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?

I think you know exactly what life changing means. Someone who is disfigured or loses function and then there are the people who are killed.

Stats I've found show 13 deaths in 2022 and so far in 2023 in the UK.

3 bull dogs responsible for one death
8 dogs unspecified for one death
1 husky for one death
1 rottweiler for one death
3 American bully XL for 3 deaths
1 American bully/Cane corso cross for one death
1 disputed if American bully or pitbull husky cross for one death
1 cane corse for one death
1 disputed if American bully XL or mastiff for one death
5 American bulldogs for one death
1 unknown for 1 death

The youngest victim was 3 months old, the oldest was 83.

I don't see any collies or French bulldogs there, the main culprits seem to be Americal bully or American bulldogs.

Agree.

All animals are unpredictable. All of my injuries have come from horses, so agree with your sentiment.

I've seen a couple of videos of the incident now. Honestly the people filming all sounded clueless. Going on about "ACAB" and shouting at the police that they're recording them. I'm sure they'd be the first to be horrified if they, or worse their small children, were mauled by one of these dogs.

That footage says it all. The way the owner was so defiant in the face of several armed police. I DO feel bad for the dogs - they have been badly let down by their owner.
We know a family who own a dog that is not properly kept. It’s jumped up and scared my 5 year old when we went to collect something from their house and ran at my friend’s 4 year old full pelt across a field. Also went for a friend’s small dog and the owners can’t call it off - or don’t even try. And of course it’s the old “it’s friendly!” excuse every time. They have this attitude that it’s your problem and you’re a lesser person if you can’t deal with a lively dog. DH even got into an argument with them once as they were complaining that a guy at the park had kicked the dog when it went over to him - DH was arguing that some people are scared of dogs and if a dog approached off lead and you’re scared, it’s a reasonable reaction. He was deliberately goading them because he knows they have form for not being in control of their dog and was making a point. They wanted everyone to be as aghast as them. This is nothing like the stories of dangerous dogs and their irresponsible owners (I think their dog is a labrador) but my point is that it’s the owners that are the problem.

Stats I've found show 13 deaths in 2022 and so far in 2023 in the UK.

Proof that nothing will be done, really.

What you're proposing is genocide of a certain breed of dog

Bully XLs should never have been created. There is no purpose for them other than having a large strong aggressive dog. They’re bred from pit bulls which are banned in a lot of countries anyway.

I think there needs to be a ban on these american bully dogs. They often end up in the hands of unsuitable owners and the rise in dog attacks is horrifying, there was one in my town, didnt make the papers and a woman had to have a finger amputated.
I have nothing against dogs i have two medium to large labrador type dogs they are the most gentle well behaved dogs, but people calling for dogs to always be on a lead are joyless and clearly never taken their dog for a proper walk. Mines recall is good but so is there socialisation (including a rescue.) Theres no excuse for not socialising your dog, also muzzle them if they cant be trusted.

The people who own these dogs always say my dog wouldn't do that, it's irresponsible owners who end up with these problems. I've seen loads of posts on Facebook with similar comments and photos of the dogs next to tiny babies, 'protecting' them.

Then there's the shock when it turns out their dog is just like any other dog after all and turns out they were the irresponsible owner because they trusted the dog not to attack their child.

It is not just people though. Farmers lose thousand of £ in livestock when lambs are attacked and ripped to shreds. Seals are another one, swans (black swan in Dawlish which was sat on eggs was killed by a dog), cats, other dogs etc.

Definition of genocide crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part. Can't find anything about dogs in there.

Bully XLs should never have been created. There is no purpose for them other than having a large strong aggressive dog. They’re bred from pit bulls which are banned in a lot of countries anyway.

I agree. There's plenty of other dog breeds to choose from.

Dogs, whilst they can of course be amazing life companions, are also dangerous in the wrong hands. They have killed, hurt, and maimed in the wrong hands. Licensing desperately needs to be brought in as a first step measure to try and tackle incompetant owners from getting a hold of creatures that, when not trained properly, can cause serious injury and death.

There are 9 unspecified dogs in there - from what I’ve seen about the case involving 8 dogs they are family pets (it was a dog Walker who was sadly killed). I never said anything about people being killed but people, particularly children and those unknown to the dog, statistically more likely to be injured by family dogs and the VAST majority (again, not all) of attacks by larger dogs / bully breeds being very very minor. Irresponsible ownership and irresponsible breeding are almost entirely to blame for every single dog attack - and the majority of these are NOT large / bully breeds.

As always, MNers don’t like hearing opinions that don’t fit their agendas - I’d provide statistics and my quals if I could without outing myself and getting myself sacked but I’m going to go with mine and my colleagues’ years of experience on this one and sleep peacefully tonight knowing I’ve not got an unstable frenchie downstairs

Yup. I absolutely hate it when dog owners do this. I had the most wonderful little soul in my Jack russel for 20 long years but at the end of the day though he was as gentle as anything he was still an animal and I would never have left a child alone with him, because you never know.

Maybe the owners ?

Totally agree, dogs like that have no purpose in society

That's a bit late for those who have already been mauled and lost their faces or their lives. Ban certain breeds and humanely destroy those already alive.

I wasn't talking about the XL, but I agree there does seem to be an issue with the temperament of that specific breed. Whether or not that is down to specifically breeding aggression in, I don't know. I don't own one and would not do so.

Hair splitting now. You know exactly what I was saying.

but people, particularly children and those unknown to the dog, statistically more likely to be injured

You won't have to go far back on MN to read tonnes of posts where dog owners will tell you that people "need to learn" about dogs. Meaning that it's the victims fault for some reason. There is a particular mindset that insists parents have to educate their children about dogs and if they don't then their dogs can hardly be blamed.

“Loving nature” 🤣🤣🤣

Guy's an idiot to judge from that clip. What did he think the police would do, risk their own injury or death to help his dogs? They were already dangerous.

I'm all for the Met doing this. These dogs are basically weapons and should be treated accordingly.

If your 'qualification' doesn't recognise the unpredictability of all animals, it can't be taken seriously.

Good. What a pity they couldn’t put a bullet through that guy’s brain too.

And service dogs?