XL Bully attack | 8 year old boy seriously injured

[ThisOldThang]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/schoolboy-8-seriously-injured-after-28610020

"A schoolboy is in a serious condition in hospital after being mauled by what is believed to be an XL bully.

Merseyside Police were called to Wadham Road in Bootle just after 5.20pm on Saturday following reports a dog had bitten an eight-year-old boy to the head in the communal area of flats nearby.

The boy was rushed to hospital with serious head injuries and required emergency surgery. He remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition."

IMHO the ban doesn't go anywhere near far enough and all XL Bullys need to be put to sleep.

AIBU?

I observe that the intellect of these people is low, they have low capacity for empathy and are highly sentimental towards their dogs and their children. They can't think critically or objectively. They're governed by basic drives and emotions.

Perhaps all prospective dog owners should be required to sit intelligence and personality tests before they're allowed a dog. I suspect that, in many cases, the dogs are more intelligent than their feckless owners.

@Jazminlovestheflowers
Yes, sociopaths, that's what it says

I observe that the intellect of these people is low, they have low capacity for empathy and are highly sentimental towards their dogs and their children. They can't think critically or objectively. They're governed by basic drives and emotions
@pasteloblong
I agree, and I think speaks to why they identify so strongly with the animal, they are like-minded in some sense, close to it in terms of cognitive capacity. This is part of what enables them to so easily blur the boundaries between them and the dog.

I think I understand the point you're trying to make, but intelligence does not equal aggression/passivity/carelessness//lack of empathy/lack of regard for others.

They have low Intelligence and low empathy levels. They can't appraise a situation objectively and examine all the ways in which it could go wrong and why doing a certain thing might be a bad idea (like keeping a caucasian shepherd dog in a small house). There are definitely different types of intelligence and these types of people are definitely lacking in the type which is involved in making poor life decisions and possessing the cloying sentimentality towards these dogs which enables them to not even be able to keep their children safe. Keeping your child safe is pretty standard and even basic.

Just curious was it actually inside the supermarket or do you mean the car park? I do my shopping online mainly so I don’t go to supermarkets much but I’m hoping dogs aren’t roaming around supermarkets, licking stuff and shaking dander everywhere 🤢 not to mention getting under peoples feet. I’ve never seen a dog in a supermarket ever in the UK.

Over 40k dogs extempt and only 7/8 attacks in years.
Why don't you acknowledge those numbers rather than try to put fear into women with children. Convinced you're and the other xl bully story threads just creatures from the dailymail to start trouble.
The problem is not the breed its the owner.
Backyard breeders need to be banned. To many dogs in the uk now just a cash cow for bums who don't want to work

Ever occurred to you they may have been abused by men and wanted these dogs as protection? Women have nothing yo protect themselves from the millions of men ghat have killed them more than any dog

Nobody wants to bring up those stats tho

It’s always the breed. You don’t read about golden retrievers savaging people to death.

People want to believe silly things, that dogs can’t be ‘born bad’ (they are born entirely unsuitable for human companionship because they were bred to fight).

Why do people resist the idea that dogs are born with certain characteristics, some of which makes them more suitable for human companionship, while others are working dogs and don’t belong in domestic situations? I don’t understand why they have such an ideological commitment to this idea that they can be trained out of their own natures …

@Bridgetta mainly because people treat their dogs as babies now instead of the animals they are

@Fageyoghurt i bet it won’t be long dogs are allowed everywhere Bloomin else

Dogs should not be judged on their looks, many lovely tempered dogs are seized and destroyed for that reason and that’s just wrong. We just don’t hear about the aggression from many other ‘safe’ breeds because it doesn’t fit the arguement. If we killed all bull breeds off (what a dreadful thought) the people who need an aggressive ‘status’ type would fine something else e.g. Akita.

They should get a guard breed like a German shepherd, not an attack breed.

There’s a man who lives near me that walks 4 of these in the local park. He is literally pulled along his feet barely touch the floor. He was walking them past the local secondary school just as the kids were leaving the last time I saw him. Unbelievable! Why take that risk? Makes no sense.

