A fourteen year old girl has been killed...

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

...mauled to death by four dogs.

RIP

It's been a legal requirement to have one's dog tattooed and/or microchipped in France for decades. There are still loads of dogs that are neither. We found one near my mother's house last year. Lovely little dog. We'll never know whether she was lost or abandoned though. She went to a shelter to be rehomed. I don't see why people don't have their animals microchipped- it's not expensive, it takes seconds to do, and you have a much higher chance of recovering your animal if it gets lost. Unless you are up to no good with your pets and don't want the authorities to find you that is...

Mannishboy, your post has a very nasty tone. The bit about "scum" is particularly vile, and your assumptions about who is responsible and who is not. Pray, how do you know all this? Also, you twice compare the ownership of dogs to having children. The two can't be meaningfully compared. It is this sort of fuzzy thinking which is the whole problem. Dogs are animals, they are not human.

snuffle, by the way, I don't hate dogs, I quite like them.

I used to love dogs, but since becoming a mother have come across so many irresponsible dog owners of late that I would rather dogs weren't around at all. Dogs off leads on the pavements, particularly on the routes to the schools near me. The pre-school and primary school my DS1 attends have to be reached via a small park and so many idiots have their dogs off leads terrifying the little ones. If I hear, 'he's only being friendly' one more time.....that is not the damn point, friendly or not, your dog has frightened my child, I have my baby with us and anyway I do not want mud and slobber on me or my DCs. Don't even get me started on all the dog shit. My parents have always had a dog and DS1 wasn't frightened of them until two years ago when we started doing the walk to pre-school and all the incidents with dogs en-route. We are the only country where people put dogs/animals equal or above humans.

Mannish is right, the people who get dogs as status dogs and then try and goad them into being tough are scum. The dog then does something horrific, gets PTS and the owner gets off scot free. Pretty scummy if you ask me.

Am surprised to hear you like dogs, considering most of your posts are very negative towards them.

I actually agree with curryeater.
many many dog owners are not responsible, just look at the dog shit everywhere. I think it is unfair to keep dogs in unsuitable conditions (small inside space, not enough excercise and training, stressfull/noisy environment) and so I think dogs, with the exception of working dogs, should not be kept at all.
or at such an expense that only very responsible people will take on a burden like this. dog license, compulsory insurance and training, compulsory spaying/neutering...

I was " attacked " by a dog when I was around 10. I wasn't bitten just badly scratched. It was after a ball I was playing with which I held above my head to keep away for it. It was jumping up and I ended up with long deep scratch marks down my front from it jumping up.

I remember this very clearly and I remember the pain. I cannot imagine what that poor girls final moments must have been like at all.

I like dogs, my parents have two Labradors however some breeds should be banned and destroyed and irresponsible owners should be banned from ever keeping ANY animal.

It is not the dogs that are to blame but the scum that own them.Keeping 5 dogs in a tiny space is madness, and getting a dog to make you look "hard" is beyond sad.
Any dog can be dangerous, but most of the time the issue is the owner and how the dog is treated.
The people next door have a staff and she is beautiful, calm, well trained and well treated. She is scared of my cats but as lovely as she is I would not trust her alone with a child.

Easy option.

Thats all talk of banning dogs altogether is, the easy, lazy, 'dont have to think too hard about it' option.

I think Men should be banned. Far to many attacks from males on females. Lets get rid of them all, with the exception of a select few for obvious reasons.

There, Ive just solved the male on female violence problem.

Snuffle, I can see the appeal of dogs because they are so fun and friendly (usually), and have enjoyed looking after them (dog-sitting in the country - I was very nice to them by the way, I would not ever be cruel to an animal) but I think that the ridiculous attitudes you see on here so much (elevating entities who are not equipped for it to be quasi-human) means that they are incompatible with human social interests in towns, cities and suburbs.

LittleAbruzzenBear has it right. "I would rather dogs weren't around at all". Not that I want them to be hurt. Just not shitting and slobbering all over the place. and their owners saying "it's alright" - no it is NOT alright, my child is sobbing in fear and covered in footprints! You may be alright, we are not alright.

