to not understand why people have these types of dogs in their homes

[FunnysInLaJardin]

I've heard the arguments for and against keeping pit bull/mastiff type dogs and just don't understand at all why anyone would keep a powerful muscular dog as a pet in a family home. Yet another sad news story today in a village just down the road from my home village.

This isn't a AIBU really, just a 'why do they do it'. Is a pet really worth the risk? There are so many other dog types to chose from. I don't understand at all.

ViviPru

Before the website was taken down this afternoon it was very obviously a boarding kennels and 'breeder' (multiple breeds and crosses of small dogs) who had a seperate section rehoming dogs picked up as strays and stated that they'd recently been awarded the council contract for that.

' A child attacked by a breed so powerful would not stand a chance why take that risk there are many other lovely breeds of dogs'
Freudian I think it comes down to the urge to show off or find some way to display your status, apparently for some people getting a 'badass' dog is the only option available to them

You often hear people say "Dogs bred for aggression towards other dogs aren't necessarily people aggressive" and that's true BUT:

take the Border Collie. Bred to herd sheep. In the absence of sheep, a Border Collie will often take to herding other things - people, bicycles...moving things will trigger the herding instinct and cause the herding drive to be directed onto things that are manifestly not sheep. Sometimes they will nip at the heels of children in an attempt to direct them.

A dog bred to retrieve game will often retrieve socks, and greet every visitor with a mouthful of shoe, or whatever it can get hold of. The drive to do what it was bred for is hard wired into its very being and in the absence of an available duck, anything will do.

There are plenty of other examples of dogs being bred to have certain traits, which will be redirected onto inappropriate items, or inappropriate ways (BCs can be terrible sheep worriers if not trained properly - herding drive is modified prey drive after all).

A sighthound bred to chase small furry things - especially if it's had some success, with all the resulting excitement/adrenalin rush, won't NECESSARILY be a danger to someone's small fluffy chihuahua - but predatory drift can happen - again, a selected trait being inappropriately directed.

I'm not saying that a dog that has been bred for aggression to other dogs is more LIKELY to turn on a human - but to me it makes sense that IF that aggression is triggered, for whatever reason, then that hard wired urge to bite, hold on and shake is more likely to kick in than in other breeds.

I wonder if denying this is as naive as saying "Well yes you've got a working Collie from a long line of working dogs but it's no more likely to try to herd your kids than a Lurcher is".

I promise I'm not in favour of BSL. That's not my point. I think the main thing to target is irresponsible breeding - that with ALL breeds but especially those which have a history of being bred for aggression it's SO important that those traits are bred out.

I hope all that comes out as it's intended. It's late and I'm tired :)

If you put a small monkey into a confined space with a large wolf, you can't be surprised when the inevitable happens.

It isn't rocket science, and it is going to keep happening.

The dog which attacked was a bulldog cross boxer I believe, not the giant mastiff thing in the photos.
Any dog can attack though, at any time, even a small dog like that one that tragically killed a baby last year.

I get a bit of a whiff of rat here. The grandmother has been quoted as saying she doesn't know that the place the dog came from was made aware that there was a small child at the property.

That's very interesting sharp

If the pound were lied to that shifts the story somewhat.

It could be rubbish of course, but it was in a report I read this morning.

Thank you, tabulahrasa

Personally i wouldn't have anything in the house that if (for some inexplicable reason) it went on the attack, or even just got over excited and was being inappropriately 'playful', I wasn't physically able to overpower.

On tv last night there was a picture of a place called Orchard Rescue and the commentator said that the owner had confirmed that the dog came from there but was unable to say any more for legal reasons. It was not unfair to assume that it was a rescue centre.

I haven't rd the whole thread, so sorry if I'm repeating....

I'm surprised that a rescue home (although I do see from some comments it's maybe not legit?), would let them take such a dog. We have a rescue Border Collie, adopted her when I was about five months pregnant. We had to visit her twice in her rescue place, then had someone inspect our flat and attached gardens, fill out a questionnaire about when and how we would feed/exercise her etc, and even what we were thinking about when it came to introduce her to the new baby. They sent us crying baby CDs to get her used to the noise!

I think there needs to be more awareness about going to the right place to adopt, so that you are matched with the correct dog.

There was this and another dog in that flat, and now the gran has gone to the media as it is all the rescue centre's fault. Tenancy agreement: no dogs. WTF?

Wonder what will happen to other dog. It will get removed for sure given the tenancy conditions and may well be too traumatised to be re homed

The Gran is most probably in shock and completely devastated and is having to deal with the aftermath of losing her granddaughter and supporting her daughter through the worst thing that will ever happen to her in her whole life

I think whatever anyone thinks or doesn't think about the dog, we can all see as Mothers how devastating this is for the family and how behaviour is affected by grief

Please don't tell people are worrying about the trauma
being suffered by the other dog? Please tell me I misread
that????

So it doesn't matter whar happens to the other dog then?

Like it or not they have to do something with it. It may end up PTS or in a shelter and it could be traumatised which would affect its chances of getting a home. That means three deaths. Just because you wouldn't care doesn't mean that the mum won't be upset at loosing the other dog too. Or that the FULL price of the event can be forgotten.

Personally I don't care what happens to the other dog.

I love dogs, but I would not call it three deaths; it's the death of a child and two dogs. You can't lump the latter with the former.

I figured a lot if people would feel that way. However it's a life that someone was also responsible for and not something that can be convieniently forgotten about.

I have nothing against dogs Giles but the life of a dog does not compare to the life of a child. I would have thought that was quite obvious.

Nobody is comparing a dog to a child. What they are saying is that a dog suffers once again because of the stupidity of people.

As does the child.

Exactly mig

The "doesn't matter now" attitude is why animals are left starving in flats when people move or ur unadoptable because their needs aren't even thought about because something worse happened.

It's an example of people's stupidity that is never taken into account. Ever.