Another dog attack- 4 year old killed. Devastating

[singingsussie]

Just woke up to this news this morning. It's just so incredibly heartbreaking for all involved. Seems to be happening so much more than ever these days

What strange priorities you seem to have. And what a very nasty post to write in the context of the news about the child.

We have to run the gauntlet anyway while walking to school. The weed smoking scumbags that are the majority on the school run have these dogs with them at the school gates/lining the roads to the school while they argue with each other.

I can’t take my children to the local parks, these horrible dogs are everywhere and the owners find it hilarious when they chase people.

Next door have a nasty little pit bull who started biting through the fence when we were in the garden, barking, growling and scratching... “He just wants to play with the kids, he loves children!”

We’ve paid to have a chain link fence put up in front of the wooden fence. I still wouldn’t leave my toddlers side in the garden.

Seriously? If your dog killed a child and is presumably pts, you would be more upset about your dog than the child?

I think for most people, being responsible for killing a child would cause soul destroying feelings of guilt.

Not a member of the NRA here and have had my own family dog attacked by an unruly dog.

However, if they are on leads then that’s an over reaction. If they are off lead well then the owners are a disgrace.

What I can’t understand though is why these type of breeds are allowed to be sold to unlicensed homes. It’s nearly always one of these type of breeds that attack and yes I get that many are responsible staffie owners but clearly they have a tendency to be violent. It’s much like ‘good’ gun owners in the US, responsibly managing their weapons arent the problem, it’s those who can’t manage something dangerous or own it for the wrong reasons.

I’m also of the opinion that if a dog bites once when not being attacked, it should be put to sleep. It’s not acceptable to say ‘it was provoked by the child pulling at it etc’
A dog that does this has a bad temperament and safety comes first.

I adore my family dog but if he bit tomorrow he would be gone

Don’t be ridiculous.

i’m a dog owner and would absolutely be in favour of “dog control” if that’s how you want to phrase it.

I doubt any responsible dog owner would insist that everyone has the right to own a dog.

I would agree with:

licensing
ban large scale breeding
ban certain breeds outside of a working environment unless the owner can pass extensive training.
if there are children under 14 in the home report to social services. If under 5 then physical assessment.
ban some of the more ridiculous designer crosses like huskies crossed with small dogs.

i’s also argue a few more restrictions to protect the dogs themselves.

Thanks for tarring us all with the same brush. It doesn't exactly help us all have a respectful and sensible conversation about this.

FWIW, I'm a dog owner. I find cases like this very sad and disturbing. I've noticed which breeds and types are usually responsible for serious maulings and deaths and am in favour of regulating and restricting them. I wouldn't even object to a sensible licencing system - though I suspect that the people who own strong breeds and encourage aggression won't bother, so (as usual) the restrictions will fall on the responsible owners and have no impact on the irresponsible.

What I can’t understand though is why these type of breeds are allowed to be sold to unlicensed homes.

Because no one knows the exist! Here, they are bred in peoples homes and sold to friends/family/people at the pub.

They never see a vet.

When they are too aggressive to handle, they are left to rot in back gardens and never seen again.

No one will call the rspca if they see that because they are all as bad as each other. Dangerous dogs are the tip of the iceberg in shitholes all over the country.

These dogs don’t exist on paper.

Its the entitlement of dog owners in public areas that gets me. They get angry when you try to protect your child from an exuberant dog by standing to one side to let them pass or in front of the pushchair when the dog comes too close. They always say “oh she’s fine” or whatever. I mean I don’t know your dog, I would rather it didn’t “play” with my child’s face thanks. They are all fine until they rip someone’s throat out.
I suppose they get angry because they know they are in the wrong to let their dog come so near my child. That’s a common response to being in the wrong rather than accept responsibility I think.
If you want to let your animals run free, stay in the dog parks where they can play at biting and jumping around with each other please!

Some good points here-agree about the home attacks though. And sadly there just aren’t the resources to implement many of @Ritasueandbobtoo9s suggestions. The kind of people who want status bully breeds are generally people of lower intelligence and poor critical reasoning skills, with a general lack of common sense and disregard for authority, so it would be almost impossible to manage.

Poor little girl.

