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?

It also might be an idea to look at what the owners of the dogs that have committed these attacks have in common, never mind the poor dogs themselves, who have usually been recently bought, from unknown background or parentage, have never been trained, newly introduced to chaotic houses with small children with little exercise or stimulation and barely the cognitive and monetary means to look after their children and themselves, nevemind a dog. I imagine that isn't very politically correct though.

All dogs are a risk around children, granted some more than others but all of them are. I was bitten by our golden retriever as a child, I didn't do anything wrong in my head (I can't fully remember what happened), I'd grown up with her and suddenly one day out of the blue she bit me.

Some Rottweilers are absolutely fine but others aren't, I genuinely thought this story was about the three down the road from me until I saw where it happened. Same with huskies, my parents have a husky who is the sweetest thing but others have attacked.

I wouldn't be leaving a child around any dog and I do agree with a PP. People do become complacent around children and dogs.

I’m all for harsher punishment for people who keep banned dogs, and children and dogs should never be left unattended, regardless of breed.

But YABU naming a load of dog breeds that arnt more dangerous and calling for them to be banned. All dogs can be dangerous, my sibling was quite brutally attacked by a Yorkshire terrier as a child(not our dog), but our German Shepard's had the loveliest temperaments and never showed any aggression in their lives. There’s so much more to what makes most breeds dangerous than just the look of them.

OP, you're very ignorant/prejudiced about dog breeds. Have a quick google perhaps.

[quote Greedy7]@Ori18 Message withdrawn[/quote]
Your daughter should not have been allowed to do that with any dog
I have a large breed that’s supposed to be an excellent family dog and he is but I would never allow a young child around him unsupervised or to bother him in any way.

I think you should need a dog licence to own a dog.

Want a dog? Learn about dogs, show you know the behaviour theory, and pass a quick online test. If someone can’t be bothered to do this then yippee one less irresponsible dog owner.

Don’t control your dog and generate a constant stream of complaints to the police? Lose your dog licence and have your dog taken away.

@Greedy7

Message withdrawn

You should never have allowed your daughter to do that

All medium to large size dogs can be dangerous.
Some breeds are less domesticated than others so higher risk, but all are capable of attacking.

Anyone owning a dog is accepting the risk. Good training and having a dog that isn’t a rescue (so does not have PTSD) lower the risk of dog attacks. No medium to large sized rescue dog should ever be homed with a family with children imho.

I really get upset thinking about the children and adults that have been killed by a dog. I wish we could do more to prevent it instead of reacting after it happens.

My entirely personal and probably unpopular view is that stupid people are allowed to have both children and dogs when in reality they are incapable of looking after them properly. Can’t ban them from having either so these attacks are unfortunately going to continue.

For what it’s worth though my spaniel is far more snappy than my sister’s staffie.

Only 2 posts into the thread and the old "nanny dog" crap is trotted out already about Staffies. Is this a MN record?

And even though Pitt Bull Terriers are banned, people still go out of their way to own them

They think it means people will "respect" them.

OP - I agree with every word and people who claim Rottweilers are "big softies" are just mental. I have a dog, but he's tiny and I purposely chose a toy companion breed because I want a friendly family dog!

[quote Greedy7]@Ori18 what a load of rubbish!!! Have you ever owned a dog? It is never about the breed and always about how the dog is brought up and raised! I have a staffordshire bull terrier and she is the most amazing dog. She has never and will never hurt anyone.
She has protected my daughter since she was born. She sat by her side when she was a baby. My daughter used to pull her ears and roll around with her on the floor. I trust my 11 year old staffy with my life and my daughters life.

My staffy actually got attacked by 2 french bull dogs and she ran away! Please get your facts right before sprouting a bunch of utter nonsense.[/quote]
...and this is exactly what people mean when they talk about irresponsible owners.

Why would someone let their child pull a dog’s ears?

This is why these dogs attack…

[quote Greedy7]@Ori18 what a load of rubbish!!! Have you ever owned a dog? It is never about the breed and always about how the dog is brought up and raised! I have a staffordshire bull terrier and she is the most amazing dog. She has never and will never hurt anyone.
She has protected my daughter since she was born. She sat by her side when she was a baby. My daughter used to pull her ears and roll around with her on the floor. I trust my 11 year old staffy with my life and my daughters life.

My staffy actually got attacked by 2 french bull dogs and she ran away! Please get your facts right before sprouting a bunch of utter nonsense.[/quote]
Running away from 2 other dogs asserting dominance doesn’t mean your dog won’t bite a baby who accidentally stands on its paw. This is the problem, plenty of people feel this away about their dog and their children, the majority are correct about their dogs, but the fact is it’s an animal that can’t talk, it can’t tell you if it’s in pain or feeling sad, but it can react different to how you expect as a result. I’ve seen examples before of a dog becoming snappy with its owner and it turns out it’s ill or in pain. But people get complacent and think ‘oh it won’t happen to me, I no my dog’.

• Not everyone etc etc

We own a German Shepard and he is an amazing loyal loving dog, very gentle, we also own a greyhound who is extremely placid but I would trust my German shepherd any day over my greyhound.
My mil also has a staffie and he loves everyone.
Obviously no dog can be trusted 100% but the breeds you mentioned are no more dangerous than any other breed.
And there has obviously been issues with the American bulldogs, I agree with pp these are dangerous and basically are pit bulls.

I was attacked by a Rottweiler when I was 4. It was the "guard dog" of the off-licence and my mum went in to buy some cigarettes, she left me outside with her friend and her two children.
As my mum opened the door the dog ran out, knocked her over and clamped down on my chest. I did absolutely nothing to aggravate the dog. It was completely unprovoked.
The owner came out with a baseball bat and was hitting it to get it to let me go.
I'm so lucky to be here, it could've killed me.

Just because some people think certain breeds are all softies, doesn't mean they all are. The same way that no dog can be trusted.

Because they are either stupid, want to be associated with image of having a “hard” dog, or get all sentimental about their fur baby which wouldn’t hurt a fly and forget it’s not a baby, it’s an animal.

All medium to large size dogs can be dangerous.

Any size of dog can be dangerous.

You are being completely ridiculous, OP, and it’s obvious you know nothing about dogs. Rotties, GSDs & Staffies are no more or less ‘dangerous’ than any other medium or large breed. Like all dogs, and all children, they require careful socialisation & proper consistent training in order to become responsible well behaved members of society.

Every time a child is mauled to death by a family dog there seems to be an attitude that we can't criticise the family because they have 'suffered enough' etc and there never seems to be any criminal action taken.
There should be accountability and we should be starting to treat the deaths as due to negligent parenting.

A child pulling any dog's ears is not on. Even if the dog puts up with it 99/100 there is the risk of the dog getting an ear infection that you don't yet know about. That 1/100 is all you need to cause devastation.

Oh no, another child today. It'd dreadful.

I think people get dogs for lots of reasons and many after an attack say they have never bitten before/always been ok etc.

Perhaps the answer is to never trust a dog completely near a young child/baby particularly a dog that has a jaw that is very powerful and has the ability to inflict a very serious injury or kill.