Two dogs shot in London by police

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I’m usually very empathetic and recently even posted on an animal testing post but I just can’t find any compassion in my heart for out of control and dangerous animals at the moment, it’s just getting ridiculous. I obviously feel for the owner who I hope gets some kind of mental support/ counselling.

It’s so confusing as I’m usually so compassionate, I guess having a small child and the number of dog attacks does something to your brain? I hate walking past Bullies with my baby in the pram. Even normal dogs I’m starting to get very hesitant about. For context I usually cry if I step on a silver worm in the bathroom so this is a very strange reaction for me.

Interested to hear what other dog owning/ non dog owning people think. Also the government are going to have to step in at some point right?

If it had been two dogs who were obviously not a real threat to them then, no, I am sure (well, would hope!) that the dogs would not have been shot. Although some of the cockerpoos I know would be big enough to be a threat. But lets say a couple of chihuahuas or miniature poodles? No, of course that would be totally disproportionate.

But that isn't what they were called to deal with. They were called to deal with this person, and these dogs.

I am a dog owner, and it is horrible to see that situation, the dogs understandably agitated, the man not rational or coherent. If he was, as someone has posted, street homeless and addicted I can see why he wouldn't trust the police or give up the dogs. But the police also had to protect themselves and the public.

@mixedrecycling it was them that agitated the dogs. Imagine that many people coming towards you shouting and pointing. No one was hurt, no offence happened, no need for the police to be called in the first place. Just a stupid woman with a flexi lead and shot balance by the sounds of it. No doubt a mumsnetter 🙄

*shit

Sorry I wasn’t clear in my earlier post but the dog didn’t jump on the female dog owner who called the police, it jumped on one of the officers who attended and according to the eyewitnesses, not in aggressive way. Although I accept that is still not okay, it doesn’t warrant gunning them both down. I also would expect the police to be more skilled in talking down an angry man under the influence, the whole video is horrendous, the officers were just completely chaotic and they seemed totally out of their depth. Which is concerning in itself seeing as it was only one middle aged man and two barking dogs, not a nutter with a gun or a terrorist or something.

Typical of the idiots that joined the police

Can I ask (genuinely curious) why you would want to own dogs that need such careful handling and have the potential to hurt children and even adults. I just don’t get it.

We will have to agree to disagree.

They were put in that situation by their owner. His reaction may be understandable given his needs, but he was escalating the situation. The best course of action would be to have remained calm and keep the dogs calm.

We have a very scary XL bully, aggressive and unpredictable near us, as I have posted earlier. I have seen her lunge at people, breaking their coat as the owner drags her back. I have seen her stalk towards me and realise I have nothing to hide behind or climb to get away from her, before her owner has got her under control. Recently, due to police intervention (after an incident where she bit someone and drew blood - the owner later denied it was their dog), she has been muzzled in public, and I have felt safer. I sent this video to a dog walking friend, who has just told me this dog was out without a muzzle again at the weekend.

The reality is for the police, the report of an attack may be malicious, but is far more likely to be my neighbour's dog.

In the meantime, of course, we all have to be vigilant to avoid this dog, rather than the owner taking steps to ensure their dog cannot harm their neighbours.

As I said, a heart-breaking situation in this video. Those poor dogs. But it does come down to the owner.

@mixedrecycling I understand that you've got one near you with a crap owner by the sounds of it and it can't be nice to live in fear of stepping out of your front door. There a big dog and there's too many stupid people owning them right now and paying peanuts for them because anyone and everyone is breeding them for a payout. I actually did an ama today and it got to over 200 comments before it was removed I didn't even get to respond to everyone or read the whole thread. I just wanted people to get an understanding of them and ask some questions.
There's thousands of xl bully's that don't make the news because they haven't done anything wrong but people just focus on the ones that have been in the media. I remember years ago when a baby that lived in a pub was mauled to death two Rottweilers on the pub roof and them being the number 1 dangerous dog, then it was dobermans, now it's bully's. Something else will come around soon.

The people who have this dog have another XL bully who is the soppiest thing ever, and everyone adores him. But all that is undone by this insistence that a dangerous dog doesn't need to be prevented from being a risk to everyone else because they are so 'loving with the family'.

As I said, I have a dog and am fairly clued up on dog body language. One of the XL bullies scares me, the other doesn't. The one that scares me also scares other dog owners, and has lunged at numerous people. It was a relief when she was muzzled going out, and scary to hear that they have stopped doing it. Their attitude is very much 'you can't tell me what to do'. I have been interviewed as a witness by the Safer Neighbourhood Team who are trying to manage the situation. Many of them (SNT) are dog owners. They say that they don't want to have a healthy young dog destroyed, but they need to keep the public safe. Just muzzling the dog in public would do that, but they get resistance at every step.

@mixedrecycling can/have you reported them. If it's bitten someone surely that would warrant for the dog to be taken off them?

If it bit someone and drew blood why the fuck is it allowed around with a muzzle? I'd be all over the safety team until its put down tbh, insanity.

