Dog walker killed by her own XL Bully Breed dog.

[BethDuttonsTwin]

NOT a pack of 8 dogs as was reported repeatedly with concurrent complete slating of all professional dog walkers.

Absolutely awful. So many of us who have worked with dogs knew this would be the outcome and that packs of 8 dogs do not behave in this way.

After investigations are complete we are now told that the only dog destroyed was the walkers own XL Bully Breed dog. Over and over again it is these dogs and still today I see a man strutting around my locale with two of these type dogs, both unneutered and off lead 🤷🏼‍♀️

A lot of the dogs I see lately have no collar, let alone a lead. It is beyond dangerous.

Totally agree with you - and personally I wouldn't have big disparities in the sizes of the dogs I walked either (but that' s a preference).

As Voltaire said, "Common sense is rarely common"

Yes I agree, I didn't mean to imply that those numbers could necessarily be a mixed group of dogs.

So if you are walking a large dog, 1 is all you are allowed to walk at a time - no other dogs;
If you are walking medium sized dogs you can have a maximum of 2-3 together, depending on breed, or perhaps 1 medium and 2 small;
If you are walking small dogs only you can take a maximum of 4-5, again depending on breed.

It might limit the number of dogs a walker can take out in a day, but can be off-set by having rates charged depending on the size of the dog.

How do you police that though? If, as @Emotionalsupportviper says there are already restrictions in place that are being ignored, can you imagine arguing the toss over whether a whippet is a medium or large breed? What about basset hounds? I mean, you could go by total dog weight but if you're allowed one St Bernard of around 100kg, that's about 12 Jack Russells, and frankly I think the JRTs would be the more dangerous. I can just imagine a dog walker standing there saying they've only got 4 medium sized dogs with them and some poor enforcement officer trying to work out if that's a labradoodle or a cockapoo and which category it falls into.

The other issue with it is that dogs cause more problems as a pack, and that's basically two or more animals. There have been cases or people being killed by smaller dogs when there are several of them. Personally I think you need something straightforward, like no more than 3 dogs per person and then look at the vexed question of which breeds or types to place greater restrictions on.

Sensible, responsible owners know their limits.
How many times has one seen a lanky feeble male being dragged along by an XL Bully?

Lots of times.

A friend has a rescued Staffie {Absolutely not her usual type of dog, in fact the antithesis of the dog she'd normally be drawn to..However, he turned up at her door, and she got advice from a Bull breed trainer/behaviourist.

He is old now, but he is a solid chunk. However, he is well trained and gentle, with people and dogs.

His history is that of so many Bull breeds..Bred by thoughtless people for money in a totally unsuitable environment.

There was a chap who bred his poor bitch {A Shar Pei} annually with a neighbour's Shar Pei..no thought as to inherited disease or genetic closeness.. the £500 per pup was all that mattered.

The Bitch was skin and bone after feeding the pups, the owner didn't;t realise that a nursing bitch needs high quality food.. and they never saw a wormer.

Not a ''Bad'' bloke..just not aware.

This is how so many dogs are bred, sadly.

only choking can stop such a dog, and that depends on the type of collar (if any) they are wearing, and whether you are able to twist it hard enough to put pressure on their windpipe. You have to make the dog desperate enough for air that it lets go to take a breath, then you have to very quickly pull them away. That takes some strength and courage.

It's a really grim thing to have to do. It's not just that you have to get your hands and arms close to fighting dogs, once you've got a rope round their neck, or clipped onto a collar, you have to be prepared to choke a living animal. I don't think anyone should ever really be put in that position.

I have read that spraying something like oil of citronella on their mouths works. Well, that's great if a dog fight breaks out whilst you happen to be squirting fly spray around, otherwise you have to be exceptionally well prepared for any fight that might happen.

MUZZLES.

If every dog was muzzled, there would be far less problems.

Rescued Greyhounds routinely wear them and don't appear bothered- and whenever I see a muzzled dog, I know the owner is responsible.

Also, people tend to keep their dogs away from a muzzled one. {Have had to muzzle a Sighthound dog before for training, and people do keep away!}
Even the muzzle is to stop scavenging.

Edit: Even if the muzzle is to stop scavenging.

@WisherWood I get what you are saying and I agree that it is not an easy fix. The fact is if we want to take safety seriously and cut back on dog attacks then there needs to be investment in legislation and a workable framework.

If that means a national dog register and more enforcement officers checking up on dog walkers then so be it.

We know that all breeds are a potential threat - I know of a toddler who was attacked by an experienced working sheepdog (therefore highly trained with excellent recall). The child required multiple surgeries over several years to repair his badly damaged leg. The owner of the dog, the child's grandfather, shot the dog himself after consultation with the police.

Just seen another story from today saying a little boy has potentially life changing injuries after being mauled by 'an American Staffordshire terrier'.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/boy-mauled-dog-doncaster-american-staffordshire-terrier/

If you are walking small dogs only you can take a maximum of 4-5, again depending on breed.

I just can't see how it is possible to walk 4-5 even little dogs. How do you cope with -

• picking up poo with 5 little dogs all doing their own thing on leads?
• if one of the dogs is ill/attacked/starts fighting with another?
• How do you ensure that all the dogs walk at the same pace? My dog is old and couldn't keep up.
• How do you cope with a dog that's not as well trained as the others?
• How do you ensure that each dog has a satisfying walk?

