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.

Whilst I can see what people are wanting to see licences back, dog ownership should be provable by the identichip which every dog is supposed to have - no pup should be sold without being chipped, and the details should be altered with the registry every time a dog changes hands.

HOWEVER - we are back to rubbish breeders and rubbish owners. There are too many randomly bred litters, too many breeders don't bother to chip, too many dogs change hands too often and, chipped or not, details aren't updated. This means that even a chipped dog could end up being traced back to an "old" owner.

It's bad owners and untrained dogs which are the problem, and expensive licences will only penalise the very people who do take responsibility for their dogs - the A-holes will just continue to ignore the law. If the law penalised owners of out-of-control dogs more severely, that might be a start.

@jellybeanteaparty I was going to say sausages 😂

Er no thanks

I live fairly nearby and know the place where it happened. It is very far from the sort of area @Kevinyoutwat describes. It is a local beauty spot surrounded by the type of houses where the kids have a pony and the parents do something "in the City".

There is little information available but there is some suggestion that rather than being seven dogs on the attack some people in the vicinity dropped their dogs leads to let them escape. I have no idea if that is true or not though. Local people really want to know more - that's an area where many (including me) go for walks with their children.

It is very unusual for an adult to be fatally attacked by a dog. I wonder what the hell happened.

For example, I have 3 pugs. They are bred to be companion dogs and are friendly with great recall.

But I would never allow them to approach a child off lead and if a child wants to stroke one, the is only one dog which is calm enough to be safe.

I would never allow them unsupervised with children in my house. They are fabulous dogs but they still have teeth and an instinct to protect themselves.

I think owners should be locked up for allowing their dogs to harm someone.

I just don't see how anyfrom of licensing would work for the high % of dogs that don't come from kc breeders or legitimate rescues

My worry is people would just let unregistered dogs suffer because the only place that could pick it up would be a vet.

This 1000%❤️

This really worries me, we have neighbours whose son has moved back home with three dogs, a staffie, a staffie mixed with something else (bigger) and an American Bully XL. The Bully is so aggressive and he struggles to control it. It will bark and lunge at you if you happen to be outside at the same time as it as he or his bad struggle to hold it back. I’ve been in the house and seen all three dogs get loose and they go straight for the house across the street who have a German shepherd in the garden most days and they snarl and bark at it and it takes ages to get them under control. I dread to think what would happen if a child or anyone if they were out there when the dogs were off the lead.

I avoid them like the plague, once I was going to put rubbish out but one of these dogs was on my doorstep sniffing about off the lead so I couldn’t open the door. The neighbours son obviously has low self esteem as he’s short, obese (his mother tells everyone how sensitive he is about his height and weight and not being able to get a gf) and tries to look tough by having tattoos all over even his face and neck and by having these status dogs. He never walks them, he is lazy and only leaves the house to buy McDonald’s and even then he mostly Ubers his breakfasts and dinners in. I hear the dogs bark and fight amongst themselves through the walls. They are probably bored and under exercised. His parents have young grandchildren visiting and I think the whole situation is just an accident waiting to happen.

Those of us who care need to be writing to their MPs. We should feel safe in this country walking outdoors without the threat of dog attacks.

I am a dog lover but right now there seems to be so many dog owners who just do whatever they like.
Last weekend I took the dc to a playground, it was really busy and noisy, loads of people and plenty of them had bought their dogs into the play area(despite the many no dogs signs) and had them off lead running around among the children. Even as someone who loves dogs it made me feel on edge, it’s just selfish behaviour ,plenty of dc are frightened of dogs and it’s also unfair on the dogs to put them into a busy play area with kids screaming and running around. Asking for trouble really.

i do think there needs to be more done to deal with irresponsible owners, we hear of the human deaths but we don’t hear about bites which happen everyday or attacks on other dogs or other animals.

I think though, at the end of all of this,

We're adults and we've had a very lengthy discussion on the topic - this is a good thing as we've all highlighted that it's a concerning issue for us all!

We can help in our own little ways, regardless of local authorities not giving a sh*t,

We can educate our children on how to correctly behave around dogs, and educate them (for the future) on how to be a responsible dog owner.

We can try to educate those around us that own dogs / plan to own dogs.

And we can try to work together to get things better.

Agree.

