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

There are just too many dogs everywhere now. My neighbour has two small toddlers and two massive mongrels. She seems to know what she's doing but I would never take that risk with children. Animals just can't be trusted.

We have a dog ourselves and both my kids know (and have know since they were little) that you never pet a dog without asking the owner first. More dogs being around makes this even more important.

As a runner, it's just one more thing to think about.
Run the streets? Have to avoid cyclist and escooters on the pavement.

Run the canal path? Too many dealers the police are ignoring.
Run the woods? What do I do if Mr fluffy bollocks decides to chase after me? I know you say he wouldn't hurt a fly, but does he like to chase moving things? Keep it on a fucking lead if it's going for a walk. And not a massive long one that trips people up.

I do, of course, run all these places, but it would nice if I could do it without having to work out my strategies first.

I've had an alsation run at me and paw me whilst running. That scared the shit out of me.
I've had numerous small yappy things try to weave through my legs. What happens if I trip and break a bone? What happens if I fall and squash the dog?

I actually like dogs. I'd have one if work permitted. But their right to run free shouldn't supercede actual humans' rights to run free.

Agree. Dogs should be muzzled and on leads in public.

I am a runner and dog owner. I would never let my dog chase a runner. If it did I would not be offended if they got a kick.

Plenty of people are attacked by dogs that they weren’t petting, including my 6 year old son, just minding his own business in a park and hospitalised and scarred for life due to a random dog attack.

Telling people to teach their kids not to pet dogs is like telling women not to go out alone in the evening. Victim blaming.

Are you saying it’s OK to walk around with a dangerous dog because people should know not to come hear it?

It's scary. But change the law to what I wonder? Because any breed of dog could attack a human.

I had a Yorkie. Gorgeous. Unusual colour but small and so cute. She Hated other people though. Kids used to try and stroke the cute doggy and I'd warn them 'don't shell bite' occasionally she did bite because they insisted on stroking her after been told not to. She did no harm, just shocked them but it just highlights the importance of knowing your dog and asking a dog owners permission before stroking them.

No, I am saying that people still need to teach their dogs about approaching dogs safely. Toddlers approaching dogs unexpectedly is dangerous even if the dog is otherwise well behaved/ under control.

But there are about 14 different tail wags and only 2 of them mean a dog is genuinely happy, assuming the rest of the dog's body language is saying the same time. People need to stop focusing on the tail and look at other body language. Don't let your kid stroke dogs they don't know, or approach dogs they don't know, regardless of what the owner says (because 90% of people can't read their own dog)

Keeping pets is a hobby that you indulge yourself in for your own amusement.
Your hobby should not mean that in order to avoid harassment, intimidation, injury or death I have to educate myself on the body language of the creature that you decide to keep.
Keep your hobbies to yourself, don't let them encroach upon and cause damage to other people.

What a ridiculous comment. We made it illegal to carry knives to prevent stabbings. The equivalent with dogs would be to keep them on leads and muzzled. That should happen.

Keeping pets is a hobby that you indulge yourself in for your own amusement.
Your hobby should not mean that in order to avoid harassment, intimidation, injury or death I have to educate myself on the body language of the creature that you decide to keep.

The parent of the child in the article has a dog. She should be able to read a dog.
Anyone that owns dogs should be able to read them. That was my point.

There is no need for any of this
Perhaps we need to address why people feel the need a non-human 'companion'
It is a weird mentally to keep another animal just for the fun of it.

@CuriousMoo
He had a giant dog possibly twice the size of him clamping its jaw around his face! And is now possibly scarred for life.
If that's not the stuff of 7 year old nightmares Idk what is.

@Cheapcookies
There are about 14 different tail wags and only 2 of them mean a dog is genuinely happy, assuming the rest of the dog's body language is saying the same time. People need to stop focusing on the tail and look at other body language.

....EVERYONE who owns a dog or cares for them in any way should be able to.

@FixMyEyebrows
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.

....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.

All very excellent points.

Hope the little boy soon recovers, and gets help in re-building his confidence around dogs. Poor chap. Must have been terrifying.

