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.

@Lou98 I honestly don’t have the energy to get into this all over again. Just read the full thread, I’m sure anything you’re going to argue has already been covered.

@LondonLassi I have read it now, only bit I'd take back is about talking to the mum, seen now that you have.

However, the rest still stands, especially this bit:

If the police have been coming and going as often as you say, it's unlikely they are pit bulls as they would have looked in to that, it's also unlikely that they would be aggressive and not have shown this towards the police officers who were restraining the boy, if they were aggressive their protective instinct would have kicked in here.

If the dogs were as aggressive as you're making out, they would have attacked the officer(s) there.

Never understand people that ask if they're BU and then only listen to the people that agree with them🤷‍♀️

Luckily on all three occasions that the police have been there the dogs were inside the house. All the commotion was out on the front lawn. The thing is the majority of people who responded to this thread actually agreed with me, hence I realised IANBU. Most of the posts from today were just the same people repeating themselves over and over again.

Londonlassie, it's such an emotive subject, dog threads always seem to turn into a version of meat eaters vs vegans, I hope you can find a way through this situation, it's so hard to know where to turn for help:(

@Imworthit - I’m sure you mean no one should leave their newborn with a dog. A quick scroll on Pinterest will show many, many photos of dogs with tiny babies.

I said no one wise

@Heffalooomia thank you. I know now never to post an issue about dogs ever again 😂 It’s now added to the long list of things I should never discuss on MN.

Dogs are a contentious issue. 😂😂😂😂
Fur babies to many. Love my little ones.

@Imworthit I see this 😂😂 I love my two boys too! I don’t know how this turned me into a pearl clutching, dog hating snob who just wants to have all dogs killed. Bloody hell.

It's ironic how the dog lovers got into telling you the situation is "fine" when actually It's not really fine for those dogs either.

They don't sound like they are being socialised well.

And I wonder what their prospects are with a 16 year old owner ? They are disliked by his mother. Is he taking them with him if he moves on?

Actually don't answer that. 😁 I must be mad stirring up this hornets nest.

@sunglassesonthetable you are right though. It certainly doesn’t seem like a very happy home and I know they really struggle financially. The dogs aren’t neutered and I do question whether they’d get the right care if they were hurt or ill.

@sunglassesonthetable
Nobody has said the situation is ‘fine’ the OP has angered ppl, she started off well and ppl agreed it was a concern, then she went off on a bull breed rant; a ill informed one. Nobody said anything about it was fine but the ludicrous nonsense being posted is nothing short of prejudiced hysteria akin to DM and The Sun, several experienced dog ppl have tried to explain where she’s went wrong and that’s resulted in being called an asshole etc.
These dogs are not in an ideal place but to then denegrate an entire breed of dog based in two untrained dogs is woefully ignorant.

@SBTLove again.. you started with the name calling. I only went off on a rant because you people insist that bully breeds are completely safe and are just misunderstood. Even in the wrong hands. I don’t know how many times I have to say that I KNOW they can be lovely pets when they have been raised correctly with love, care, discipline and training. To just point blank deny that these breeds in particular can be quite lethal when raised in the wrong environment is what is quite astoundingly ignorant. All dogs can be dangerous when raised badly but not all dogs are as powerful as the breeds we are discussing. It’s like comparing a gun to a whip. One will most certainly kill you if it is used against you in the wrong hands. A whip will hurt and could potentially kill in rare circumstances. Both are weapons that have the potential to do damage but only one is actually designed to be a deadly weapon. That is all I’ve been trying to say. Is it not more responsible to encourage humans to have a healthy respect of these breeds? Again, this applies to all breeds but these breeds especially.

