Sunday 23rd April and yet another fatal dog attack

[CrossBun]

“Man dies after being mauled by 'out of control' dog in Derby as armed police shoot animal dead and another man is arrested”.

Does anyone else think Iit seems like the police or whoever are getting more and more reluctant to share the breed of dogs in these tragic incidents?

I understand that any dog can cause injury but with these fatalities surely they should be sharing more information?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12004149/Man-dies-mauled-control-dog-Derby.html

I feel like dogs in the UK are treated like guns in the US. Thoughts and prayers but no real political effort to sort the laws out that make this sort of thing possible because they're too scared of upsetting the wrong people.

No they’re not, but sadly there has been 1 death caused by a Husky in the uk in the last 40 years. It was last year. They’ve become a lot more popular in the last decade. They look beautiful but I don’t think they’re ideal as pets really.

I hadn't seen this latest one today, but I had been thinking just yesterday how many deaths and serious injuries seem to be in the news lately.

As pp said, a bit like America and its gun problem, people will shake their heads, politicians will be saddened but no one is going to make any concrete changes around dog ownership. You even see with some attacks the dog had been aggressive before, but the dog was still allowed near children or out in the garden without a lead and secure fencing.

Sorry I don’t mean that to sound harsh, I’m not a Husky expert!

Just that they were bred to pull sledges, need at least 2 hours exercise a day, can generally never be let off the lead as there’s too high a risk they won’t come back and they can have a very high prey drive. Some argue they are only really happy when they can do hours of sled pulling or running. So they are challenging in many ways.

I live in this general area and the word from the locals is that the story isn’t all that it seems and the man was actually stabbed. The dog was apparently destroyed as it was distressed and lashing out. I’m not sure of the truth of that thought, just repeating what is being said locally.
I agree overall about dangerous dog breeds, however.

This focus on dog attacks fascinates me. There are so few per year, it is almost inconsequential although sad for those involved. To get some perspective, more people die fishing, or skiing every year.

When you consider that dogs have been bred over thousands of years to help humans and not be aggressive, the occurrences of this sort are pretty much always down to selective breeding against the above, or some unscrupulous puppy farm that didn't care, and so the breeders and owners should be punished more heavily to prevent the few from spoiling it for the many.

As we don't yet know all the facts, we cannot really form an accurate view, but when it all comes out, I'll be astonished if some poor breeding / owner issues are not a factor.

People choose to fish or ski (both quite potentially dangerous activities) but people don't choose to be mauled by dogs - and quite a few victims have been children and babies who didn't choose to be dog owners.

I'd always put the owner down rather than the dog, people treat dogs dreadfully, I bet the owner's a man, lower intelligence, poorly paid and bought the dog to look big 🙄.

It's not getting any better is it?
Could be a labrador.

Pain is a huge issue for many dogs too.

Chronic pain can affect dogs of any age and is incredibly subtle, but has behavioural impacts. Many people do not realise the severity of physical conditions for their dog because their dog will still run, play, eat normally, and act "fine" in many ways.

With vet fees rising, people are reluctant to investigate pain in dogs until they can't walk properly.

True, but many of the children were left in inappropriate places with dogs their parents had chosen to own sourced either intentionally from aggressive breeders, or unintentionally by buying on the cheap. So whilst I share the sorrow for the children concerned, it is still the owners / breeders that need more appropriate punishment.

Banning all dogs, making them all stay on leads etc. Is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Besides which, it is unlikely to stop those type of attacks as the owners don't care about such rules.

Well people need to start being charged with manslaughter as a minimum.

Besides which, it is unlikely to stop those type of attacks as the owners don't care about such rules
criminals dont care about the law but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have laws

True, but many of the children were left in inappropriate places with dogs their parents had chosen to own sourced either intentionally from aggressive breeders, or unintentionally by buying on the cheap.

And putting their children & rescue dogs in difficult situations, when they have only had the rescues for a matter of weeks and don't even know them yet.

100% this. If your dog kills someone you should be charged for man slaughter. Your dog, your responsibility, your fault.

I agree with bringing back dog licenses but the people who let their dogs be untrained and vicious wouldn't bother getting one anyway.
Under the Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Act 1997 Pit Bull Terriers, Fila Brasileiro, Dogs Argentine, and Japanese Tosa are banned in the UK BUT they are still here, still available to buy if you know where to look. The sale and breeding of these dogs is illegal but there is no way the ones here are all the same as were here prior to the act being brought in. So what does that indicate? It doesn't matter how strict the laws surrounding animal ownership in this country are, there will always be those who don't care.
I feel sorry for dogs who end up in the so called care of these people.

My point was that these attacks general happen in an area with a certain demographic

Agreed. I seen someone selling corso-bully pups on a selling page on fb for a couple of hundred quid each yesterday. I'm sure they'll all go to delightful homes 🙄

Genuine, but probably completely naive, question here: how similar is veterinary medicine to human medicine?

Maybe we ban the sale of domestic animals and fully fund for vets and veterinary nurses to retrain to human medicine and kill two birds with one stone?

As the owner of two dogs, I too would welcome this.

There are too many large dogs around that owners cannot control. I walked past a woman walking a large dog yesterday. It was on a chain type lead, saw another dog across the road and yanked to get away, barking and growling. She just about managed to keep hold of it with a lot of effort. Dogs like this should be muzzled.

I live in an affluent area and still see an increase in large, aggressive dogs.

I think the public have a right to know the breed in every reported dog attack - fatal or not.

Do you also want the make of every car that hits or kills someone?

This has to be a joke. If vets and veterinary nurses want to train in human medicine, then they will have done that already.