To report staffie to police for attacking my DD 14 wk old puppy?

[pippala]

Last evening my daughter and her partner were walking their puppy past some houses on an extendable lead.
Staffie tears down his driveway which had no gate and picks puppy up by his back and shakes him.
The lead was extended so wrapped around dog and daughter and boyfriends legs.
Boyfriend bitten on wrist by puppy as he tried to pull him away from the dog. He managed to get him out of the dogs mouth and handed him to my daughter.
The staffie then jumped up and got puppy by the back legs and dragged him out of my daughters arms. Now in the middle of the road.
My daughter was screaming, she thought Puppy would die.
Young boy aged about 10 saunters down the drive, totally uninterested attitude and gets staffie off puppy. without a collar on!
Four men from across the road also tried to help before boy came down the drive.
This dog could so easily do that to a toddler walking past the house.
Will the police do anything to help?
This dog could have history. He had no collar on and loose in the garden. What if he kills a child one day when it could have been pervented?
They should pay the vets bills which will run into the £100's but we dont want to approach them personally. Would the police help? Could we take it to the small claims court?
What if the puppy doesn't pull through. My poor daughter she is devastated.

Mitmoo, but I and others have done precisely that. If you look at my post further up, you'll see I've pointed her at a specialist source of legal advice to consider a civil suit and recover damages. I and others have also given a list of official bodies to whom a complaint should be made, along with advice on the process.

However, because there are poorly trained/socialised dogs in the world, it makes sense also to ensure the OP is also given advice on helping the pup be reintroduced to larger dogs without fear aggression, and helping to prevent further incidents by using an appropriate lead. Nobody I can see has justified the attacking dog's behaviour, or expressed anything but sympathy for the OP. Unfortunately she appears to have flounced and accused people of calling her a troll apparently because several people have encouraged her NOT to exaggerate what happened when she has dealings with official bodies such as Council officers and police.

If the OP genuinely wanted advice on dealing with the aftermath of this attack then she got it, from a number of people who have specialist experience in dealing with dogs, dog attacks and stray/poorly managed dogs. If she wanted to start a "We hate staffies" thread then perhaps she should have been more clear. The breed of the attacking dog was entirely irrelevant.

My last post on this. DBF feels very strongly about this. I personally do not agree with no kill policy on dogs that have shown behavioural issues simply because we have enough well adjusted dogs desperate for homes. However, I don't think DBF is just being a maniac after the subsequent posts, she obviously has a passion and a great commitment to this area and should be thanked for that as these are the people that make the abandoned and stray dogs not our problem. I don't think there will ever be a solution to the staffie fashion until society deals with the owners. Owning a dog is a huge privalige (unable to spell that word) and not a right. The social problems of the humans must be tackled so they don't feel the need to own a designed fighting dog. And if they do use them for fighting or agression, do them, jail the bastards. Sorry dbf but I would still pts a dog who has been used for fighting but I am not in any way mocking your beliefs or belittling the job you do.
Lastly OP you are not a troll and made a perfectly reasonable thread. Ignore the troll hunters.

scuttle why do you think she started a thread as she hates Staffies? She has just given us the facts and having the breed helps us to build a picture of the danger her daughter, puppy and partner were in. If she had said it was a chihuahua she may have got a different reaction and different advice.

When my son was attacked by a JR, I said he was attacked by a JR, doesn't mean I hate all JR's it was just fact, I don't see anything wrong in giving breeds to be honest.

Milk I think that people caught breeding fighting dogs are prosecuted and to too damned right too, that's so vicious on the dogs and brainless of the owners.

YANBU. This dog needs to be reported.

DS was bitten as a baby and it is a huge regret of mine that when given the option by the police, I did not have the dog destroyed

Not read whole thread so apologies if repeating others. The criminal offence is having a dog dangerously out of control in a public place. I assume from mention of no gate that this happened on the public pavement or road. I would report. My DH's small dog was killed by a lurcher type dog and we reported it. No prosecution, but police did visit owner of other dog, and I think that was worthwhile in terms of reinforcing the need to take into account the instincts and behaviour of the dog in assessing what was represented proper control in a particular situation. Would report whatever the breed.

My aunt was walking her dog 3 weeks ago when she and the dog were atacked by a staffie. My aunt spent 3 days in hospital and had a metal plate put in her hand.

She was walking along minding her buisness and her dog was on a short lead when this dog came out of nowhere.

I really hope that dog got PTS.

"...apparently because several people have encouraged her NOT to exaggerate what happened "

I thought several people were encouraging her to exaggerate and she said she wasn't going to.

I haven't read the whole thread but read it got a bit out of hand.
From a police perspective you are looking at a dog dangerously out of control in a public place. We take them very seriously and prosecute where we can. The courts take a dim view of people that fail to control their animals. A destruction order is not always imposed, more often the owner will be fined and a control order put on the animal. Destruction is a last resort. The breed is immaterial - a chiuauaua can be considered dangerously out of control.

SoupDragon The first post on the subject of exaggeration per se was by a disgraceful poster who was encouraging the OP to grossy over-egg the situation in order to get the dog killed.

It was as a result of that that I and others pointed out the folly of this idea from the OPs POV and the OP later agreed with us.

However there was far more exaggeration from the OP herself with her repeated insistance that it could be a child which was attacked next time, a commonly-touted misconception which is entirely without substance or scientific evidence and which was taken (at her own admittance) from what she reads in the papers.

So in short, ScuttleButter is entirely accurate. :)

OhDearNigel, as one who is involved in this sort of area I dispute very much that the breed is immaterial. Yes, a chihuahua can indeed be considerd dangerously out of control but the fact is that there are some police officers and judges/jurymen and women who are as ill informed as the OP about genuine risk and as prejudiced about bull breeds as... well, as a prejudiced thing.

