To be upset that the police didn’t do anything? Dangerous dog

[Koulibiak]

I can’t sleep and can’t stop thinking about what happened and what could have happened.

I had just stepped out to walk my dogs (both small, placid dogs - one is a toy breed and the other a beagle mix) this afternoon. We crossed path with a woman pushing a bike with a front trolley thing. I assumed the trolley was for a child (the type you see in Amsterdam), I didn’t have time to see that there was something inside. Suddenly a dog jumped out of the trolley and attacked my dogs, one after the other. The dog was a female Labrador, she went straight for my dogs’ necks and on top of their backs. My dogs yelped in pain, started going in different directions and tripped me.

It all happened so fast, as I fell on the pavement I thought the Labrador was going to kill us all.

Eventually the woman got her dog back, I asked her to stay while I called the police. I got my dogs back inside the house, checked that neither of them was bleeding, they are both fine.

The police arrived, the woman turned on the water works and started sobbing. I said the dog was dangerously out of control, and at the very least the woman should receive a FPN for not having her dog on a lead.

The police were so dismissive - they said they wouldn’t issue a FPN because the woman had not realised the dog wasn’t tethered in the trolley, so she had no intention of breaking the law. I pointed out that intent is not part of the offence, but they said the poor woman had a flat tire on her bike, she was very distraught, she was going to have to walk 25 minutes home (like it’s a massive ordeal?) and they “didn’t want to make her day even worse with a FPN”. They said the dog is not an XL bully or Rottweiler, so it is not a dangerous dog (obviously that’s not true).

There were so many little aggressions in the way the constables spoke to me, I actually reminded them that I was the victim and she was the perpetrator. Like they implied that my dog was also out of control (absolutely untrue), or that they have discretion and can do whatever they want. Also that they now have my details on file, like I was a suspect.

Honestly it’s made me feel so sad for all the women who try and report assaults, the mix of dismissiveness and superiority and “we don’t owe you an explanation” and “I can see there’s nothing we can say that will placate you”. Just because I was asking them to enforce the law and protect the public. It was also obvious they didn’t understand the DDA at all.

I did ask the woman why her dog wasn’t muzzled and whether she was prepared to live with her conscience if her dog killed a child or another dog. She replied “absolutely”.

I just keep reliving the few seconds when the dog leapt out at my dogs and I fell on the pavement, not knowing where the dog was or how to protect myself or my dogs… it’s like a nightmare on repeat. 🙁

It’s not difficult, and the new ones are electric so even easier. Somw nurseries have them where I live.

A large offlead dog attacked your small dogs who were being walked on a lead and somehow it's being viewed as your fault!

Posters on here are an absolute joke.

I am thinking rationally. If all of the aggression is on one side it is an attack not a disagreement. Exactly how are you suggesting OP’s dogs disagreed with the bigger dog? The did nothing, they were the victims of an attack.

Nobody has said it's her fault.

Ugh, what a load of nonsense. Dogs being dogs and you tripped up. If the dog was being aggressive it would have bitten your dogs but it did nothing. Massive overreaction.

You can put in a complaint to the police if you're not happy with the outcome.

They probably won't take it any further, but it might make you feel better.

A friend of mine was bitten by a similar sort of dog a few months ago. It just bolted out of an open front door, across the road and bit my friend on the leg. She didn't have a dog or anything with her. She was literally just walking down the opposite side of the street. The owner was very apologetic, but that doesn't remove the fact.
I told her she should have called the police, but she didn't want to make a fuss. I did say what if it had been a child or an elderly person, but she was adamant.

Definitely complain to the police and to the dog warden and ignore those posters trying to minimise what happened @Koulibiak

I think if OP complains, she will likely be left feeling even more pissed off when no action is taken.

Neither the police nor the dog warden can take action based on what is essentially "he said, she said". Without evidence (CCTV, camera footage, a witness) how are they supposed to know who's telling the truth?

I have the same issue with my berners always being yelled at by cockapoos and spaniels.

lucky I WFH so walk them at lunchtimes (rural) as less dogs are out.

Were your dogs bitten OP?

She says they weren't injured in her OP.

@faerietales so she should just put up and shut up? I absolutely wouldn’t over this!

bit rude. I had a very well behaved toy breed and know plenty of others. There’s lots of out of control large breeds too and I’d fancy my chances against a smaller dog tbh.

You seem to know an unusual amount about these laws to the point you think you can school police officers on this particular thing. 🤔
Labs are definitely not a dangerous breed, they're the exact opposite in fact, I'm glad the police used common sense. There's always another side to a story.

Haven’t read whole thread, but what stands out is that the woman was pushing the bike due to flat tyre, with untethered dog in trolly. So the dog would have been able to jump out while she was previously cycling on the road, in traffic?

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I think OP has every right to be upset and pissed off about what happened - but that doesn't make it a criminal matter and it doesn't mean the police should be getting involved.

I'm not sure what people realistically think the police should do in a situation like this.

Nobody was bitten by a dog.
None of the dogs were bitten or injured.
There are no witnesses and no evidence of what happened.

They can't just take OP's word as gospel - the law doesn't work like that, and rightly so!

I think you are overreacting a bit as no one was injured.

It does seem to be quite clear that the other woman is an irresponsible owner and that her dog is poorly trained and unsocialised - she’s obviously got away with it this time but perhaps she’ll think twice now.

Wish people would stop dismissing the OP because the dog was a Lab, any breed can have behavioural issues especially a poorly trained dog….

I'm only page 2 and agree with others on minimising the OPs post, so apologies if someone has posted this link already, the law on dogs in public.
https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

From reading that, a law has been broken.

We have a Labrador near us, he's the most aggressive dog I've ever come across, scares the shit out of me and I have one myself 🤦🏻‍♀️

The problem is that there's no proof.

The police can't just go around giving people criminal records when they have no evidence - the law doesn't work like that.

In this instance, nobody was directly hurt by the Labrador. None of the dogs were bitten. There was just a lot of noise and chaos and in the process, OP tripped over her own dogs and fell. It sounds stressful and unpleasant and upsetting.

But none of that means it's a criminal matter that the police need to deal with. Hopefully the Labrador owner will have her dog on the lead in the future, and hopefully OP and her dogs aren't too shaken. But there's really not much else the law can do.

And I get it. My own dog has been attacked and as a dog walker, several of my client dogs' have been approached by out of control dogs in public - it's horrible, it really is, but unless someone is bitten or there is a witness to what happened, there's really nothing that can be done about it, unfortunately.

The incident will already be logged because officers attended?

By all means complain OP, but dog on dog attacks are a civil matter so the only offence there could be would be DOOC, which if you're saying they were in the trolley thing and had leads I can see what the officers mean.

@@faerietales I suppose what CAN be done is that the local dog warden can be alerted that there is a situation with this animal. The owner might be easy to spot if they are always using a bike and a carrier? Therefore they can be “known” in the future and it helps others?

I'm sorry but nothing really DID happen?

Dog on dog is civil and it doesn't sound like it met the threshold for out of control.

It’s an aggressive dog that wasn’t in the owners full control @LookingAtMyBhunas there’s no harm in telling the dog warden nor telling the police that you found them dismissive.