And there are some breeds which are totally unsuitable as pets to begin with - they are working breeds, large, independent minded and often aggressively protective of their "pack". Some of the dogs from eastern europe, for instance eg ovcharkas, are bred to protect heard of cattle against wolves and even bears. They are big powerful dogs, and in a working situation live with the herds, outdoors in all weathers and are fierce protective of them. I imagine that as pets (which they are starting to be in this country), they are equally protective of their families. Fine, if a masked knifeman breaks into your home - but what if your child has a fight with another kid in the street and the dog launches itself in to protect its family member?

Some dogs are badly bred; some are badly raised/treated; some are just doing what they are designed for - but in the wrong situation. Any of these things can make a dog dangerous.

@Snowglobules can you inform the council? That sounds horrendous

*herds, not heard

It's not fair at all,
This is the exact reason I got a swing and slide in my garden 🤣

My gardens split into two, one side for the dog and the other side for family stuff,
At least this way I can enjoy watching my little one play, and my own dog play for that matter (I won't take her to parks with children, simply because I know not everybody likes dogs) - and we don't have the nuisance of having other dogs ruining our vibe 🙈

Also I'm not sure where you're from but it's worth asking??

My local council will give free dog poo bags if you ask them,
I get dog poo bags from them sometimes for my dog, and I always have them in my pocket, and if I witness people not picking their dogs poo up, I give them some bags 🙈

Dreadful. My dgd is a dog walker/sitter and in her 20s.

I wonder
too if it was a dog walker or the victim was as its unusual to be 7 dogs. My dgd can
only walk 5 max but by choice walks 1 at a time or 3 max if from same household.,She says dont
care how good a dog trainer you are no one can keep that many under control if one kicks off or whatever ..

Obv. we dont
know what happened here but a terrible
tragedy.

Whar about walkers in out of the way places? I like walking long distances in remote places and I frequently meet dogs not under control and some with their owners not even close to them.

What not Whar

@yorkshirepudsx very true. My daughter knows not to go near dogs as they can bite. We also would never own a dog and have children and I would not allow my child in a house with a big or aggressive type dog, and never ever left alone with any animal never mind a dog. I’m just genuinely scared on a daily basis going outside with my kids. There are dogs running around everywhere and there’s a trend for having dogs off lead.

In the spirit of fairness we see a fair amount of tiny breeds who are aggressive. We are starting to see major aggression issues with some cockapoos. The difference being we can quickly deal with this due to their size. Our local (decent, accredited) behaviourists have huge waiting lists.

Some of the xl types are up to 70kg. The heaviest we have on the books is 108kg. Just sheer bulk. One caught me in a little warning nip which needed sutures and a course of antibiotics. If he’d meant it I would have lost a good chunk of my arm.

Thankfully he gave me a warning. some go without warning us at all due to their owners mishandling previous warning signs. They are ridiculously strong. And if they turn I defy anyone to be able to hold them.

It wouldn't work at all, responsible owners would rehome them if they couldn't afford it, the middleish owners who couldn't rehome because rescues are full near them would abandon them somewhere in the hope they might get picked up (meaning a dog might just be roaming the streets), and irresponsible owners just wouldn't bother. Why would they when they know there would be zero recourse?

If it was brought back and money ploughed into it the same people calling for it to be reintroduced would be the ones moaning about lack of resources when their naice home gets burgled.

I'm amazed people think dog licensing is an answer.

@Snowglobules that sounds awful.

I suggest that if you can safely do so, you film the dogs if they’re outside your house off- lead. Perhaps from an upstairs window.
Also film them trying to attack the dog opposite again if you can do it safely. Then you will have some evidence to show the police/RSPCA how worried you are and why.

Agree re: numbers a single dog walker can walk at a time. Even if they are the best behaved dogs in the world, if thy are roaming, there is no way the walker is keeping up with all the poo. It's just not possible.

I used to have six terries and they never left my feet - I was able to pick up after them all, no bother.

I now have 3 spaniels - they shoot off and shoot back. I walk them in two groups now because keeping an eye on three ranging dogs is very difficult. (Means the youngest dog gets double walks, which delights him, as I take him + one oldie then him + other oldie. He needs that extra couple of hours as well.)

From what I've read, in groups written by those that were present - some of the dogs detained weren't even involved, owners apparently dropped their leads so that the dogs themselves could flee what was happening and be safe.

But that's hearsay for now, I'm sure we will hear more soon x