Great Dane now on the attack - please can we do something? *Distressing content warning*

Clearly something needs to be changed, the number of attacks is genuinely horrifying. We have two dogs, so I am a dog lover. It’s the attitude of owners that’s the problem. I had the owner of a XL Bully tell me the other day “he’s a real softie, I’ve got into trouble because he jumps up at people but he just wants to play, if the police come for him I’ll hide him”. Some people just shouldn’t be allowed dogs but it’s the policing of any form of licence that’s difficult to enforce as the owners who can’t be trusted to comply are generally the ones with problem dogs. I’ve had dogs all my life and my children have been around them since birth (we have Springers) but I’m increasingly cautious with unknown dogs and will unashamedly cross the road or ban visiting play dates with dogs I consider to be a risk.

But the general public shouldn't need to be dog experts.

But should owners of dogs be able to read their own dogs, so they know not to put them in certain situations? E.g. recognising that their dog might not be comfortable around strangers, children, so they don't go "that happened out of nowhere!" if a dog snaps? If people are able to recognise when their own dogs are feeling uncomfortable, then they should stop putting them in stupid situations. The general public doesn't need to be able to read dogs, but EVERYONE who owns a dog or cares for them in any way should be able to.

@takealettermsjones what exactly is ridiculous about owning a Great Dane??

How scary for him/his parents.

Dog owners should be charged.

My dogs have been attacked by off lead dogs in the park (mine were leashed). The owner couldn’t stop the dogs and couldn’t get near them to get their collars on. I got bitten while pulling them off my dogs.
The man still walks his dogs off lead in that park (near a play area). We no longer walk there.

And I'm not saying people shouldn't have their dogs under control, either. I cannot express how much I dislike it when people let their dogs approach DD. I don't give a crap if you say he is friendly, we don't know your dog.

I say that as somebody who works with dogs and is a huge dog lover.

Ichosetheredpill - the policing of any form of licence that’s difficult to enforce as the owners who can’t be trusted to comply are generally the ones with problem dogs.

Exactly. Which is why i think compulsory muzzling for dogs when out of their own home (or anywhere they are going to come in contact with the public - like a shop on your own premises) would be a simple easy law. Report a dog without a muzzle. We've all got phones with cameras on now.

I don’t agree that dogs should be allowed everywhere, no owner knows if their dog is aggressive if they have never demonstrated that behaviour before. One thing I would say as a dog owner is that nobody should ever pet dogs they don’t know, it infuriates me when random people try & fuss my dog especially as he’s only walked rurally. I tell them not to if they do. Still it’s awful what happened to the child in this case & not sure what a dog is doing in a shop, I think anyone who chooses to own a dog must have insurance by law

There's a really easy way to stop the stress caused by these dog attacks. Stop scouring the tabloids for news on dog attacks and be realistic about the actual reality.

Dogs aren't going anywhere so perhaps start being a bit more rational.

A Great Dane is a type on mastiff. They are powerful dogs with a huge bite force and their sheer size.

100% this. All of my children have been taught about what a dog (or other animal) is saying with their body and 'listen' to that way before they approach a dog. On holiday a few years back a dog owner forcibly held her dog in place so that they could stroke it. Everything in the dogs body language was screaming 'I don't want this' and yet the owner pushed it forwards saying 'you can stroke her, she's friendly'
My eldest was 14 at the time and said 'oh thank you but she doesn't look like she's interested right now' and walked away with her 12 year old sister and 6 year old brother. We talked about it afterwards and went through all the different signs the dog gave us from the minute we were walking past. I think dd2 had said 'oh she's beautiful' which started the conversation. I was just about to intervene when dd1 spoke up.
Now ds is 8 we talk about it if we see a dog in the park. When we had our dog he would look ahead to see what the other dog off lead was doing and if it looked nervous we would put ours back on the lead to give the other dog space (obviously if the other dog was on lead we would put her back on anyway)
When I worked in rescue we had a dog returned to us for three threatened bites. They insisted they came out of nowhere with no warning. When I asked them to go through each instance they were all related to someone trying to take food or high value items from him. They had had him three days and were letting their kids feed him unattended!
After spending some time working with the dog you could see he gave very clear signals when he was unhappy. Very easy to read when you know what you are doing. Someone I know has the dogs trust go into their school and teach children about being safe around dogs.
I'm not saying that this would have solved that issue but so many times I see body language being ignored or just not recognised.

