Can we muzzle all dogs in public yet (warning, graphic image of mauled hand)

[lfYouLikePinaCoIadas]

“Whilst out walking a route that Tom has been on numerous times, he was the victim of an unprovoked attack by an unleashed dog. The dog attacked Tom multiple times as he tried to protect his puppy from being mauled by the dog and was left with horrific injuries. What is more horrifying, however, is that the owners of the dog didn’t try to help and fled the scene leaving Tom bleeding from his artery on his wrist.

Wife Katy recalls the moment that she opened the door to find her husband standing there after the attack: ‘‘Tom managed to get home where I had to tourniquet, to try to stem the bleeding, while waiting for 999. He lost several litres of blood in the short time until the ambulance arrived. Our two children were at home at the time and were woken up by the commotion. My 7-year-old was terrified and thought that her dad was doing to die from the blood loss.’’

https://www.familiesonline.co.uk/news/dad-of-2-viciously-mauled-by-dog-trying-to-protect-family-puppy

Imagine it had been a child’s face, or neck, or little body, instead of an adult’s hand.

Absolutely sick of nothing being done to protect the public.

YABU - dogs are man’s best friend
YANBU - something needs to be done

Not really sure. Taking extreme examples from SM or tabloids or wherever only weakens the arguments of the anti dog mob, as they’re clearly outside the realm or normality and every day experiences

I mean, I could back up an argument that men are a public safety hazards d should be escorted at all times and given curfews at night by linking to stories about violent crime, child abuse and sexual assault etc but What would be the point?

I feel sorry for the dogs of the bad dog owners on this thread like @VincentVaguer and @Ersorrywhatnow . I wish dogs no ill and abhor animal cruelty.

But if the dogs of negligent owners like these, drooled on the ‘wrong’ kind of person or ruined their picnic, the dog could be at the end of abuse themselves, possibly physical. And that would be the fault both of the aggressive person and of the lazy owner who has not trained their dog properly and does not know how to use a lead etc. The dogs owned by decent people (of which there are thankfully many) are far less likely to get a negative response from strangers.

I have always felt that good owners keep an eye on their dogs. Not just out of consideration for the general public, but also for the welfare of their own dogs. Those dogs are the lucky ones.

If you want to play with extremes im pretty sure that you could link all sorts of horror that mothers and parents inflict upon their children, and use it to make the indirect claim that all mothers are somehow sexually involved with their kids.
That is abhorrent and utterly unacceptable, and yet do it in a post regarding dog ownership.. fair game.

Appalling reckless and stupid post.

I feel sorry for the dogs of the bad dog owners on this thread like @VincentVaguerand@Ersorrywhatnow. I wish dogs no ill and abhor animal cruelty

Out of interest, what makes you think I'm a bad dog owner? I mean, I know I'm not, but presumably you mean I'm not spending every waking moment worrying about whether someone with a dog phobia is going to have to walk past my labrador/terriers? So what you really mean is that I don't make your life easier for you, rather than my dogs. My dogs are very well trained and behaved by the way and would never jump up at anyone.

‘Appalling reckless and stupid post.’ @Verv

Reckless? To say men commit most violet. Crime? Mmm
no more batshit than most of the posts in here - the link to the church/dog fucker might be my ‘favourite’ so far…

@VincentVaguer hold on, how am I a ‘bad dog own er’ ??? You’re basing that on the fact I don’t think there should be a blanket law muzzling all dogs? Wise up.

A bad dog owner is:
Someone who doesn’t get their dog regular vet treatment (E.g. minimum worming/flea treatment and check-ups)
Someone who mis-treats their dog
Someone who does not provide adequate nutrition for their dog
Someone who does not offer their dog the opportunity for regular exercise
Someone who does not adhere to the dog-walkers code(picking up after them Etc.)
Someone who allows their dog off-lead in public places, when their dog does not display adequate recall
Someone who allows their dog off-lead in public places, when their dog is likely to attack other dogs or people
Unfortunately, I see people who fit one or more of these descriptions every day, when walking my dog.

My dog is licensed, insured, chipped and trained. She has faultless recall, is socialised and friendly, doesn’t jump up on anyone but isn’t allowed off the lead where I think it might be inconvenient to anyone else. She’s walked 2/3 times a day, fed well
treated well, but as an animal, not a human child.

So which part of that makes me a ‘bad’ dog owner? My opinion that dogs shouldn’t have to wear muzzles in public or be on the lead all the time doesn’t make me a bad anything. It’s just an opinion.