We were once in a tea shop in Cornwall with DB’s lab who was chilling under our table. We suddenly noticed a baby was crawling determinedly over the floor towards the dog, mum nowhere in sight. The baby had almost reached the dog, who was just thumping his tail slightly, hadn’t raised his head, and I was getting up, when mum finally appeared and scooped baby up. Could have been a very different outcome with a different dog.

Any breed of dog could attack a human
A small dog you can easily overpower it, kick it off, kill it.
A large dog you've got no chance.
One could argue that a rat is as likely to attack as a bear, or a feral cat is as likely to attack as a puma. A small animal with a small jaw is much less of a problem.

It is disingenuous in the extreme to focus on on the propensity to attack whilst ignoring the ability to cause damage.

My Mum, 91, loves dogs. We have just about got her to ask before stroking a stranger’s dog. But she still forgets and hands a flutter comes in to pat its head.

I’ve told her no/pushed her hand aside as I’m quicker/better at reading a dog’s mind.

Now this is my Mum - an adult. Children shouldn’t be expected to know this - not fully.

Its up to all to prevent upset. Responsible owners, training/bringing up their dogs responsibly. And parents - keeping children away, particularly from unknown, dogs.

Well I taught my kids about not approaching dogs and a dog just came and took a chunk out my child’s arm anyway. So I don’t understand why you think educating kids is the answer.
The answer is to legislate against dogs roaming around everywhere, and for people to stop having dogs that they can’t control, and bringing them to places where they don’t belong.

I’ve never approached a dog in my life but they still run at me every fucking time I go for a run.

Look, having had young children, my experience was that dogs keep coming up/ chasing or snarling and snapping at my children. My eldest's hand was bitten by a dog. And, in most instances, useless owners didn't bother to retrieve their dogs. I was in a group recently where a man with two labs had bought leads saying ' friendly dog' (which he held whilst his dog ran free) that was his 'solution' to the problem of his dog recently chasing small children.

My kids had no interest in going near anyone's dogs after becoming scared of them from those incidents. It didn't stop dogs from approaching them though. Or stop dog owners from being, in the main, utterly fucking useless at controlling their dogs. Largely because they seemed to have no interest in controlling the dogs.

I've lived in France for over 20 years and never seen this. Where were you?

🙄

I am not saying it's the answer. I was responding on to the poster (was it you) saying there was not point in teaching kids about dog safety because there are dogs everywhere. Dog owners need to be responsible for their dogs. Parents need to teach their children to be safe to minimise risk of harm (with dogs and in general).

Indeed a small dog. But even a medium dog would be difficult to overpower. Particularly for a child. And therefore I questioned where you draw the line on which dogs are acceptable and which are not.

Although I see the argument for muzzles I just can't see how it would be enforced. It's illegal not to pick up your dogs poo but there's still an awful lot of dog poo about. Police absolutely would not have the time to start dealing with complaints about dogs without muzzles.

Keeping dogs on a short lead all the time isn't allowing them to run and play - perhaps if we had more designated off lead spaces this would be more feasible.

I don't have strong feelings either way really but dogs have always bitten. I remember my brother being bitten as a child. I think the issue comes when people are being killed by dogs. This really isn't the same thing.

This ^

The only thing absolutely wrong in this situation is why on earth was the child left unattended with the dog. People have GOT to start taking responsibility- a dog is not a human, and putting expectations that it will not carry out a natural behaviour is unfair to the dog and the child. Children (and a lot of adults!) cannot recognise the information a dog is giving off, they are incredibly expressive with their body language but often the first point someone will notice they aren't happy is a growl or bite, having missed the plethora of indicators given off before it.

The answer is to legislate against dogs roaming around everywhere, and for people to stop having dogs that they can’t control, and bringing them to places where they don’t belong
Agree, it's become the norm/the done thing to let your dog roam about as it pleases off the lead, mostly this is dog owners following the herd and doing what other dog owners do.
This means that outdoor spaces are dominated by dogs and the people whose lives revolve around their dogs, and ruined for the rest of us.
I wish there were dog-free areas but at the very least we need to reverse this trend whereby off-lead is the default for dogs.