Speaking as a dog owner your walk is a time to engage with your dog, train it, make sure it's enjoying itself safely and also to be responsible for it when it comes to other people, their dogs/animals/children and property. I just can't see how you can do that with so many dogs that are not your own.

And here we go again.
Sooo depressingly predictable.
The same breed type.

It IS breed - coupled with the tendency of these breeds to be owned by those that know nothing about dog socialisation or behaviour.

I disagree that he's "not a bad bloke".

Anybody who blithely breeds a litter a year off his bitch, particularly without looking at bloodlines etc, just for cash is a `'bad bloke".

And I don't believe that he didn't know that a pregnant/nursing bitch needs high quality food, and plenty of it - he'll have heard of "eating for two" with human pregnancies - even an idiot can factor that up to "eating for 11".

But are right - so many poor bitches are bred each year, year in year out - sometimes twice a year, ruining their health, producing weak, sickly puppies - and all for sheer greed.

@CaveMum - no, it isn't an easy fix. I would also be happy with more enforcement and officers. It's not just the higher profile cases like this one. It's the ongoing, more frequent attacks. Dogs were one of the first animals to be domesticated and we should be doing a better job with them. But it does seem that people got dogs during lockdown and/ or as status symbols and now they just can't control them.

He was an ''Ignorant'' bloke {He definitely hasn't dogs now} he genuinely didn't realise about the nursing bitch thing...or about routine worming.
I knew him in a capacity I can't go into here, but he wasn't 'Bad' as in meaningly cruel, it was literally not understanding {Which can lead to inadvertent cruelty like a hungry, ribby bitch :(
I mentioned close bloodlines, and how inbreeding can create inherited problems, but that meant nothing to him...His neighbour with the male was in on the money making thing, too.

I agree that how he looked after the poor bitch and pups was not right- plus breeding her every year.

Thankfully the litters weren't large.

Personally I'd never breed a litter because A} There are too many dogs looking for homes
B} One cannot guarantee what a potential new home will be like...Once that puppy has left, you lose control of what happens to him or her.

Wait... I'm doing the maths.

22k dog attacks in 2022, in England & Wales.
Human population = 59.6 million in E&W (2022 numbers).
So that's 1 attack (per year) each 2710 people.

If PP has 8 attacks a day, that's 2920 per year.

So PP should live in a town of

oops, sorry, clumsy fingers... PP should live in a town of
2710*2920 = 79 million.

Is my math wrong?

Or maybe PP mean "a" attack per day, which still means 365

365 * 2710 = 989150. Is that a small northern town nowadays ?

Source on 22k events = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64798162

Honestly, in my small town, there would be non stop gossip if we had 1 dog attack a month.

Surely to goodness repeatedly having a bitch that "was skin and bone after feeding the pups" is cruelty. How 'ignorant' do you have to be to repeatedly put an animal through this. He didn't think to learn? To look into it? To ask the vet? Do you think the poor dog ever saw a vet? Did the puppies? I think not or wormers would have been involved.

You have a different opinon of a bad person than me.

People can be as much a victim of their environment as dogs are.
This man had had a far from ideal upbringing himself, not everyone is lucky enough to have decent parents {Or even one parent} who show them the right way to care for an animal at an early age.

Education starts young.

Same here - blimey it hits the local rag if somebody's tyre caps get pinched! Add that t a couple of plant pots getting kicked over and it's a crime wave.

Dog-on-dog aggression is quite common, though, especially since lockdown - too many bad trained, unsocialised dogs about.

he wasn't 'Bad' as in meaningly cruel, it was literally not understanding {Which can lead to inadvertent cruelty like a hungry, ribby bitch :(

I'll have to take your word for it @oakleaffy , but how anyone can look at an obviously very thin, hungry dog and not see she needs more food is beyond me - unless they are learning impaired. Funnily enough they still seem to know about money though.

Drastic overhaul is needed regarding dog ownership

Yep. This is the key thing that need to happen.
Banning breeds will not achieve an end to fatal/life changing dog attacks. Largely because thick morons who want a status dog, and/or thick morons that can’t be arsed to train and exercise a dog will move on to some other breed that fulfils the fantasy ultimate ‘hard’ dog their tiny minds desire.
So, yes, in the same way most people accept that you will never train out the desire to herd and work from a Border Collie, or the prey drive from a sight hound - you will never train out the fight from a Bull breed. It’s literally what hundreds of years of breeding has developed in them - except there aren’t bears and bulls on the streets of Britain for them to tackle anymore, so something else will trigger their inbred instinct.
But if you ban them, then you’ll start to see the massive Guardian breeds - bred to ward off Wolves and Bears - suddenly become the morons dog du jour.
Controlling ownership and breeding is the only way to stop this.

@oakleaffy not a bad bloke?! He's a cruel POS and an animal abuser. You were aware and you did nothing. You're as bad.

8 a day seems too high. This is for the whole of the Cleveland Police area which has a population of approx 614k.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/police-called-more-850-dog-26417947.amp