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've owned dogs for over 35 years and never had one seriously bite when ill or injured. One nipped me when he'd been hit by a car and he was mortified afterwards, poor thing. He never had to wear a muzzle even at the vets despite having his shoulder shattered and two legs broken. 'Conditioning' dogs to a.muzzle sounds horrible.

You don’t and cannot guarantee what ANY dog will do if it is in an emergency situation, if run over for example, and is full of adrenaline.
If you have properly conditioned and trained with a muzzle it isnt an issue. You NEVER know.

Obviously the dog was trying to get to the puppy, that's why the hand is bitten and not a child's face. People with these types of dogs would never comply with law and it leaves all the good dogs which are the vast majority having to wear muzzles and not enjoy freedom. Its disgusting how these dogs even exist tbh. A spaniel was killed the other week by 3 dogs in front of the children. Makes my blood boil. Hope you husband is OK...imagine if he was self employed and couldn't work. Hope it's reported to police. Incidentally though, with regard to your post, was your puppy muzzled?

I don't think men restrict their attacks on women to nightime, let's just keep them off the streets 24/7. That's almost how disproportionate the compulsory leads at all times would be.

I am absolutely in favour of stricter controls on dog ownership, eg all dogs to be chipped and ownership recorded on a central register, anyone found in possession of an unchipped dog to be subject to a hefty fine, dog licences to be compulsory and only issued to people who've completed a course in how to train and look after dogs, and big fines to anyone who gives or sells a dog to someone who doesn't have a licence or doesn't update the register. Treat owning a dog and taking it out like owning a car and driving it.

The costs could be met by the licence and course fees.

The vast majority of dogs aren't aggressive and the vast majority of owners are responsible. I owned dogs (3) for 33 years, not one of them ever bit a person or attacked another dog, despite 2 of them being terrier breeds known for being a bit challenging. Two of the 3 were wonderful with children, the 3rd would just avoid and ignore them. But they needed a lot of exercise (a 10-mile walk was nothing to them) the mental stimulation of chasing and fetching balls, or they would have been bored shitless and impossible to manage.

No, you never know. Still wouldn't do it 🤷‍♀️

Why is getting a dog used to wearing something and being comfortable in it awful? It would be far more disressing if you actually needed one in an emergency and the poor dog didnt have a clue what you were doing!

I genuinely believe all the so called 'dog behaviourists' would be out of a job tomorrow if people walked their dogs enough.

i haven’t read the article so I’m unaware of the breed of dog, but so many dog attacks more recently are the bully breed. The bully X-L will be banned next in the uk, mark my words.

I can guarantee that my vet knows my dog better than you and he doesn't need to muzzle her whether ill or injured. Added to which the shape of her face would make it impossible and she is largely toothless so it would be very difficult for her to bite nowadays. I won't be trying to muzzle train her to appease a load of hysteria in any case.

I'm a dog owner, and totally agree ALL dogs should be on a lead in public spaces. Extending leads give a dog freedom, muzzling all dogs isn't fair tho, unless previously aggressive.

I think it should be law that all dogs be kept on a lead in public places. To me, that’s common sense, but some dog owners lack that.

Agree. A short, metre or 1.5 metre long leather or strong mesh/fabric lead, not one of those extendable ones which lets the animal roam metres away. See so many owners with those sorts of leads on a dog with zero recall, they are worse than useless. They are particularly popular with the "he's only being friendly" brigade.

VincentVaguer, you walk the legs of some dogs but they would still have behavioural problems, they certainly arent all linked to not walking. Lots are health issues, some not resolved by meds. Not that straightforward. I agree there are plenty of poor cooped up dogs,but you can’t aim this at everyone.

Yup, lots of entitlement out there.

Leads in busy public spaces are sensible I agree. But dogs who have good recall should be allowed off the lead - if a dog can run about and be recalled easily it will be a happy, well adjusted dog.

I agree.

My DM was fantastic with dogs, an absolute dog whisperer. Among her (many) mottoes was "a tired dog is a happy dog". And I know from experience that a lakeland terrier without enough to occupy its mind will make its own entertainment, not always in a way that is appreciated by its owner...

I think all should be on a lead. It feels unfair on the decent sensible owners with well trained dogs but at the same time it’s becoming all too common and something really should be done about it.

Maybe. I've owned eleven dogs and they've all been happy and healthy on a diet of loads of exercise including time off lead.

Most dogs are like mine I think.

I absolutely love lakelands and like the sound of your Dm ❤️

I completely agree. And not just walking them on lead. Ours gets off lead exercise in a field every day so she’s allowed to run and run. She’s knackered when we get home.

I am sure your vet can guarantee a toothless animal isnt going to maul him,so could i. Most dogs arent toothless or virtually so are they, my vet has a different opinion, and thinks it is a sensible part of training.

I doubt there is the money or infrastructure for dog licenses and I'm not convinced that muzzling all dogs would actually solve the root cause of the problem.
There will always be those who use dogs for status symbols etc but many of the attacks I've heard about seem to be caused by people simply not having a clue about the behaviour of different breeds and what is required for responsible dog ownership.
I'm not sure how effective it would be but not allowing dogs to be advertised on sites such as facebook, gumtree etc would surely be a step in the right direction. We need to somehow change the social norm that it is acceptable to buy a dog as easily as a pair of shoes. Education about how to look after dogs would also be valuable including understanding the difference between aggression and fear aggression. Of course, this wouldn't impact those who have dogs for selfish motives but it might reduce incidents caused by lack of education etc.

Definitely this I walk my dog every day on lead by the roads and on pavements and off lead on the trails. There is never any bother we see largely the same people every day. It's accepted that if the other dog is on a leash you recall and leash your dog to pass but we all seem able to walk our dogs without incident.

But all the hopeless "he's just being friendly" owners who think it's perfectly acceptable for their animal to run up to randomers or jump up at them think their animal DOES have recall and is well trained.

Deluded, most of them.

It's really simple - keep your dogs to yourself. Don't let them jump at people, run up to people, knock them over, bite them, growl at them. Whatever it takes for you to achieve that non-bothering state, do it. Whether it's loads of training, a short lead, muzzling, walking your animal at 3am.

Unfortunately there are some owners who don't give a shit and will ignore all rules/requirements and buy these large powerful dogs anyway, and another larger group of fanatics who cannot get their tiny heads around the fact that although they love their animal, other people do not and expect the dog to be given equal status to a child or elderly relative.

They aren't deluded. Their dog almost certainly is friendly, just annoying if you don't like dogs.

Only on mumsnet have I ever heard about grown women getting literally knocked to the floor by a friendly terrier.