It certainly doesn't seem like a very happy home
and that 16-year old lad has two weapon-dogs through which to channel his anger and frustrations, dogs will pick up on human tensions I'm sure
It's not a good situation

Londonlassie, you are wasting your breath, she is deeply emotionally bonded with her dogs and this makes her wilfully blind to the reality
She cannot bring herself to speak against them, I sort of understand because I'm like that with my children I cannot bring myself to speak against them, whatever they do I have to paint it in rose tones.
She will not agree (and that's understandable because many of these things happen below the level of consciousness... and some people don't have much self-awareness anyway) but this is the only explanation that makes sense to me 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Heffalooomia
Another one spouting nonsense, my points are based on experience and knowledge not emotional bond ffs and exactly who are you to be commenting on anyone’s self awareness 🤣🤣
This from a person who can’t understand basic dog behaviour, keep your daft opinions to yourself.
As I stated OP went from concern about these two dogs to denigrating an entire breed based on her near nil knowledge and refuses to listen to anything now she’s hellbent in her hatred.
Quick get back to your Daily Mail and revel in the knowledge these dogs will be pts.

These dogs are not in an ideal place but to then denegrate an entire breed of dog based in two untrained dogs is woefully ignorant.

These 2 big, strong dogs ( the breed is actually irrelevant) are definitely not in an ideal place.

They are demonstrating undesirable behaviour and seem to have a very erratic owner.

Do you let your dogs lunge and bark at people repeatedly whilst standing back and laughing????

Pull the other one.

No one wants this ESPECIALLY if it's a strong, muscular looking dog which these seem to be.

But tbh you seem so busy with your macro issues protecting the 'reputation'of a breed that you totally miss the point of the thread. And in fact those poor dogs sound like they are in a crap situation which mostly seems to be overlooked.

Blaming OP for prefudice, snobbery, blah blah and all the " just excitement" etc etc ( we KNOW that! ) People posting examples of killer pomerians or whatever. God talk about missing the bigger picture.

But tbh you seem so busy with your macro issues protecting the 'reputation'of a breed that you totally miss the point of the thread. And in fact those poor dogs sound like they are in a crap situation which mostly seems to be overlooked
Very true!

@sunglassesonthetable
I think you’ll find OP is the one who went completely off the range, I agreed it wasn’t ideal, she then decided they were an illegal breed and started trotting out nonsense.
Unless she’s a DLO she’s in no position to be banding about her ‘opinion’ on breed, situation yes breed traits which she can’t understand, no.

People posting examples of killer pomerians or whatever. God talk about missing the bigger picture
And that right there is why dog attacks on children will never reduce...

The misguided belief that because your dog is a ‘family friendly’ breed like a Labrador or a tiny fluff ball like a Pomeranian it either won’t ever attack anyone or if it did it won’t do too much damage so people will continue to let their children clamber all over them and pester them, laugh at their poor behaviour/lack of training and leave the two of them unattended.

The vast majority of dog attacks in the UK are by family pets (like labs, spaniels, jacks etc) to the family child under 5 years old.
The number of dog attacks by any of the 4 banned breeds (or their crosses) is absolutely minuscule, it is nearly always a non illegal breed (or cross) and often one popularly chosen as a ‘pet’ breed.

Yet when anyone points this out and points out that it means NO dog of ANY breed should ever be fully trusted that person is clearly a nutter or oversensitive or blinkered or whatever.

*And that right there is why dog attacks on children will never reduce...

Don't be ridiculous.

I KNOW any dog can attack .

Which is actually why NO ONE wants 2 strong undisciplined excitable dogs lunging at their fence and being controlled by an immature erratic 16 year old.

Which is why it is so macro focused to be deriding OP for her worries based on a defence of any particular breed.

But if I do ever get attacked please make it a Pomeranian.

Dear God!

Of course there are less attacks by a banned breed! 😳 They are banned and therefore not kept as pets unless illegally, therefore less of them... therefore that is echoed in the statistics..... It’s not rocket science! So of course statistics will show otherwise. It’s a massive red herring though.

It's not rocket science
Dog people in a haze of pink sparkly puppy love struggle to think scientifically💗

Yet when anyone points this out and points out that it means NO dog of ANY breed should ever be fully trusted that person is clearly a nutter or oversensitive or blinkered or whatever.

NO it's when OP says

" these dogs seem frightening and out of hand "

and other people say

" ah, but other breeds can be just as frightening and out of hand"

And 🤷‍♀️

@Dogsarebetterthanpeople

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.

Agree with this.