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

I like to think of myself as a responsible dog owner and IF we ever go out in public she’s always on a lead and once she’s fully grown (only 3 months) I’ll have no issue using a proper fitting muzzle for her as she’s a German Shepherd - nothing to do with not trusting her and all to do with EVERYONE feeling safe and feeling safe for myself and my dog if I’m seeing other dog owners being responsible for their animals too!

I’ve had far more bad experiences with people. Can we do the same to them.

No , all dogs should not have to be muzzled or kept on leads because all you are doing is punishing responsible owners with well behaved dogs and the scummy type owners will just crack on doing what they always have .

There was another dog attack this afternoon. This time it was outside a primary school.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dog-attacks-school-willow-gardens-b2322191.html#:~:text=Six%20people%20have%20been%20treated%20in%20hospital%20after,Primary%20School%2C%20which%20was%20reportedly%20put%20into%20lockdown.

This, I absolutely would muzzle my dogs if I needed to to comply with the law, unfortunately the dogs that are the issue are the ones who have irresponsible or at best, ignorant, owners that don't have them under control by training or lead and therefore are highly unlikely to muzzle their dog either in public, leaving my dogs and me open to attack without my dogs having their best defence.
There is no one doing anything about the scores of off lead, out of control dogs now, so a muzzling law would just be another useless piece of legislation that is easy to ignore, and the people it's targeting would carry on while the rest of us duly muzzle our dogs, and that doesn't solve anything.
It also wouldn't work in cases where the dog is at home and attacks, or escapes and attacks because the owner doesn't look after or contain them properly.
I do agree something needs to be done, and soon, but with police unable to respond promptly to crime perpetrated by humans effectively, I can't see any legislation actually having an impact.
It's a type of person who is being allowed to behave exactly as they please, and do what they like and making other people's lives a misery with their antisocial behaviour that are the issue, their dogs are a potentially dangerous symptom of this, but it's the people's behaviour that needs addressing in order for it to start and make an impact.

The problem is you are trying to add regulations. Regulations are meaningless without enforcement.
Without enforcement only responsibile dog owners will comply.
Responsible dog owners are not the problem. Responsible dog owners already have their dogs under control, already pick up after their dogs.

At the core of the problem is people not dogs and we really should be regulating the people who can own dogs as they are the ones making the decisions aboutvthe type of dog, the type of training..etc....

Not if it's a bully breed. Or a weak adult.

There's an elderly wheelchair -bound woman who wheels around our neighborhood with her Pitbull tied to the handle of her chair. If that dog bolts, it will pull her over, and if the lead comes off the handle, she can't help.

😱😱😱😱😱😱

Surely enough is enough.

Redebs · Today 22:32
Whu · Today 22:30

Well I don’t think forcing my tiny harmless dogs to be muzzled is going to solve the problem.
It’s a certain type of type and size of dog issue let’s be real about it.
“
Even small dogs can damage kids' fingers and faces”

And cause sepsis.

This is all 100% on the owners. I have a staffy cross, she's a bit unpredictable around strangers because she was a baby when lockdown hit and she missed that vital socialisation.
I know this and so I don't put her in a situation where she could do any harm to anyone. I walk her at 1am in a deserted area where there are no people.
If you have a dog that could do this, you would know and you should take precautions that your choices don't affect other people.

That's what you're complaining about?!

Then those dogs get seized. Owners fined Licences to pay for dog wardens.

God that is terrible. They should bring back the dog licence and make it being a substantial amount. It is now law to have your dog chipped although many owners ignore this.

I personally have never muzzled my dogs and muzzling them can lead to them becoming aggressive. My dogs are always on a lead. I only let them off lead if we are in an open area and I can see who is about. If I see a person or another dog approaching them they are put back on leads.

Surely the owner/owners of that dog knew it's behaviour and should have had it on a lead and under control. I don't know how anyone can just leave the scene of an accident like that. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners. I wish they would introduce some vetting of potential owners before handing a dog over.

And your point is? Frankly I find it in poor taste to promote something that asks for money. Fair enough promote the point but do not promote something that begs for money.

Ban dogs in home with kids. Easy.

YANBU

I would literally load every single dog into a series of rockets, and yeet them into the heart of the sun. what is point in dog ?

Dig muzzling is cruel and unnecessary ((generally). However. If should be made law that if you have any concerns regarding a dog it's the owners responsibility to muzzle

Yes, it would. A suitable lead, combined with a suitable harness, will always stop a dog of any size/strength without harming the owner or the dog.

I say this as the owner of one of the biggest, strongest dog breeds around (a rescue Akita), and she can't even pull my daughter over with a proper three-point harness - if she tried, she'd just be pulled to the side and away from her target.

The common thread with almost all of these outdoor attacks is that the dogs were either off-leash or on a crap extendable lead. The latter should be banned, in my opinion, because they lend a totally unjustified sense of security to the owner when, in fact, the dog is almost always completely uncontrolled when the lead is extended - because while you can hold the dog at its current range if an incident looks likely, you can't forcefully retract it the way you could with a lunge line. Therefore, the dog has complete freedom within the radius it's already at.

Muzzling is a knee-jerk reaction that will only serve to create even more reactive dogs. The law already treats bites as though the owner committed the act; what's needed is to actually start enforcing it...and loudly. Changing the law such that all dogs should be on a lead in all public spaces that aren't designated as specifically for dogs, and enforcing it, would be sufficient to prevent the vast majority of outdoor bites. The people who wouldn't obey that law wouldn't obey a muzzling law either.

There’s been a 10% increase in dog ownership since lockdown. A lot of these new owners have zero experience with dogs and so here we are, an increase in dog attacks. Also, the ability to read has bypassed some people, especially when the sign says ‘dogs must be on a lead’.

2 women a week are murdered by men in England and Wales, far more attacked can we leash all men.

The common theme almost always is the type of dog or a pack of dogs. Almost always with a shite owner.

Really? Because in the last year I've seen articles about serious bites from labradors, golden retrievers, huskies, Akitas, Yorkies, collies, Staffies and poodles.

What is this "type of dog" you're referring to?

You're nearly right about the last bit, though. If there's a bite, it's always because the owner wasn't paying enough attention to the dog.

We have had our Rommie for 5 years. We were checked and so was our home and garden. We technically don't own her as she belongs to the charity who, in theory, could take her back in they were unhappy with our treatment of her. As she lives the life of Riley that's not going to happen!

I follow this woman on Instagram, she's a money saving blogger. She has £50,000 of 'emergency savings' in premium bonds, plus other investments and savings. She earns thousands of pounds a month working from home making money online (despite all the poor disabled mum stuff), she was recently bragging about putting a massive deposit down on a house. I do wonder why she doesn't just dip into her emergency fund, rather than begging for £5000 on GoFundMe. Isn't this exactly the situation that emergency funds are created for?