Sorry - meant to add:
If dog owners adhere to the points I made in the PP, and their dog is not prone to lunging and/or biting, then why should they muzzle their dog?

An off lead dog isn't a problem unless it's also not under control - I have no issues with dogs not being on leads unless the are approaching people/dogs/other animals and are not recalled or do not respond to the recall.

It's of no concequence if the dog is on or off lead as long as it's not allowed to accost other people, in a friendly way or not. If a dog leaves you alone then it doesn't matter if it does so because it's trained to do so or physically restrained from doing so, the results are the same - you don't get bothered by a dog you don't want to interact with.

The issue is that a rising number of owners don't like having their dog on a lead, but also have little to no control meaning the dog does accost others in the area, and then try to defend that saying that the dog is friendly and that dogs need off lead time and everyone should fall in line with that.

It's your dog, and therefore your responsibility to entertain it, not mine.

and then try to defend that saying that the dog is friendly and that dogs need off lead time and everyone should fall in line with that.

All too often a dog will approach people and other dogs whilst the owner yells it or yells not too worry that it's friendly.

A quick google shows 9000 people a year go to hospital with dog related injuries. In a Europe wide study, UK was 4th for fatalities from dogs.

How many of those happened just after an owner yelled,
"Don't worry, they're friendly"

How many owners of those dogs that caused those injuries blamed themselves? Their dog? Or the victims?
'well they should have stayed home, they should have had a picnic elsewhere or had a picnic on table. They should have made alterations to their lives and their plans to accommodate my friendly dog.'

A quick google shows 9000 people a year go to hospital with dog related injuries
That sounds high isn't it? Until you also read that there are 43,000 attendances to A&E DAILY! That's over 17 million. Suddenly, it doesn't feel high at all, certainly not high enough to justify the extreme measures suggested here!

And 13 milion dogs in the UK so 0.6% bitting or less if you consider that one dog bit more than once.

Any kids are more likely to end up in hospital being accidentally injured by a sibling or friend!
Y
People really need to adjust their views on the basis of facts rather than emotional response or worse sadly, sensational news on media.

My dog is not being muzzled

You're going to have to explain that to me I'm afraid.

13 million dogs, a small percentage hurt people, so.... Never mind.. is that what you're saying?

Is it just dogs that applies too?
There's billions of knives and only 282 were used for murder so why bother restricting their sale etc, everyone should be able to wander the streets with a carving knife... You'd think that pretty silly though..

If I said:
Responsible knife owners wouldn't let their knives near kids and people that don't want knives near them.
And someone said,
"But my knife is very safe, why can't a kid play with it?.. it's got a green collar on it after all.."

You'd call me names I'm sure...

Sorry, NO!
I was directing my comment at screenshot of the woman who slept with a dog and responding to that, but didnt want to quote it as it was vile.
I was agreeing with you. Apologies for the miscommunication..

Neither is mine

all the “irresponsible people won’t comply anyway” responses are just like the arguments against gun control in the US. No! Take away most dogs and dog attacks will decrease!

also it’s not just violent men with violent breed dogs that do damage. My idiot ditsy sister who doesn’t have a violent bone or bad intention in her body has a completely out of control “loveable” golden retriever, who is not at all aggressive, but is huge and totally out of control due to lack of training. The dog knocked over an elderly lady and hurt her quite badly, and my sister just looked on dumbly saying “she’s just energetic, she didn’t mean it!” with zero idea it was her fault!

Controls such as licenses and mandatory training would weed out the many idiotic owners who just don’t think ownership through or don’t understand what’s needed and cause many lower level, unreported issues and attacks which cause the majority of the problems.

Hey! Not me mate, I'm on your side.

@Ersorrywhatnow I was quoting @SnapCracklePopBang ,upthread

That's fine, you can ignore him, he won't care and neither will I. Neither of us need the approval of miserable fuckers to have a nice day.

This

Totally reasonable response to people that don't like dogs.

Completely rational and normal.

I will never understand why dog owners who describe themselves as good owners are so desperate to defend bad owners. I have a child. I don't defend everything single thing another parent does and don't take moans at children as being against my child.

I don't know statistics but I would imagine most people who are attacked by dogs are dog owners (attacked by own dog or hurt defending their own dogs). If someone allows their dog off lead without good recall it could easily be both humans and other dogs at risk from them. Why would you not want other dogs on leads and certain breeds muzzled if they are a risk to your own dog?

My mum has a terrier. It stays on a lead during walks but if an off lead xl bully type decide to attack it I can't see a situation where neither my mum or dog escape unhurt. YOUR dog might have great recall but it doesn't mean ALL dogs do.