly after they were born. I still see the breed out and about now with docked tails.
Blame it on the breed standards set by Kennel Club etc (although I understand times have changed on that front).
Point is, just because a dog has docked tail or cropped ears does not make it a danger, and it is bonkers to suggest any dog like that is euthanised just because someone in their history decided they looked better with no tail or ears.
It should be (and is now, I think), illegal to crop/dock ears/tails.
My mum's dog has a little stub of a tail due to 'Happy Tail'.

I think of JRTs as a working breed (even though many of them don't work now).

It's these molloser breeds which are sometimes illegally docked, frequently illegally (and very painfully) ear-cropped that I'm thinking of. The people who treat/want dogs like these are not likely to be responsible owners.

But you are right - shows how much care needs to go into drafting legislation.

I am sure ear cropping has never been a thing in the UK. I have only every seen it on bully breeds in the US.
I saw a bully pup recently with cropped ears. I thought there was no way that dog was rescued from abroad. They had someone chop at it's ear here, poor thing.

Lots of people have said that dodgy breeders and problem owners would not buy licenses.
Surely the point is that if the licenses were policed properly, any unlicensed unchipped dogs could be easily identified and removed from their owners and put to sleep. Much easier to prove a dog is unlicensed than proving it is an illegal breed, or illegally bred, or mistreated or dangerous. So less incentive to breed or buy them, and would reduce the overall numbers of dogs in the community.

Surely the point is that if the licenses were policed properly, any unlicensed unchipped dogs could be easily identified and removed from their owners and put to sleep.

Ah but that's the problem, the licence and chip laws being policed properly.

Currently, we have a law that dictates that dogs, and cats, must be microchipped but you still keep seeing on sites like face book that a stray dog or cat has been picked up by a member of the public who found it wandering alone but it can't be identified as it has no chip.

The fact is no one is policing the microchip law and likewise no one will police a licensing law. There isn't the money available with which to provide people who will go around inspecting dog licences and neither is there the will.

I'm one of the pps who said that dog licences are pointless because the people who breed and buy these dangerous dogs will not bother to buy a licence.

All the time there is no one policing such laws there is absolutely no point in bringing in such laws.

The microchipping law has been absolutely pointless for that reason, people are still not microchipping their pets. I can't imagine a licencing law would be any different or more effective.

I can not see any decent vet PTS a healthy and happy dog who just happens not to be licensed or chipped. That is not why people work in the veterinary profession.
Ultimately, you are punishing innocent pets with death because of what could be an oversight on the part of their owner. Fine the owners, yes. Give them the chance to get a chip/license, yes. Kill their pet? That is batshit.
Thankfully, such a daft and OTT rule would never come into fruition.

No - it is illegal here, even for working breeds.

No vet would dream of doing it, so it's done in kitchens/ sheds/ garages/ etc with scissors. Can you imagine the pain the pups go through? Those tender ear leathers are so sensitive. And the distress of the bitch getting her crying, bleeding puppies back? And the risk of infection? And the chances of cutting them too short (I once, some years ago, saw a rottweiler with no ear at all - his delicate ear canals totally exposed and unprotected. He was running about alone - no sign of anyone with him, and no collar.)

It's a brutal and unnecessary practice.

You can't re-grow ears.

I didn't mention ears.

Yes, the idea of removing an unlicensed dog from it's owner and killing it is definitely not something that any sensible person would think acceptable.

I'd rather overlooked that bit in my reply to DrDinosaur.

Obviously, if a dog is so dangerously out of control that it's attacked someone then that's a different matter but killing a dog because it's owner omitted to get it microchipped or buy a licence is not going to happen.

Currently, the law on microchipping doesn't allow for a dog to be removed from its owner so I can't see that would happen for licences in the, unlikely, event they were bought in, especially since dog licences have already been scraped once - in 1987 - for the very reason that they were unworkable, were proving impossible to police and were costing more to administer than the money they were bringing in.

Seems unlikely that any government would reintroduce something that hadn't worked previously.

My mistake.

I'm on a crossed line.

@pigsDOfly just because it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it couldn’t be made to work now. We didn’t have all the tech then that we did now.

i was out in my local park today and saw a couple walking one of those awful American bully things - it was huge and tugging so hard at the lead, they had fuck all control over it. It’s mental that people are allowed to buy them and walk around parks with them with no control.

I would bring in a full vetting and adoption system if it were me. I’m so over the “what about my rights” brigade 🙄.

The type that don't care will just go under ground and carry on getting dogs regardless. The jails are full and killers and pedo are let out so they won't be jailed. I agree with banning back street breeders, and ppl should be made to take courses on pet care etc.

I agree with this what a guy said about dog walkers to have official supervised training before doing the job, with legal restrictions on the number of animals they can care for in public.

@dawngreen exactly, there are so many things we COULD do to improve the situation - instead we just all watch on in horror and collectively shrug our shoulders. There are lots of things we could regulate improve, both fo protect the animals themselves and the poor bloody victims of these terrifying attacks.

There are too many dogs owned by irresponsible dog owners, they are a nuisance to the rest of us.
The only way to change this is to cull the dogs not in the care of responsible owners (who presumably would have licenses and comply with any training requirements).
Any law can be made to work if the political will (and thus the funding) is there.

You won’t be surprised to hear that I’m not a dog owner, but every time I read these threads going on about the importance of proper training and socialisation. Apart from killing them, what else would you do with the untrained, emotionally disturbed dogs belonging to the type of irresponsible owner who wouldn’t get a license, even if they knew their dogs life depended on it?

Train them the correct way, and not rehome to homes with children. Most dogs can be retrained with the correct owners.

There seem to be an awful lot of irresponsible owners though, so a lot of dogs to find the correct owners for. Though fine if dog charities wanted to take on the costs. If the taxpayer’s paying, cheaper to just put them to sleep.

It was the owner's own Bully XL.

Why do people think that bull breeds, which were selectively bred over hundred of years to create the perfect hyper aggressive and destructive fighting dogs, would make suitable family pets?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12094705/Woman-28-mauled-death-pack-dogs-killed-American-Bully-XL.html

It’s crazy @ThisOldThang , I don’t understand it. And why can’t they be banned if their dna is v similar to a pit bull??

Yeah they need banning. Poor woman.

Woman killed by her own dog, 1 of 8, yes EIGHT dogs she was walking.
The killer dog was put down. .There ought to be a strong fine for walking more than 3 dogs at a time and none should be off the lead on public open land on certain dates from March to July.

Why did it take so long for the truth about this fatal dog attack to come out?