I didn't vote because your options were ridiculous.
But in this case I think the mum is at fault. It's a pet shop so dogs can reasonable be expected to be in there, she let her young children approach a strange dog completely unsupervised. We have no idea if she asked the owner, if the child did something inappropriate like tried to hug or "ride" the dog (common with big breeds).

Dogs are animals. Parents need to teach their children not to approach dogs they don't know and parents need to supervise their children around dogs they do know.

There is something about the way the pet shop owner says CCTV will reveal what happened and how he cannot say any more yet, that makes me think there is more here than we're hearing about.

I don't agree with muzzling all dogs when not in your own home.

& in any case, other than maybe this case it wouldn't have stopped any of the other recent cases.

Either the parents or the shop owner should have been supervising this interaction. No one knows what the child might have done (deliberately or accidentally) that may have surprised or hurt the dog because no one was supervising.

They're fucking massive, that's what.

although it looks bad, I wouldn't describe it as 'horror' injuries

What the FUCKING FUCK. How about you stick your 7 year olds head into a great Dane's mouth and watch it clamp down? Or your own head? See how you'd describe it then?

The majority of dog attacks happen within the home, attacks on strangers are much rarer and get sensationalised by the press (much like human attacks, you’re way more likely to be killed by someone you know than a random stranger, but the stranger attacks are the ones that get more reported on).

Informative article here : https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/dec/12/lockdown-bad-breeds-or-just-poor-training-why-are-dog-bites-on-the-rise-in-britain

Either the parents or the shop owner should have been supervising this interaction. No one knows what the child might have done (deliberately or accidentally) that may have surprised or hurt the dog because no one was supervising

Ah yes, it was the victim's fault, he was asking for it. 🙄

Two here from a quick google showing two dogs who are clearly not happy.

I think parents need to stop teaching their children to approach dogs, and teach them to leave dogs alone. Many dogs don't like being touched by strangers. They might tolerate it for a while but you don't know how they will react when they've had enough.
And dog owners need to do more. Step in between kids and your dog. Be proactive. The way things are going there's going to be a call for more legislation and more restrictions, and we've only got ourselves to blame.

Well if he was annoying the dog in some way then yes, he was.

@takealettermsjones

...and?

And dog owners need to do more. Step in between kids and your dog. Be proactive. The way things are going there's going to be a call for more legislation and more restrictions, and we've only got ourselves to blame.

I agree with this. Too many people are worried about looking 'rude' to the other people in the situations by saying no. Saying no and preventing the hello between child/dog is an important step to keep everyone safe and happy.

When out with DB’s Lab who is extremely sweet natured and loves children, I often get dads coming up asking if their child can stroke him. I always tell the child to stroke his back and not reach out for his face (how would anyone like a stranger reaching for their face). I never approach strange dogs unless I’m absolutely sure they are friendly and even then only hold out my hand for them to sniff.

From what I know of Great Danes they are not generally aggressive but they can be nervous and easily startled despite their size. Owner should have been watching like a hawk.

I'm a dog lover and currently have my 4th rescue dog. We take dogs who have had a shit time previously- this one was used for breeding, kept in awful conditions (so bad she was near death when the dog warden reacted to a tip-off and removed her) and was in rescue for 9 months until we took her. She is fearful of strangers and takes a lot of getting to know them.

She us ALWAYS leashed out of the house, muzzled if we think necessary and we do not allow strangers to approach her. She wears a "nervous" yellow collar.

I hope that pet shop owner is well insured because I'd be suing his arse off if I were thst parent. Doesn't matter WHAT the child did or didn't do - the dog was too dangerous to be allowed access to customers.

...and any dog can turn, but if a massive one turns, you're more likely to be dead.

It's not hard.