Reporting dangerous dogs?

[LondonLassi]

Something has been on my mind for a few days after hearing about the poor 12 day old baby who died after being attacked by a dog.

My sister’s neighbour has a 16 year old son who is regularly in trouble with the police. I spend a lot of time there. The screaming and shouting that comes from next door is horrendous and the police are often called out to restrain him. He is not in school. Smokes weed all day. I’ve never seen his face because he wears a hoodie over a face covering (even pre-COVID) I’m just trying to paint a picture of the kind of troubled youth we’re dealing with here. If you make eye contact with him he will swear at you, call you names and threaten you. He is quite frankly a bit scary.

About a year ago they got two puppies from the same litter. They are fully grown now and they look like some sort of pit bull cross. Possibly pit bull/mastiff. They are huge. I’ll attach a pic of what I think they might be. When we sit out in the garden we can hear them next door fighting and growling, they barge my sisters fence to try to get to her small jack Russell terriers. They’ve had to repair the fence three times already after the dogs broke it.

This boy walks the dogs regularly. They are not muzzled. If we happen to leave the house at the same time the dogs go up on their hind legs and get very over excited. The boy has to pull them back to get them away. They try to break free to get to anyone walking near them if they’re out for a walk. Tonight we happened to be leaving as the boy was walking home. The dogs immediately started barking at us and were trying to run towards us and had to be restrained. We often hear people shouting when they walk by because of the dogs trying to get to them. It’s very scary when it happens because they are big and intimidating.

I am terrified of what would happen if these dogs managed to get loose. They have been raised by someone with a violent, anti social background. I can’t shake the image of them getting hold of a child. The boy has a little brother in the house, probably around 6 years old.

What would you do in this situation? I’m thinking of reporting them as potentially dangerous dogs. If IABU please tell me. It just seems like an awful attack waiting to happen.

They look very similar to this

Report to your local dog warden

Could it be a presa canario?

The barking and needing to be restrained is quite typical of many large breed guard dog types, as is barging fences to get to smaller dogs. He is restraining them so there isn't really a problem. They most likely don't need to be muzzled.

The issue is the fence being damaged but are they the ones paying to fix it?

These are actually lovely dogs despite their mean appearance.

@BananaLlamaConCalma they definitely aren’t Presa Canarios. I’ve just googled them and they do not look like that. They have very distinctive pit bull features. The neighbours have not paid for the fence to be fixed. They are not the most reasonable people. They are council tenants though and my sister has had to report them often for other things relating to the son. It might be worth calling the housing association to have a word about the dogs.

My German shepherd used to strain to get to people and bark. People were scared simply because she was a German shepherd and she barked and she wasn't a calm dog. She wasn't going to hurt anyone though she wanted attention.
I had to hold her back from people though

While I appreciate your concerns with his character I can't see any evidence that the dogs are aggressive or violent from what's in your post?

Just because a teenager is having problems at home, it doesn’t mean they necessarily have a dangerous dog. Do you know anything about why the teenager might be being restrained? The fact that you call him a ‘troubled youth’ says a lot to be honest.

If the dogs are a year old, then they will be in their teenage phase and so the pulling on the lead could be a response to that. Which doesn’t necessarily mean the dog is dangerous, just that it requires more training. A dog doesn’t need to be muzzled just because it looks big and intimidating. The teenager is restraining them, more could be done, but if he really was as aggressive and violent as you say, he wouldn’t bother restraining the dogs.

If either of the dogs display aggression, then contact the dog warden and 101. However, it mostly sounds like you’re judging the dogs by the appearance of the teenage and vice versa. If the police are regularly visiting the home and these are aggressive dogs, then actions would have been taken.

@purpleme12 Thank you. That does make me feel a bit better. I clearly know nothing about big breeds! I assumed the jumping up, barking and trying to get to people was aggressive behaviour. It’s good to know it isn’t.

@RaspberryToupee He beat his mother up and broke her nose. My sister had to mind the youngest boy until family could come and get him. When the police arrived the 16 year old pulled out a knife and had to be tasered. I think ‘troubled youth’ is a pretty accurate description and I think it’s completely justified to worry about a person like that being in possession of a potentially dangerous breed.

@RaspberryToupee Every time you hear about a dog killing a child people point fingers at the owners and say it was because of how the dogs were raised. Am I really out of line to be concerned? I’m not sure why referring to someone as a troubled youth would say a lot about me? How else should I phrase it?

@StylishMummy thank you! You’ve hit the nail on the head.

Barking and jumping/straining isn’t necessarily aggression.
It could be, but equally it could just be sheer excitement and frustration at being unable to say hello.
And at only a year old I’d be more inclined to think it’s excitement as in most medium to larger sized dogs the adult personality isn’t in until two years or more.

The fence barging, again, may or may not be aggressive.
It may well be that they are territorial but could also just be excitement and frustration again at knowing there’s dogs next door and they can’t interact.
The owners should have paid to replace the fence though, that’s really bad of them that your sister has had to pay for it.

I agree with a PP that if the boy was truly as awful as he has been made out to be, he probably wouldn’t bother restraining them.

