Why do people keep dangerous dogs???

[Ori18]

Another little boy pronounced dead this morning on the news - the toddler who was mauled on Monday and subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest. The dogs in question are not thought to be banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act - but I'd be interested to know which breeds they were as it's quite evident that certain breeds are more dangerous to children than others - why aren't Rottweiler's on the banned list for example?

And even though Pitt Bull Terriers are banned, people still go out of their way to own them, and are then shocked when they attack small children, maul babies, tear limbs off people. It makes me so angry. Same goes for German Shepherds and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. The Bull Terrier dogs are/were specifically bred for fighting - why would you even consider having one of these types of dogs around a baby or a small child? What is going on there? Is it lack of intelligence? Lack of education? Lack of giving a fuck? Because I think there need to be more dogs on the banned list, and heavier penalties served to people who insist on breaking the law to keep these dogs.

Aggressive/dangerous dogs and babies/small children do not mix, should never be mixed and it shouldn't take more deaths for the law to change around this. AIBU?

[quote Leonberger]@SartresSoul I didn’t really have any opinion on bull breeds previously. They aren’t my thing looks and personality wise but I didn’t dislike them.

However with watching a fully grown (sweet submissive) Labrador get its throat torn out while about 5 grown men failed to get the attacking staffie off changed my opinion massively. I’ve never seen anything attack with such intensity and just completely refusing to give in no matter what was thrown at it. The more they tried to get it off the more aggressive it got.
I’ve never seen anything quite so horrific as that and I never would want one around my dog or my children.[/quote]
I have seen something similar and that is exactly why I think anyone who lets their kids around dogs like this is just asking for trouble.
The child doesn't stand a chance.

I was chased by a rottweiler when I was a kid. I was visiting my grandparents, playing in the street and the neighbours' rottweiler got out the gate and ran after me. Of course there's a chance that I might not have been attacked if I'd stood my ground but I was only a little girl and I ran. I climbed on top of the coal bunker in my grandparents garden and the dog was jumping up at it, trying to get me. Eventually one of the owners came and dragged it away. It was a scary experience and I was lucky to not get bitten.

All dogs can be dangerous you plonker. Why do you have 0 sense

2021 - 4 deaths by dogs

12 million dogs in uk last year

0.00003333%

Yeah not exactly a high risk...

@MsItchy

I was chased by a rottweiler when I was a kid. I was visiting my grandparents, playing in the street and the neighbours' rottweiler got out the gate and ran after me. Of course there's a chance that I might not have been attacked if I'd stood my ground but I was only a little girl and I ran. I climbed on top of the coal bunker in my grandparents garden and the dog was jumping up at it, trying to get me. Eventually one of the owners came and dragged it away. It was a scary experience and I was lucky to not get bitten.

You don’t run when a dog chase you. You turn your back to the dog. You also never throw a stick or ball near a dog.

I know you were a child but I wish more parents would teach their kids this.

A dog is an animal, an animal is instinctive, it doesn't know right from wrong, because it is an animal. Even the 'sweetest, kindest, gentlest little pup', can decide to bite and not let go. A big, strong dog that decides to bite and not let go, is a killer. Not it's fault. Just in its make up. No breed excused from this fact. So all breeds need to be considered with caution if around children. OP, I agree with you.

@underneaththeash

This is a list of the breeds responsible for killing people (mainly small children)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_Kingdom

Jack Russells have killed a couple of babies too. I'm not sure dogs and babies/small children are ever a great idea.

Good lord. That's grim reading.

Mickarooni
Your dog might turn because he was scared by something sudden my kid did. Your dog is likely going to do more damage due to his size and strength compared to a Pomeranian. That doesn’t make your dog an inherently bad dog or you a bad owner. It is a higher risk and some people worry it’s an unacceptably high risk. It’s not a judgement on you or your dog

Although in all probability you are more likely to be attacked by a Pomeranian. Risk needs to be assessed along two axis. Likelihood/probability and harm/outcome. This is how most risk assessments are made.

In my experience I see daily so called family safe breeds and small fur balls running about off lead yapping, running at and jumping at other dogs and people.