They often have ‘phone ins’ on the ban on radio 5 in the mornings. Of course all the bully owners come out in force. Once man with a young family actually said he chose the bully breed for the same reasons that you might choose a lab, because they are excellent family dogs. They did ‘loads of research’ apparently. My jaw dropped to the floor. They had 2 surgeons phone in to say that they spent their working week dealing with bites and disfigurement and it was exclusively bull type breeds (don’t know if that the correct term?) So staffys, XL, that do the damage. There might be more bits from other dogs but they rarely require surgery. This owner actually tried to argue with 2 surgeons. I think really it’s got to the point where if you own one of these dogs you have such low intelligence it really should exempt you from dog ownership.

Where are you? Because in England and Wales it's illegal to buy/sell/gift them

@pasteloblong i agree

The one thing I’ve never understood is the whole “they must be muzzled in public areas” because aren’t most (if not all) attacks occurring in the family home? So how is that regulation actually going to make any difference to the risk of attacks and fatalities if the dogs can be unmuzzled in those areas?

Grandmasswag · Today 07:53

They often have ‘phone ins’ on the ban on radio 5 in the mornings. Of course all the bully owners come out in force.

It's an "I want" attitude, which most children have grown out of by primary age. They don't care and think they know best.

There's no reasoning with these arrogant, spoiled people, who will trot out any counterfactual rubbish to "prove" their point; and then, when it's all gone horribly wrong, they still try to justify it with stupid platitudes.

"My Tyson never ripped no one's face off before, he's a big cuddly lump who wouldn't harm a fly! The kid provoked him! Not his fault!"

I have zero respect for such people.

Lol I would love to hear bully owners debating with surgeons

I agree that dogs should not be treated as babies - you see it everywhere now with these designer breeds all dressed up or being carried and cuddled. You can see the dog is desperate to just get down and sniff some other dogs butt! I don’t mind dog friendly cafes but agree that shops and restaurants should mainly be dog free (service dogs exempted of course).

my dog is the family baby but we are all very clear that he is a dog. A dog we love very much but there have to be boundaries!

and in terms of dogs having no social good - I disagree. They help with loneliness, many mental health conditions, disabilities and then all the working dogs of course. My kids have benefited so much from having a dog and he has helped with bother their conditions.

Because people are allowed to choose to take risks for themselves, it’s just not ok to put innocent bystanders in danger.
Of course, it’s not that simple because of unmuzzled dogs regularly escaping from the home and victims often being visitors or children who had no choice but to be there, but I think that’s the underlying logic.

and in terms of dogs having no social good - I disagree. They help with loneliness, many mental health conditions, disabilities and then all the working dogs of course. My kids have benefited so much from having a dog and he has helped with bother their conditions.

My point was that whatever good a pet dog does or whatever pleasure it gives, it’s for the owner/family alone. It’s not a communal good, like road travel, trains or electricity - the dangers of these we limit and educate about but we accept that the social utility outweighs the risks. Pet dogs shouldn’t ever be dangerous. There’s no social utility to justify the danger.

Look at it this way, if I or a child of mine got companionship and therapy from a lion or a giant python I wouldn’t expect others to have to learn about safe behaviour around those animals. It’s all on me. Same with dogs.

Working dogs aren’t pets.

I agree.

While I am among those who feel that this type needs to be totally eradicated, I can't imagine how distressing it must be for people who, by definition love animals and have a need to care for them, to have to euthanise young, healthy, often apparently harmless dogs because of the terrible threat they can pose when they reach maturity.

It isn't the dogs' fault - it is the fault of bad breeders and worse owners - but unfortunately we can't get rid of those people, so the dogs are the ones that suffer.

I had to kill a rat with a shovel once. It was awful and still haunts me, even though I know that rats are vermin and carry all sorts of vile diseases. Killing anything is horrible. Killing dogs - especially puppies - will be heart-breaking.

My heart goes out to those stuck with this dreadful task.

Well I agree no pet dog should be dangerous and that is on owners

however, if a kid thinks it’s ok to smack a dog in the face that’s a problem. I don’t think teaching kids to be decent humans is wrong and understanding how to interact with animals is important. domestic, farm and wild

do I think there should be stricter regulation - yes - certain breeds are not suitable for public life. Should dogs be better trained - yes of course. This move to humanising and babying dogs is bad for both society and the dog. Does that mean all dogs should be banned? No, because life isn’t black and white and the vast vast majority of dogs have never bitten or attacked