to report this dog to the police?

[ichoochoochooseyou]

We live in a little close where there are lots of families with young children. I walked by my neighbours garden today and their dog jumped up and started barking and baring its teeth at me- it made me jump out of my skin!

Anyway, I'm almost certain it's a pitbull terrier. They're illegal to own because of the dangerous dogs act so by reporting it to the police I could be sentencing the doggy to death. I don't like the thought of that but what if it attacked someone?

Aagh what to do?

"if it isn't a pitbulll then what harm would be done?"

Dogs have been seized from loving families, held for long periods of time in decrepit kennels and then destroyed just because they held the slightest resemblance to a pitbull type dog - not even because they'd bitten, caused any harm or worry, they just looked the wrong sort. The law is massively flawed.

The harm would be that dog wardens remove dogs based on the measurements of their skull and whether they look 'Pit-like'. So they're just as likely to take your lab cross as they are to take a genuine Pit (which are very rare in this country as they've been banned for so many years).

Having the much loved family dog taken away because of the way it looks is quite devastating (and extremely hard to explain to children, if there are any in the household).

Bah, x-posted. I should stick to what I do best- drinking wine!

tab my friends had one a long time ago before they became illegal, she was a beautiful dog a much loved family pet, that was the only reason I could guess correctly and the the stance of the dog in PIC kind of gave it away tbh, My friend has a boxer now she is no where near as nice and friendly a dog as the pit bull was.

Sadly this can happen if they get the breed ID wrong :-(

WARNING: Possibly upsetting graphic picture of hands with blood on in title banner (it does scroll and it's meant to be representative)

thelennoxcampaign.co.uk/

Yeah I got bull terrier first. Pit Bull 2nd.

Read lennoxs and venus's story and come back and tell us what the harm is that can be done

Yikes, I did not realise there was so much ambiguity regarding identifying what is/ isn't a pitbull.

I'm on the wine now. Cheers for calming my overactive mind.

I am genuinely shocked by the sway of the replies towards yabu. I expected a lot more telling me to get straight on the phone to the pound!

What's the harm?? The fact the dog is ripped from its family you have to go to court pay tons of money to prove your dog isn't a pit bull an wen then the dog may be put to sleep!!!

BSL is utter shit and laws need changing

'I am genuinely shocked by the sway of the replies towards yabu. I expected a lot more telling me to get straight on the phone to the pound!'

Really? I don't like dogs much, only the completely well-mannered, obedient sort. I hate being barked at, or startled by them.
Even I thought you were being melodramatic and silly, the dog had done nothing dangerous. One of the reasons I like MN is that many posters display a level of thinking, rather than constant knee-jerk reactions to problems most of the time.

Ffs the dog was in its own garden alot of dogs will protect their property and you want to report it because of its breed, would you do the same if it was a poodle?
Im guessing not, its because of people like you that hundreds of dogs are out down for being the wring breed, it disgusts me!!

*wrong

It's up to responsible dog owners to control and sort out their dogs voluntarily ruledbyheart.
Otherwise you'll have the dog dislikers like me making the laws and that would end up much less satisfactory for the dogs and the owners.
Remember, it isn't people like me that ensure the shelters are overflowing with staffies.

But if it's an illegal breed then the OP is right. Too late for the hand wringing when it attacks someone while out on exercise!

my postman would be phoning the police everyday if he was sad enough too , my dogs jump up at the fence barking when he walks to my door.the things people think phoning the police about amaze me.

I thought I knew dogs but have tried 6 and still can't 'find the pitbull'!

Yes eyesunder I love MN for the fact that I can come here in a tizz and get a bit of good old level headed advice!

I'm still baffled as to why people do keep illegal dogs nowadays- surely you'd always be waiting for that knock on the door from the police??

But it is very, very unlikely to be an illegal breed. It might look a bit one, in which case it might be taken away and the owner will either have to incur huge court costs in getting it back, or it will be put to sleep. For no reason other than the way it looks.

The dog has not exhibited dangerous behaviour. There is no reason to believe it will ever attack anybody. The vast majority of dogs, regardless of what they look like, never attack anybody.

It wasn't so much the jumping/ barking- that was just the dog defending it's owner/ garden.

It was more a 'do I have a duty to report an illegal dog' type pondering.

And it was safely behind a fence. If it was roaming freely or in other people's gardens I might feel bit more strongly

The vast majority of attacks and deaths have been caused by dogs that are legal.

ichoo People don't really keep illegal breeds. Pits for example have been banned for so long (in terms of keeping and breeding) that they have pretty much died out here in the UK. People do however, keep dogs that might fit the general (and it is a very broad, general) description of a "Pit Bull" type. They are usually crosses, and you can't tell what a cross will look like until after it's been born and done a bit of growing So a lab crossed with a Heinz 57 type mongrel that has a bit of bull breed in it somewhere could throw a few pups that fit some of the measurements for a pit type.

People keep the above pup because it has a friendly temperament, and because many people thing the law only applies to "banned breeds"- and as such it would never occur to them that their dog could be affected by the law.

It's basically a rubbish bit of legislation that puts far too much emphasis on what a dog looks like, and not enough on the behaviour of said dog.

Thanks chasing, that makes a lot of sense. I remember when the legislation came into effect and it was such a long time ago that I thought there can't be any left In Britain nowadays.

I guess this dog most likely a cross that looks more like the bull bit of its parents.