So although the law sees all dogs as equal in this - apart from the poor bloody APBTs, Tosas, Dogo Argentinos and Fila Brasileiros, none of whom stand a bloody chance of justice or a life of course - the individuals practising that law are another matter altogether.

OP please do come back at least to update on what happens - so frustrating when people don't do this! Have you made the report?

Yes do at least let us know if the poor pup is OK :(

Oh ffs people! Never mind who did what, where, whem & why.

This dog attacked a pup. YANBU to report this. The dog may not attack again but the owners, if not at least apologetic need to learn to be responsible dog owners & to rehabilitate the dog with some specialist behavioural classes.

Yes the pup needs to do this too. All dogs do. In fact all dogs should be trained properly but unfortunately some think they know best & their little poochie would "never" do that.

Uh-huh.

Oh ffs people! Never mind who did what, where, whem & why.

This dog attacked a pup. YANBU to report this. The dog may not attack again but the owners, if not at least apologetic need to learn to be responsible dog owners & to rehabilitate the dog with some specialist behavioural classes.

Yes the pup needs to do this too. All dogs do. In fact all dogs should be trained properly but unfortunately some think they know best & their little poochie would "never" do that.

Uh-huh.

DBF why is the OP exageratting to say it could be a child next time?

The last reported tally of dog attacks seeing people admitted to hospital is a few years old but was then at 3800 the majority being people under 18.

It seems evident that this strong dog is not only not trained, has not got responsible owners and is not even fenced in properly, then of course it could be a child next time. That is not the fault of the dog, but the fault of the irresponsible dog owners.

Given those sets of circumstances the OP is right, it could be a child next time. It could be another pup too, who knows?

"DBF why is the OP exageratting to say it could be a child next time?"

OH FFS! HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO I HAVE TO TYPE THIS? OR DO OTHERS HAVE TO SAY IT, AS MANY HAVE ABOVE.

THERE IS NO PROVEN SCIENTIFIC CORRELATION BETWEEN DOG-DOG AGGRESSION AND DOG-HUMAN AGGRESSION. THE TABLOIDS MIGHT CONVINCE YOU OTHERWISE, YOU MAY WANT TO BELIEVE IT, THE OP CLEARLY DOES BUT THERE IS NO PROVEN CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO. NONE. ZILCH. ZERO. SWEET FUCK ALL.

YOU MAY AS WELL SAY THAT BECAUSE A DOG IS DOG-AGGRESSIVE HE IS THEREFORE GOING TO MOVE ON TO ATTACKING BOWLS OF FRUIT AND EATING PANAMA HATS. YOU CAN MAKE UP WHAT YOU BLOODY WELL LIKE, BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ IN THE PAPERS IF IT AMUSES YOU BUT PLEASE STOP PROPAGATING BULLSHIT AS IT COSTS FAR MORE IN TERMS OF DOG WELFARE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE.

Yes, bold capitals are rude. Yes, I am shouting.

I'm shouting because you're continuing to advocate unproven, ridicuplous codswallop.

I give up... I really do. No wonder the country's dog welfare problem is out of control and our pounds are full.

"So in short, ScuttleButter is entirely accurate"

well, no, not really because she said that the OP had exaggerated what happened. Which she never did. OP may have inaccurately hypothesised what may happen in the further but she did not exaggerate the facts of what happened.

That aside, what do you think should happen to the attacking dog? Given that the owners appear unconcerned.

Whether the dog is likely to attack a child or not, the fact is that had a child been with the puppy on this or another occasion, what would happen to them if they were between dog and prey? Unless muzzled and/or secured, this dog is dangerous in public.

Whenever this highly aggressive dog attacks again (for it will), it is quite likely that the innocent dog's walker is going to be hurt again in splitting up the fight. Whether or not either dog actually sets out to hurt someone is irrelevant, actually, people get hurt in dog fights.

Therefore, this dog poses a danger to people.

DBF instead of boasting about what a dog expert you are, shouting, swearing, gnashing teeth, ripping hair out and other hysteronics, why not try making a strong argument via reasoning and support. For example, you could have linked to research supporting you assertion about dog aggression instead of simply expecting all the world to bow before your superiority in all things canine .

And frankly being totally OTT and nasty is unlikely to influence anyone at all.

DBF if by 'The first post on the subject of exaggeration per se was by a disgraceful poster who was encouraging the OP to grossy over-egg the situation in order to get the dog killed.' you mean my post then you have completely misunderstood my point of view. I was in no way trying to get the dog killed, that is a complete misreprentation on your part, I was trying to get the authorities to pay attention because my experience tells me that they are not interested.

I know I'm going to get stick for this but in my experience, staffies aren't the best with other dogs. However, I have never known one to be anything other than a poppet with humans.

I don't think you'll get stick for that, Shoutymomma.

Yeah I should clarify - while this dog is out of control and allowed to attack other dogs at will, the resultant dog fights pose a danger to people. There.

As usual this has somehow been twisted into the argument that certain people want to have due to their experience in RL, with not that much to do with the issue at hand. Hence all the wailing about dog breeds, putting them to sleep etc.

A dog which has attacked a human - or in attacking a dog has harmed a human - adult or child - should be humanely destroyed. Not rescued or rehomed because if it has done it once it might do it again. No ifs, no buts, no exceptions. We matter more than any dog.

Not rocket science.

agree with Andrewofgg last post....it is the owners fault though,however not worth the risk in the future so for that reason alone,the dog should be pts.