to be very annoyed by this incident? (prompted by Staffy bull terrier thread)

[thatsnotmymonster]

Reading the other thread about Staffordshire Bull Terriers reminded me that I was going to post about this so...

My sister was visiting last week with her 2 children. We went for a walk around the woodland footpaths across the road from my house. She had a backpack with her 1yo in and I had a double buggy with my 6mo dd in it. My 3.5yo ds was on his scoot bike and my 2yo dd and dneice were walking. These 3 were about 10 metres ahead of us on a straight footpath when suddenly from behind us a dog came tearing past us, it ran straight to the children and knocked my niece to the ground and stood over her. She was screaming and the dog was nuzzling all round her head (we couldn't tell what it was doing). My sister and I screamed at it as we ran towards them. I pulled the dog off and held it (it was wearing a studded leather harness) while my sis comforted her hysterical child who was thankfully physically unharmed, however she was scared of dogs BEFORE this happened.

After a couple of minutes the owners arrived, running and breathless, saying, 'oh she would never hurt anyone'. I said, 'well she knocked a child to the ground and stood over her and you never know with a dog.'

They acted very indignant and said, 'You don't walk round here much do you? It is basically the local dog park.'

It IS NOT any kind of dog park- it is just an area of public footpaths.

The dog looked very much like a Staffordshire Bull Terrier although I am not an expert so I'm not sure.

Should we have been keeping better control of our children? We were quite shaken by this and I was really annoyed at the couple and their attitude. My ds now wants to be picked up whenever we see a dog when we're out and goodness knows what my niece will be like now!

Very good point, Cory.

I was chased by what I later learnt was a Staffordshire bull terrier one day. Had just walked out of my front door and this dog came pelting out of nowhere. The thing was jumping up to my face - very frightening as it was out of control and I had no idea whether it would bite me. Only left me alone when it spotted an elderly lady it could harass (so I had to go and help her, of course). As far as I could tell, it was an aggressive dog, out of control, and if a small child had been around it would at the very least have knocked the child over.

Sod all this 'my Staffie would never hurt a fly' nonsense. I don't know your blasted dog and I'm entitled to about my business without being attacked or harassed.

'go' about my business.

YANBU

A SBT terrified me yesterday when I was walking my dog.

My dog is being trained to approach dogs slowly and to leave when told, but the SBT ran at us at full charge from about 100 metres away. I turned and called my dog (who came and was walking beside me) but the STB leapt on my dog and wouldn't leave him alone.

My dog was only too happy to reciprocate the playing (thank God it was playing) but the owner made no attempts to call his dog off mine even though he could hear me calling mine and telling him to leave.

When the dog did finally leave mine alone, it went and locked it's jaws around a tree branch my two children were carrying on their shoulders and wouldn't let go.

Although the dog was friendly, the owner was a wanker. To make matters worse the whole thing was repeated 20 minutes later when we saw the dog again. Again, no recall from the owner.

I won't even mention the damn husky on the same walk. I feel sorry for my poor dog who gets told off by me for not leaving, when really it's the other dog owner's fault for allowing their animal to approach us.

Staffies jaws DO NOT LOCK.

I really wish people would know what they are talking about before ranting away.

Tell you what, lets burns all SBTs on a stake.

I do feel very sorry for you and I do think the owners were very stupid and should have at least said sorry.

But I do think too much is put on the dog. All dogs can bite and potentionally maim or kill a child. If a staffie is well trained it won't try to harm anyone, just the same as a labrador that is badly trained can attack someone.

My Mum has a leonberger and he is huge and could easily knock over an adult if he ran into them but he is trained and rarely knocks my DS(19 months) over.

OMG YANBU ,i would have shit myself been a bit worried if that happened to my DC

.

It's not a particular breed of dog we want to burn at the stake, Pucca.

I'd settle for all the dog owners who do not keep their dogs under control and do not display any concern after an incident because they feel their doggie is so lovely that any young child should be flattered by having it nip his legs or knock him over.

edam,
'My staffies would'nt hurt a fly nonsense???' I really hope you are not reffering to a whole breed of dog on this statement?.
Punish the deed NOT the breed.
Staffies are now becoming a very popular breed of dog with ALL ages and for good reason: the majority of SBT are owned by responsible, caring people. If you take the time to google the breed you'll see that they are known as 'nanny dogs' because they are particularly [sp]
good around children. Because they have a high pain threshold they will tolerate a lot more 'rough handling' from kids than most other breeds.My two staffies have NEVER bitten anyone in play nor aggression. My older staff is 15 now so I think that should be proof enough . My 4 year old Staff was a rescue....before you all start on about rescue staffies her owner developed Motor Neurone [sp] condition and could'nt look after her...I think thats why she loves giving kisses [when invited] to people in w/chairs. .

Thing is that staffs have this bad reputation because it seems that whenever there is some story of a child being hurt or killed, it seems to be that breed.

My neighbours dog is currently in a lampshade because of 2 staffs deciding to use its head as a chew toy virtually biting his ear off.

I know that its down to the owners too but i'm scared of dogs and they can smell my fear. I've had all breeds take a dislike to me , a labrador cross, a border collie and a alsation to name but a few! I might as well have a target on my back! but i have to admit to being terrified of staffs more than any other dog.

I go the long way round if i see a dog without an owner present and i'm always on my guard when i take the kids to the park.