I didn't have a dog when DC were small. Now I have. My dog is trained not to approach people or other dogs and I take seriously my responsibility to ensure my dog will not have opportunity to harm anyone. But then he is trained, and I am not complacent enough to think he could never harm someone. Some of the most complacent owners seem to have yappy little dogs and labs.......(biggest biters of all) and no one stops to ask if maybe the higher number of incidents involving these so called safe breeds is due to their owners?????

The one time in my life I've thought a dog could be truly dangerous was with a dachshund. It was barking and snarling madly and pulling hard at its lead because its owner was bouncing my friend's baby on her knee.

Small dogs are far worse with children in my experience, yet no one suggests banning them...

Or how about dog owners keep them under control @MsItchy so they’re not prowling around terrorising children who are just trying to play by their homes FFS the arrogance and entitlement of some dog owners is astounding. It’s not on CHILDREN to have to protect themselves from domestic animals that the owners fail to control. Talk about victim blaming. Keep your dogs in your own homes or on a lead.

This will never happen, but I've always believed that pet owners should be vetted and have some kind of licence which proves they have a basic understanding of how to look after a dog and an understanding of what dogs are powerful, potentially dangerous and suitable for their living conditions (ie don't have a husky in a one bedroom apartment). The amount of dopey, bone idle pet owners piss me off, I don't want badly trained dogs jumping up at me or barking at my kids.

@DarleneSnell

I don't have strong feelings on dogs and am not in favour of blanket bans just because a breed is very powerful. As well as being unfair to the majority that are good dogs/owners, enforcement would be a nightmare.

That said, I cannot wrap my head around the mentality of deliberately choosing one of those big breeds if you already have little kids (like the American Bully situation). Why risk it? What's the point? No dog is 💯, but there are loads of breeds out there that would be easier to control if things go wrong. Why wouldn't you get one of those until the kids are out the equation?

Because American bullies are amazing dogs, loyal, playful, silly, beautiful, not yappy, only nip when puppies, get on with other dogs the list goes on.

@CaMePlaitPas

This will never happen, but I've always believed that pet owners should be vetted and have some kind of licence which proves they have a basic understanding of how to look after a dog and an understanding of what dogs are powerful, potentially dangerous and suitable for their living conditions (ie don't have a husky in a one bedroom apartment). The amount of dopey, bone idle pet owners piss me off, I don't want badly trained dogs jumping up at me or barking at my kids.

Yeah well I think people should be vetted before they have kids too but that'll never happen either. More kids are killed by their parents than dogs.

@1000yellowdaisies you're not allowed to criticise the dogs either......normally its the child's fault, few pages in and haven't seen that yet though which must be a bit of a Mumsnet record.

If people are saying it's not the dog it's the idiot owners then there are too many idiot owners and we are going to have to make it much, much harder/more expensive for people to own things that can easily kill/seriously injure he owners and other people's children, like we do for cars, guns other offensive weapons.

It's not just in the home it's out in public I live near the beach so clearly spend a lot of time there and in play parks (and I am not exaggerating when I say this) me and DC are bothered to terrified by an off lead dog at least once a week probably three times a week in summer. The being jumped up at/aggressively barked at generally terrified often lasts quite a long time before the owner calls the dogs, it's 50/50 as to whether they're nowhere near and not keeping eyes on the dog or whether they'll be standing and letting it jump all over my children and our belongings and feeling that is totally accepatable until i tell them to call their flaming dog at which point they normally become arsey to aggresive, bad enough people being complacent with their own children but lots of dpg owners are far, far too complacent with other peoples children too, we need to legislate for those idiots too get get far more stringent about dogs being walked on lead in most public areas.

@VampireMoney I don't disagree, but considering this post is about dangerous dogs...

@nalabae rip babies and small children to death for fun....wonderful, wonderful. Once again an almost psychopathic lack of empathy to the hideous and what must have been excruciatingly painful and prolonged deaths these poor, poor babies and children have suffered at the hands of these dogs. Your post is actually quite chilling.

[quote Questiontellme]@nalabae rip babies and small children to death for fun....wonderful, wonderful. Once again an almost psychopathic lack of empathy to the hideous and what must have been excruciatingly painful and prolonged deaths these poor, poor babies and children have suffered at the hands of these dogs. Your post is actually quite chilling.[/quote]
Right? It reads like a literal shrug about the devastating danger these dogs pose and the fact that they actually kill children. Fucking psychotic I agree.