It's not the dogs that are the issue, it's the owners. The owners take beautiful dogs and turn them into horrible mauling machines

@LondonLassi a troubled youth is not what you’re describing. None of which you put in your original post, just that he’s been restrained by the police. Which could be for any number of reasons, including mental health reasons. Which would also tie up with not being in school, smoking weed and being quite anti-social. Also listed in the first post - not breaking his mother’s nose. ‘Troubled youth’ is the term that naice middle ladies like to use for teenagers with mental health problems that really are a result of parents just not setting enough boundaries.

Concern is one thing but you are taking your impression of him and putting it on to the dogs, even admitting you nothing about the behaviour of big dogs. In 99% of cases, dog bites are a result of shitty owners. However, there are still far more shitty owners than actual dog bites. I didn’t say don’t report the dog but you need to make sure the dog is actually aggressive. Otherwise your report will go nowhere and when the dog is actually aggressive you won’t get anywhere.

@Dogsarebetterthanpeople thank you for the very constructive response. I’ve just asked my sister again and the dogs are probably closer to 2 years old. If the warden was called would he not just check in to make sure they aren’t dangerous? If the dogs are just playful and aren’t a banned breed then surely no harm will be done by checking?

Also, reading through again and reading some newer comments, pit bulls aren’t really all that big.
You said they are huge, you say they aren’t presas, mastiff cross or maybe even something like a bully kutta comes to mind.
If they are huge, they are unlikely to be put bull crosses imo.

The comment about chavs and muscle dogs.
I used to live in a rough area full of ‘macho dogs and chavs’, never once saw any aggression whatsoever.
Moved to a nice area and by god I have never met so many (posh, middle class) selfish, entitled people with aggressive, out of control (usually ‘nice’ breeds like spaniels, labs, poos etc) dogs in my life!
Just sayin’

You can report a dog that makes you feel like you might be in danger, it doesn't have to actually attack. It is the owner's responsibility to make sure their dog does not make others feel threatened, and that includes not lunging at people or barging fences. It doesn't particularly matter the intentions of the dog. It makes people feel threatened, which is an offence for the owner. I would report them personally.

thank you for the very constructive response. I’ve just asked my sister again and the dogs are probably closer to 2 years old
Without seeing the dogs it’s impossible to be sure what the intention is.
It could be either.

If the warden was called would he not just check in to make sure they aren’t dangerous?
The breed isn’t necessarily what makes them dangerous.
You can have a ‘guard’ breed that if well bred and socialised and trained can be very safe and you can have a so called friendly breed that if badly bred and socialised and trained may be very dangerous.

If the dogs are just playful and aren’t a banned breed then surely no harm will be done by checking?
The law imo is stupid and does nothing go protect anyone.
The dog that killed the little boy looked like some sort of chow/Akita cross.
Neither breed is banned.

The law only bans 4 breeds; pit bulls (which isn’t a breed but a set of measurements and certain look), the tosa inu, the Argentinian mastiff and I forget the other one.

There are loads and loads and loads of dog breeds big enough to easily kill a person and they aren’t illegal.

Quite a few of those dogs include breeds known for guarding behaviour, the livestock guardian breeds for example.
And they aren’t illegal.

@RaspberryToupee Yes, as I said, I know nothing about big dogs. Hence the post for advice. I referred to the boy as a troubled youth because I was trying to be polite. I could think of some much more descriptive terms for him but I’m far too ‘naice’ for that, clearly. I’m not sure why I should have to go into detail about his past actions. As someone said above, we all know the type I am referring to and we all know that they tend to be the type of people who own dangerous dogs that hurt people.

Dogs straining at the lead and barking isn’t necessarily aggression. I have a pug that does this and has lunged at people which is mortifying as he shows his teeth and does look quite fearsome (for a pug) but it’s anxiety with him if things are too close. If someone went in to pet him even when he was barking he’d calm down, he’d never bite. The dogs sound like they do need more training but there is nothing to suggest they are definitely aggressive - the barging the fence to get at a small dog is typical of a large terrier (which pit bulls are) with a high prey drive.

The teenage boy’s issues on the other hand are another matter, it sounds like he’s come from a troubled and unstable background but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily raising aggressive dogs.

@LondonLassi yes, we all know the type you’re talking about. Those who live in council houses, you’ve already made it clear which stereotype you’re using.

@Dogsarebetterthanpeople it’s very sad isn’t it! I guess it is more about the owner rather than the dog, you’re right. This is why I’m concerned. I’m going to stop referring to the dogs as a dangerous breed because I realise that’s not fair. They are beautiful dogs with a dangerous owner.

there is nothing to suggest they are definitely aggressive - the barging the fence to get at a small dog is typical of a large terrier (which pit bulls are) with a high prey drive

What is called when a dog with "high prey drive" barges at a small dog, if not aggression?

I own bull breeds, always have, until recently had a cane corso(passed away 2 mths ago) all lovely socialised dogs so can we stop with the Daily Mail assumptions about large bull breeds.
There is no such thing as a breed standard/appearance for a pitbull in the U.K. it’s basically a mixed breed dog. If these dogs are seized as a suspected prohibited breed they will be held at an undisclosed location and assessed to see if they are of ‘type’ it is an outdated method based on measurements not temperament, the dog can be exempted but only if they have a fit and proper keeper, which in this case would be unlikely therefore the dogs would be pts.
I would call the local dog warden with your concerns.