Agree that they tend to be owned by certain people and are more common in certain areas……..But yet every dog thread has a poster saying ‘get a staffie/other bill breeds they are lovely family pets’

All the dogs homes are full of them.

I think people are in total denial that these kind of dogs are just not for the average family. Hands up I wouldn’t go near them and I’ve had labs, King Charles spaniels and miniature schnauzers so I’m not inexperienced

Most dog attacks happen at home.
And usually a certain type of home.
This awful case won’t involve a Golden Retriever in a nice part of Harrogate will it?
I am a dog lover and while I do completely support people’s right to go about their day not being bothered by dogs if that’s what they want banning dogs from public places will not solve this

I’m a dog owner, I have working dogs and I agree with all of this. XL bully’s need to be banned, as do various other breeds. I am sick to death of people trying to pretend they are ‘nanny’ dogs. The people that own and choose to have those dogs do so for a reason.

The breeding of bull breeds need to be banned and much harsher punishments for those that do break the law. I’m sure plenty will be aware of this, but look up the history of the original ‘bull and terrier’ breeds. It wasn’t so they could live in your home and babysit your children.

I have a small fluffy dog. Purposely picked that breed as I had small children and wanted something with a gentle jaw and small so I could physically overpower it if necessary.

I walk her in the park. Off lead as she doesn’t care about strangers, just wants to round us up and smell the occasional rabbit.

the amount of parents that try and call her over so their children can “pet the nice doggie”, or worse, let their children run full pelt at her and try and grab handfuls of fur “oh he loves dogs, he just wants to stroke her”.

there’s a lot of entitlement all round. I have chosen and trained a dog to present a minimum danger. I am as confident as I can be he wouldn’t react but seriously, we also need to teach children that all dogs can be a risk, not just the big ones.

You should have to pass a theory and practical test

I haven’t been able to find news about this but that another child has been killed is horrific and sickening.
We need a response designed to tackle the actual issues. Sort out the breeding situation in this country. Too many breeding purely for money and with no regard for animal welfare or temperament. Training and licensing for owners.
What we don’t need is banning breeds or dogs off lead etc etc

This is also very accurate. I live in a rural village in very small backwater town. The local town moron has started breeding XL Bullies. He is vile, thick and couldn’t look after a goldfish.

Been a dog owner most of my life and I would welcome a system similar to France has. Dogs are categorised, owners must have a vet certificate showing the category and 2 categories must always be muzzled in public.
I think ALL dogs should be licensed and have to be vet checked annually to continue to be kept — any aggression and the vet can report it. Charges to dog owners would cover a licensing and reporting scheme. You can’t afford that = you don’t get a dog. There should also be a limit on dogs per household with further checks and cost to go beyond that for any special reason.

Absolutely tragic that a child has died and has gone way past the time to start imposing restrictions and rules on dog owners. And I say this as the owner of a large dog, albeit a soppy and well trained one.

The ones who need to, wouldn’t bother. As others said, these dogs exist mostly in bad areas, deprived estates where behaviour goes largely unchecked. There needs to be an incentive for neighbours to shop those owning and breeding these dogs (if they were to be banned, personally I think XLs will it’s just a matter of time). Unfortunately there isn’t the money or will to put these laws into place.

This happened in my city.. it's heartbreaking :(

Then the police should remove the dog. No license no dog.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-64476833

Breeding of dogs needs banned apart from a small number of licensed breeders who need to jump through hoops to get a license.

It's back yard breeding that is creating the issues, people are breeding huge powerful dogs which no thought to genes. Breeding utter crap that looks huge with no thought to temperament, crossing all sorts of dogs.

When you start crossing breeds often temperament can be compromised.

The last breed responsible for attacks was "Staffies" ( its XL bully's now). But these so called Staffies were not true SBT they were a cross of god knows what that roughly resembles a SBT. The worse thing you can do is cross a fighting dog with a guarding breed - that's asking for trouble yet this is the nonsense people did.

It's idiots breeding dogs that's creating this and the massive increase is due to the increase in back yard breeding as XL bully's are expensive so every "Ned" has started breeding them which is creating a new generation of monster dogs but unfortunately these animals are now over twice the weight of when it was done with "Staffies"

We need to Ban breeding . And urgently.

Right? What an odd comment.