I find it's usually people who don't own dogs that expect them to behave like humans, or tv dogs. They think they can come up to your dog and have a chat and a pet. I had a woman come up behind me, and pat my puppy's head, and as a puppy, already under a small amount of stress learning how to cope with a very busy road, he nipped her hand. She had the nerve to wave her finger around in his face and yell nasty puppy at him. This isn't a rare occurrence either. People should learn how to behave around dogs. Most of us responsible dog owners are training our dogs, we don't take them out to entertain non dog owners.

I disagree. It's not about certain breeds though. If u have a dog that u know can't be trusted you should never have kids around them.

I knew a Rottweiler that was the most placid dog I've ever known. Never even heard her bark or growl. Such a lovely big dog despite the reputation they have.

I do have a relative that has a dangerous dog. Not a known dangerous breed but I just can't believe she didn't get rid of it when she had kids. She says the dog is fine with the kids as known them since they were born. She can't have anyone in the house if the dog is in. It barks like mad and wld attack if it got out. I'm still totally bemused at why they still have the dog. It's a fairly big dog too, baby or 5yr old wldnt stand a chance if it turned on them. They say they love the dog and cldnt get rid of it 🤷🏻‍♀️ Far too big a risk for me I love my kids more than anything so it wld absolutely have to go.

@MiniTheMinx

Mickarooni Your dog might turn because he was scared by something sudden my kid did. Your dog is likely going to do more damage due to his size and strength compared to a Pomeranian. That doesn’t make your dog an inherently bad dog or you a bad owner. It is a higher risk and some people worry it’s an unacceptably high risk. It’s not a judgement on you or your dog

Although in all probability you are more likely to be attacked by a Pomeranian. Risk needs to be assessed along two axis. Likelihood/probability and harm/outcome. This is how most risk assessments are made.

In my experience I see daily so called family safe breeds and small fur balls running about off lead yapping, running at and jumping at other dogs and people.

I didn't have a dog when DC were small. Now I have. My dog is trained not to approach people or other dogs and I take seriously my responsibility to ensure my dog will not have opportunity to harm anyone. But then he is trained, and I am not complacent enough to think he could never harm someone. Some of the most complacent owners seem to have yappy little dogs and labs.......(biggest biters of all) and no one stops to ask if maybe the higher number of incidents involving these so called safe breeds is due to their owners?????

I do risk assessments as part of my day job. I do understand. This is why I don’t think breeds should be banned. My argument is that the outcome of an attack by a large, strong dog is far more catastrophic than a bite by a bichon frise. Plus I feel more confident I could overpower a small dog than a huge strong one. This is why I think big dogs and small children don’t mix. Children aren’t small forever, I’d wait a while until they’re bigger and more predictable.

Again I’m going to say “dangerous” isn’t about a breed’s propensity to attack. I think this thread has shown that we all agree that any dog can attack if provoked. M

It’s about a breed’s potential to cause devastating harm if they do attack. I bet labradors have bitten more often (there’s more of them To start with) but the statistics show that, earn done breeds do snap, they cause far far more devastation than others.

Op your line of thinking is ignorant. Any dog can be dangerous, a chihuahua could kill a child just the same as a big breed and they tend to be quicker to turn.
The breeds you mentioned are powerful yes, and in the wrong hands can be dangerous but that goes for any breed, granted a small dog has a less powerful bite but any dog with teeth can kill.

Because American bullies are amazing dogs, loyal, playful, silly, beautiful, not yappy, only nip when puppies, get on with other dogs the list goes on

There are loads of dogs out there like that. Why go out and choose a bully instead of a weaker dog to live with children? However unlikely, it's just a totally unnecessary risk.

DDA is outdated and not fit for purpose. No dog should be judged on appearance and a bloody tape measure.
Deed not Breed, every time!

This is so dumb. A six month old cocker spaniel killed my cat right outside my house. We caught it on the CCTV. R.I.P. The dog was being walked off lead while the owner lagged a mile behind it. I have a staffie cross who we got from a rescue. I also have a old year old, a cat and hens. I never judge based on breed anymore.