Another dog attack, man killed, can this just go on?

[IthinkIamAnAlien]

Just on the news - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-66817795

Week after week, there is something wrong with dogs (and the owners) today, I grew up with them and this never, ever happened. Maybe because dogs were treated as dogs and not trophy animals. Awful for everyone.

I don't agree with muzzles for every dog - mine is about 30 cm tall at the withers and weighs about 5kg. I doubt very much she'd bite (because of her temperament and training) but even if she did, it would not be likely to cause serious injury.

The issue is with they type of person who owns poorly trained, large, heavy, powerful dogs, especially if they want it to "hard". Banning by breed hasn't really worked - as the next "hard" breed comes trotting along. But requiring muzzles for certain types of dog over a certain size might be a good safety precaution - but hard to police (the actual police being pretty damned stretched already and no council likely to have the cash to augment dog warden services)

There needs to be a change of attitude towards dog ownership - I don't know how that would come about though. Good owners already have well-behaved dogs , because they look after them, have trained them and are generally not a dick. It would need a hard look at who the problem owners are, and then working out how to deal with it (education and/or sanction)

PS: whilst typing, I got a pop up saying government pledges to ban American Bulldogs by end of year.

Could it really though?
I have one of those key ring Swiss Army knives too and I can’t imagine it doing much more than enraging a dog even more. I would think people thinking they’re going to fight off dogs would be carrying something bigger.

No, they're going to come up with a been definition and then ban them.

They're not a banned breed yet.

I suspect it may mean they have to be assessed, and possibly be muzzled in public. That would be my guess anyway.

Will be interested to see what happens with dogs currently owned now there is a ban. Wonder what the people in our village will do now? Presumably they will be unable to take the dog into public areas? They are nice people but it's honestly built like a tank, if it lost it's shit you'd have no chance of holding onto it.

Will be banned by the end of the year, they need to work out how to define the breed first

@disappearingfish but there isn't really a difference between those two. The arthritic old lab is just as likely to be unpredictable. That dog is likely in pain, therefore may well bite someone who bumps into them, a reactionary response to pain. Muzzling keeps the dog safe as well as everyone else, it should be considered a responsible part of dog ownership. Its not a big ask.
However, muzzling isn't the entire answer, it doesn't solve the problem of dangerous dogs in people's homes.

Call the dog warden every time you see this dog!

Tg for that

I'm reading this thread having just returned with dog shit on my trainers from what used to be a lovely peaceful walk on our common two years ago, and is now completely ruined by hundreds of dogs. Pretty much every family in my area have decided that two kids plus cockapoo/retriever is the way forward and its literally ruining our once lovely place to live. I've no idea what can be done, but it's getting very close to something needing to be.

Perhaps a case for the owners to be humanely PTS?

Can it go on? Yes of course it can and will. This has been a problem since the late 80s , early 90s at least. If any government was going to sort it they'd have done so by now surely.

Not a fan of guns or knives. But if I had neighbours with such dogs I would carry a stout blackthorn stick at all times. And I wouldn't be afraid to use it either. A grown man - what chance does a child have?

Dog breed bans are notoriously difficult to manage. Many dog breeds look similar, many dogs aren't really one breed at all. There are also many breeds prone to be more aggressive, which get missed in a ban like this, especially if they are expensive, middle class type dogs, rather than ones perceived as belonging to "lower" class people. If they are rarer types, people don't see them causing problems, the fact that they are just as likely to be biters or aggressive notwithstanding.

And then people who specifically are looking for aggressive looking dogs will quickly move on to another breed anyway. In my lifetime, locally to me, bullies are only the most recent trend among such people, following Rotties, DPs, and even, at one time, German Shepherds.

It's not a particularly effective solution.

We'll have to wait for the detail - I know two who are well behaved and properly cared for (and just nice dogs) and it would be shame if their lives had to be ended because so many shitty people have let (or even encouraged) their dog be poorly behaved to the point of aggression.

Good! About time the PM spoke out about something - he doesn't seem to say a great deal generally!

I will be very interested in how they define the breed, which is essentially a mongrel and whether they will ban all breed combinations that create these things.

I also hope they don't have a fluffy approach to the existing ones in society. There needs to be some kind of mass cull imo.

Bull breeds should be muzzled in public. There may be some nice Staffies, but there are also pit mixes the idiot owners claim are Staffies.

It's absolute madness. Might as well let tigers and lions roam the street. Looks like they will be banned by the end of the year. Not before time.

I suspect a lot are used as weapons or for security by drug dealers. The illegal drug industry has a lot to answer for. I know people who regularly use coke thinking it’s not a big deal. They have the money. They think they can handle it and still manage to get up in the morning. Do they consider the implications of their little habit? Nope! Pricks.

XL bully being walked by a child mauled a spaniel to death locally this week. Last month some kids set their dog on a cat, it died horribly. Big XL bully snarled at my toddler on a walk in the woods recently and the owner smacked it sideways. What about the dog walker mauled to death by dogs she was walking. This is a just a few local incidents.
Muzzling all dogs and having more dog wardens seems like a sensible start.

They’ve announced it, yes, but I’ll believe it when I see it with this government.

I can’t walk my toddler for her nap anymore in any local park as the number of off lead dogs every single time approaching the pushchair is making me too anxious

One of the quotes from the woman in that article about her XL bully "There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he would bite anybody. It wouldn't happen,"

I think anyone who thinks that about any dog is an idiot. You might think it's extremely unlikely and that it would be very out of character. But "my dog would never bite, it wouldn't happen" is stupid.

Or just make certain breeds illegal... your response is bonkers

@LATBOTG if you genuinely can't see the difference between the two scenarios I presented then I can't help you.

Mine's a medium Alox, not the little keyring one with scissors. It's very sharp and kept that way. I use it to make feather sticks for kindling (as well as umpteen other jobs - it's incredibly useful). It just lives on my keys to stop me misplacing it.