I have owned dogs all my life and I honestly have a lot of real issues with dog owners these days. The problem lies with the owners, dogs are wonderful companions but they need to be trained and very importantly need a lot of exercise. Walking round streets just isn't correct or enough. For instance the amount of Border collies kept in homes with little or no proper outlets for their intelligence and physical health is what makes them frustrated and liable to get ratty. Unfortunately they look attractive and people see them on Crufts and think they come already trained. That's just one example. Poor old Staffies are bred by vile people for profit and you know they were bred for bull-baiting so they are always going to be inherently that 'type' of dog. I wouldn't keep one, I would be terrified. I am sorry for dogs these days, like lots of things they have been ruined by people.

The dogs mauled a woman and rightly put down (Pity we can't do the same with some humans!!).
Government needs to bring back dog licensing and owners need to be accountable for the actions of their dogs including mandatory prison sentences for failing to keep them under control at all times.

It has bitten someone and drawn blood, the person went to A&E and it was reported to the police.

The police are limited in what they can do, apparently, and the result is that they are supposed to be muzzled. But the police cannot monitor them 24/7

To be fair they didn't maul a woman .

"Mauled"?

No they didn't. There is no need to exaggerate what happened. How would you describe a really serious attack? You'll very quickly run out of superlatives.

MegaManic · Yesterday 14:37
NeonBoomerang · Yesterday 13:40

There are some ridiculous statements on this thread. As I write this I'm lying in bed with my napping toddler, my staffie, and my rottie/staffie cross. They're all my cuddly babies.

“You're an idiot. You and people like you shouldn't be allowed have dogs and you shouldn't be anywhere near kids. Cuddly babies my arse”

quite. Equating your dogs to your child? 🤯

There's the kind of people who want to use them to intimidate others and so on, and then there are the people who rescue them when the first kind of owners get bored and get rid of them.

@MeinKraft or they just like the breed 🤷🏻‍♀️ why is it wrong to like bull breeds?!

I was there, so I will describe what happened in it over 2 minutes of the video that has been spreading.

Three men are sitting on the pavement by a road including the dog owner (who never moves throughout the incident)
Two black dogs unchained (but later you see what look like rope lying on the ground) standing on the pavement looking around them. They do wear harnesses.
A woman walking with a smaller brown dog on a lead towards them but she seems to slow as she sees the two black dogs and pulls her dog back when she sees the black dogs approaching her
The 2 black dogs see the brown dog approaching, about 5 meters away, and rush towards it, tails wagging, not on a lead
Brown dog has done nothing and just tries to escape the 2 dogs (one black dog is bigger than the brown dog, the other black dog is roughly the same size as the brown dog). I would not describe the smaller black dog as a puppy, it is clearly older than that but it is smaller.
Unclear what black dogs were trying to do but they were jumping onto the brown dog which is trying very hard to escape them, the woman is knocked or pulled over onto the pavement and ends up on the road (she is later seen limping)
At one point the dogs and her are all on the road
She is later seen on the pavement holding her dog to protect it
The black dog's tails wagging throughout are on top of the brown dog at times
One of the 3 men was getting ready to cross the road and intervened only when the woman is knocked over
2nd friend also stands up and intervenes to help pull the 2 dogs away
It is unclear what the black dogs were trying to do but the brown dog clearly was very frightened
The owner never moves and stays sat on the pavement (wears the same clothing as seen in later shooting video)
Black dogs then return to stand near their owner but are not put on a lead
The video does not show the condition of the brown dog

Some of the comments on here, accusing the police of overreacting, are ridiculous. Along with the moronic remarks reported in the Mail with their usual anti police agenda. These dogs were well known in the area for being aggressive, shopkeepers had to repeatedly ask the owner to move away from their premises where he was begging as the dogs were barking and leaping towards customers. I understand that the owner was also banned from keeping animals. He was an entirely unsuitable owner and the only person to blame for what happened

Well... these dogs knocked the woman over. They weren't under control.

It's the fault of the owner, but it's a pretty clear lesson, keep your dog on a lead.

Stacked yet needed no medical attention? Aye right!!! If a dog like that attacked you, you better believe you would need a hospital. In the video the dogs are being protective not aggressive, the cops created a hostile environment waving guns about and the dogs are resting to that and their owners fear. Met were bang out of order

Yup I know a couple of people with big bullying dogs, one is the size of me when he stands up for a cuddle 🥰 and just the sweetest gentlest dogs, now my little terrier is a wee arsehole, not aggressive but loves a barl 😅

Every dog no matter what breed has the potential to be dangerous , I have a rottie who literally wouldn't hurt a fly ( more interested in her ball) she has been attacked by greyhounds, spaniels and cockapoos and I've had run ins with Jack Russell's over the years, dogs need training and socialising from puppies. I'm wondering how many dog attacks are by rescue dogs that may have been ill treated and can't be retrained. It is always the owners fault never the dog if a dog attacks because they weren't in control , I walk mine off lead, but am always wary of any potential situation more for the case if she's attacked and retaliated because she's a rottweiler she would get the blame. I would welcome dog licences and stricter controls , so many people got dogs during covid who really had no idea how much work and training a dog needs least of all just picking up their poo