Woman looses arm due to dog bite

[Drlovestrong]

Dog owner who lost arm after pet bit her is suing RSPCA for £200K https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11992905/Rescue-dog-owner-lost-arm-pet-bit-suing-RSPCA-200-000.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

Can we talk about this? I am appalled at the amount of dog bites (fatal and otherwise). What is going on?! I am a life long owner of dogs, they are my favourite animal, but I think this article should be discussed.

A few years back, a friend relinquished her two staffies to a local dog rescue. She hadn't trained her pets and after the birth of her second child she felt she couldn't trust them around her children. One attempted to bite her and she felt they were unstable and aggressive. She fully disclosed all of this information to the rescue and was disappointed and anxious that when she went online to look at the rescues advert of the dogs, the descriptions of them were not accurate and they were being advertised as suitable for families with children aged 5+.

I was shocked that a rescue would do this but have since learnt this wasn't a one off and other people have similar stories to tell. I love dogs and this isn't about me trying to tell people not to rescue dogs but hoped we could discuss our thoughts and opinions on it. Personally I wouldn't ever rescue a dog as a mother with children at home. I had this viewpoint long before any of this came to light. I feel its too risky to have a dog that you cannot be certain of its history in and around young children. Anyway....what do you think? Thanks

Agree with the poster who mentioned Cane Corso's as well.

There is no justifiable reason for choosing a powerful, dangerous dog and I'm sorry to say that I believe that ownership of these dogs is split roughly like this:

10% naive - think they can change the in-built nature of a particular breed with a silly name "Dolly" and a few instagram posts of her 'snuggling with babies".

40% status symbol - believe that walking round with a dangerous dog somehow makes them look cool and powerful

50% - using as a weapon. I genuinely believe that at least half the people who own XL Bullys/Cane Corso and similar types, are actually purchasing a weapon. If guns were legal here - they'd carry one. Some might actively use their dogs as weapons in a pro-active and aggressive way - drug dealers etc - and others are low level criminals who see the dog as a weapon of defense.

But they are weapons. And invariably kept by stupid lazy people who don't even know what they are dealing with.

Absolutely they should be banned.

Even if the reports are found to be untrue and the rspca correctly disclosed the full history I think it's still important to discuss the issues surrounding this case and others similar to it. As demonstrated on this thread, rescues have repeatedly shown that they are aware of animals displaying aggressive behaviour and with histories of biting, yet are unwilling to be open and honest with this information.

@Thesharkradar compared the dog situation in this country to the guns situation in the US. Its a fair comparison; except guns are regulated whereas animal rescues are not. Studies show US states with more relaxed gun control laws and higher rates of gun ownership have higher rates of mass shootings. Perhaps we can conclude that regulations may not eradicate gun crime entirely but certainly reduce the potential for it. I believe individuals responsible for rehoming dangerous dogs would think much longer and harder then presumably they do now if they knew they could be held to account.

I believe individuals responsible for rehoming dangerous dogs would think much longer and harder then presumably they do now if they knew they could be held to account
@Drlovestrong I agree and it will be interesting to see what the outcome of this case is, personally I think it'll be difficult to argue that it isn't the full of the woman who took the dog on 🤷
However it needs to be the fault of the animal charity imo

A old Friend adopted a rescue dog some years ago. They did not disclose the dog had a heart condition and regularly used to pass out on walks etc due to this. Caused untold stress for my friend and her dh.

I resigned as trustee of a large rescue charity for the simple reason that they refused to put a healthy dog down despite overcrowding issues. Some dogs are destined to a life in a rescue and they get progressively worse as they get older. It is not fair on the dogs and sad that they can't be re-homed but I believe they should be PTS rather than kept in kennels for life.

they refused to put a healthy dog down despite overcrowding issues
would be that because the public stop donating to the charity if they hear that dogs are being pts?
Presume that in order to maintain the revenue stream they need to give the public the impression that the dogs are all leading happy lives & well cared for, understandable but I'm thinking utterly unachievable due to the nature of the animals that are relinquished to the shelter?