Oh my blood is boiling at your story, monster. Ignorant, rude dog owners who think they know everything because they thing their dog would not hurt a fly, so the fact that it terrorises your child is not a problem.

IMO if a dog owner can't stop their dog running up to your child, it is out of control and should be on a lead permanently, and until they can prove they can train a dog properly, they shouldn't be allowed to have one. I am f*cking fed up of having to look out for big, scary dogs bounding up to my DS and scaring him, only to be told by the arrogant owner "oh he is harmless". If I pointed a gun in your face and didn't fire it, that would be fine would it? Because a dog can do just as much damage.

And what I hate about staffies and that kind of dog is that if they turn - and any dog can turn - they can be so deadly because of their massive powerful jaw and shaking instinct. That is what kills people who are attacked by dogs, usually. Never mind if they are usually lovely with kids - the fact is they are killing machines and it's not worth the risk of having them around at all. People wouldn't be allowed to trail a deadly snake or a hyena around the park just because in their opinion it wouldn't hurt a fly. Dogs are similarly potentially dangerous animals and yet we're all ust supposed to lump it when they act in a threatening way.

Any dog owners on here, if this happens, please please have the decency to say "I'm sorry my dog was out of control and frightened your child, I should have had better control of it" instead of "Oh he wouldn't hurt a fly" - ie you are making a fuss about nothing. It is deeply arrogant and insulting.

Of course my rant is not aimed at those who can control their dogs.

All of these kinds of incidents should be reported to your local dog warden. Please look at Freckle's post regarding The Dangerous Dogs Act. ANY dog that is off the lead and out of control is a problem dog. And the more that people put in official complaints about this kind of irresponsible behaviour by dog owners, the more likely it is that dog owners will learn to keep their dogs properly under control. If your dog is more than 40 yards or so away from you or out of sight it is not under control.

Signed

A dog owner

ANY dog could attack a child

ANY

My dd was chased by a rotweiller in the summer. (had a thread on here about it). I was caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to get to her, whilst also trying to protect my 4yr old ds. I reported it to the police as I had a car registration number and the house where it came from. The police call centre at first said a rotweiller is not classed as a dangerous dog . We did manage to get them to come out the following day and the pc said that was a ridiculous statement and took the incident very seriously.

Sadly though both my dd and ds are now petrified of any dog although we are looking into help for them both from the Kennel Club.

snowleopard,
'What I hate about Staffies and THAT KIND OF DOG????????? WTF??????? KILLING MACHINE???? OMG I have heard that the Dogs that I own [those kind of Dogs] are capable of ripping small furry things [like cats] to pieces Please don't tell my [small furry cat] because she sleeps with one of my so called 'killing machines' every night does she actually realise that when she crawls all over him and makes annoying purring sounds in his ear that he could turn into the 'killing machine' that ALL STAFFS ARE!!! and rip her to bits????

Well actually salsmum she could. You and anyone else doesn't know when a dog is going to turn. It could be the softest animal in the world and still turn - I know a lab that did.

I went to a market yesterday and it was full of big dogs, one even had a gold chain for a lead. They were all snarling and growling at each other as they past. Some people were so intent at looking at stuff they didn't realise that there dogs were going up and sniffing around people. It was awful.

Yes, he could. I don't see why you are so outraged.

All dogs are killing machines - as are cats, tigers, hyenas etc in that they are natural predators and have bodies designed to kill other animals.

Of course in many dogs this tendency is reduced by breeding and further reduced by good training.

However, the fact still remains tha a dog with big teeth and a very large powerful jaw and I mean staffies and their relatives, as well as rottweilers and several others, naturally has a capacity to be extremely dangerous, often deadly, if it attacks. The same is not true of a less powerful dog or a dog with a smaller mouth. Or a cat for example. A cat can bite you, a poodle can bite you. However, when it is reported that a dog as killed or seriously maimed someone, it tends to be a stafie, a pitbull, a rottweiler. For a good reason - their physical nature and killing capacity. That's the point I was making, it is factually valid. Yes your staffie could kill your cat, that is a fact. Do you really disagree with that?

You are singling out SBTs.

SBT are unfortunate enough to be a breed that attracts fuckwits- people who want a dog that looks 'hard'. This means that the dogs are inbred (I know all pedigrees are, but even more so) to churn out puppies for people who don't treat them well and have no intention of training them. They want a dog that is agressive. I don't think that the breed itself is 'bad'.

YANBU AT ALL. God I it makes me so angry all this 'my dog wouldn't hurt anyone' cack .

Even if (if) they mean no harm, I just don't want some stinky over exuberant slobbery pooch all over me thanks.

'Dog park' indeed

Yeah i am thinking the exact same thing - OFGS!

A rotweiller or alsatian (much bigger dogs) for eg could do just as muchinfact prob MORE damage! infact ANY breed.

Stereotyping.... Prejudiced.

Oh and i doubt it would be minimal damage by a yorkshire terrier, the worst breeds i have encountered for snapping and no warning attack are yorkshire terriers and jack russells.... horrible little dogs.

But those of us that don't like it aren't picking on bull terriers specifically or chihauaua's.

I can't tell the difference between one mutt or another. I'm quite even handed. I don't like any of 'em near me or dc.

Anyway this is getting boring now so i am walking away from this thread too, so carry on with your pitch forks waving at SBTs, hope it makes you feel better.