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

I think it's worse than not giving a shit, they are proud of the damage that their dog is capable of inflicting and the terror it invokes in other people. Having a dog like that makes them feel as if they are cock of the walk and they can do as they please.

I am now constantly scanning for dogs and I cross the road etc if I see anything over a certain size or off the lead. I give all of them as wide a berth as I possibly can and if I'm out walking I carry a stick.

Don't be ridiculous. Massive overreaction . This dog wasn't even in public he was in his own home .

hattie43
you see a lot of knee jerk reactions today from the anti dog brigade

Ok happy to stand corrected - not jaw lock.

Just a potential killer bite from an extremely strong jaw. Splitting hairs with me here.

I agree with a proper licensing regime. Annual dog licence at a high enough cost to pay to run a decent service. Visible dog licences on collars. Any dog seen without a licence is impounded immediately or that is roaming/out of control of its owner gets impounded; high fines to get them back.

Also agree that a condition of getting a first licence should be attending proper training and passing a test at the end of it.

13 million dogs in the UK- £100 a year for a licence would fund a decent amount of enforcement. A fee reduction for desexed dogs.

It might make people think twice before getting dogs, allowing them to roam and present a nuisance.

I had dogs all my life before moving to this country, my house and lifestyle here aren't ideal for dogs and so I don't have a dog. It's not a human right. I was so shocked to learn dog licences don't exist here and it's a total free for all.

A child losing its life because of a dog? =
‘Blown out of proportion’

please never have children.

Moxysright
yes blown out of proportion compared to how many others deaths to children, on average 94 per year by Adults, mostly by their own parents

Unbelievable how people take leave of their senses isn't it . This poor child was let down by her parents no-one else and certainly not
the responsible safe dogs and their owners of the country , the silent majority .

Ah, the lesser spotted People Can Only Care About One Thing And Governments Should Only Address One Problem At A Time poster.

hattie43
yes, your right, the child was let down by its owner,

JassyRadlett
yes, let’s deal with the things that causes the most deaths first, rather than picking on the small minority

American bulldog only rehomed a couple of weeks ago.

How predictable.

Every dog attack starts with “its ok, its daft as a brush” and ends with “ohh they’ve never done that before.”

@Unphased

you can use an @ before username, save you writing name out in your post

Cool. So what's your plan for that? I reckon we can do more than one thing at once, but I'm keen to hear your plan for the issue. I'd like to see more investment and training in social services and early intervention myself - it wouldn't even need legislative time so we'd be able to the dogs thing at the same time.

@Moxysright
yes it usually is,

Just to be clear the dog was owned by the child's parents .

So so sad. Poor wee thing.

for all the people concerned about dogs I urge you to write to your local mp and ask for dog ownership to be overhauled in U.K.

I’m not a expert so I don’t know what the right thing to do is but it’s certainly not working at the moment. I think we at least can all agree on that.

theres also a few government petitions that might be worth signing - at the very least it may draw attention to the issue.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624876

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621613

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624520

Well, no, you said they get jaw lock which is quite specific and indicates its a bodily function that happens to certain dogs.

Its very possible to train a dog to be soft with their mouths - bite inhibition - so it increases the liklihood of them stopping from biting too hard in the event they do feel they need to bite someone or something for whatever reason.

Lock jaw would mean they can't control their bite force. Which is not true - pointing this out is not splitting hairs.

@JassyRadlett
the state of social services at the moment, I don’t think we can deal with one thing

'It's all a mess so let's not bother fixing anything' does also seem to be the current government's approach.

@hattie43
was it the child of the family or a visiting child?

Child of the family

@JassyRadlett
there does seem to be many things to fix at the moment and the lack of resources and resolve to do any is a concern, best start with the easiest and work your way down

Here we go again. Child + dog = disaster. Dog educated child + knowledge of the individual dog + general knowledge of dogs + child educated dog + supervision = not a disaster. My parents had working breeds, my uncle had working breeds from before I was born. I've owned working breeds since I was old enough to be legally classed as an owner. Shepherds, Collies, Mastiffs, Boxers, Labs, Spaniels and terriers. Number of times bitten or threatened - zero. Nil. Nada. Neither has my child. Loss of autonomy gone bloody mad. Horrific for the girl and her family. Also horrific for the dog and their owner so yes I will be extending my sympathy there and if that means I have my priorities wrong then I don't want to be right.