My mother grew up on a farm with sheepdogs and greyhounds, and we spent a lot of time there as children, and I have inherited her attutudes: dogs belong in the country, they work, they do not go in the good rooms and put their feet all over the furniture, you train them, you do not mistreat them, you tell them what to do and they do it, if not you have them put down.

And policemen - you are far more likely to be killed by a policeman than a dog.

Snuffle - you do realise that men are humans and dogs aren't, don't you? Yes? Just checking?

Curry - I agree, its not alright, but banning dogs altogether because of a few people who cant look after their pets properly is just totally insane.

I mean it would be great if everyone who could get hold of one could have a private jet, wouldn't it. They are so much fun and it is great swooping around the sky in them. Obviously you would constantly be having accidents and killing people and the noise would be horrific and then there's the pollution and where would you keep the damn things, but that's not the jets' fault is it, it's the owners' , so by a magical leap of logic there is no problem at all and I can carry on making my neighbouhood hellacious by buzzing around all the time in my pathetic jet, and at least it is not a common jet like the sort that scum have, so they should have theirs taken away, but not m.

Curry - yes I do, but what I proposed is a solution to a problem.

Just like banning ALL dogs because of a few is a solution to a problem.

Hysterical overreaction? Yes, absolutely.

I wish councils / MPs would do something to enforce picking up dog shit. I swear it would be the biggest vote winner ever. You can't go for a walk to the swings here without getting poo all over the pram wheels

Banning either all dogs or certain breeds won't stop irresponsible people being a drain and a menace to the rest of the population. We could move all those people to the countryside, thus creating more space for well behaved dogs.
I also agree that no dog should approach child or adult without being asked. No dog should jump up at an adult or child. A dog should not be treated as human and should be taught its place, second to all humans. But banning them is a little ridiculous, unlikely and a quick fix lazy answer.

bigkidsdidit, I wish you were right, but iirc, leaving-dog-shit was actually cited by an MP a few years ago as "not a real crime" that would be the focus of CCTV info. I was fuming. It seemed to me that this reference to the triviliality of dogshit was both indicating and reinforcing a sense that we all have to live with it. I had a toddler and our local play park had a fenced off "no dogs" bit around the play equipment and it was FULL of dogshit. We just couldn't go there. I had SPD which made it harder to get further afield or physically negotiate managing a wobbly toddler around the turds and it really felt like we had been put in our place. Doesn't matter. Fuck off. It's all about the dogs and their stupid owners who can't be criminalised.

It may seem like a simple solution to legislate agains buying a private jet and keeping it in the front garden and flying it around when you like, but you are mistaken - it is in fact a quick fix lazy answer.;

Whatnameforme - so many shoulds here: " also agree that no dog should approach child or adult without being asked."

but they do

" No dog should jump up at an adult or child."

but they do

" A dog should not be treated as human and should be taught its place, second to all humans."

but they aren't.

So how about some quick fix lazy answers?

Perhaps we should ban all cars because some drivers are a menace.

"So how about some quick fix lazy answers?"

Welll I know one quick fix lazy answer to the problem. But its a bit silly, and unworkable, not to mention a total and complete hysterical overreaction so I wont mention it, especially as it would make me look like a right tit.

For perspective:

The average number of deaths per year from:

Dog bites: 16
Forklift Truck Accidents: 68
Lightening Strikes: 82
Car Accidents: 43730

The average number of deaths in children per year from:

Dogs: 10
Balloons: 11
Playground Accidents: 15
Buckets: 22
Human Caregivers: 826

American data where Pitbulls are legal in several states. Taken from CDC online.

Now you can argue that dogs are not necessary, unlike car travel, although as non driver, I tend to disagree with that sentiment, however are balloons necessary? Playgrounds? No, they're not but they bring pleasure to many and given the rarity of fatality or injury are relatively safe.

Dogs bring pleasure to my life and to my children's, they provide us with exercise, social enhancement, stress relief, warmth, love and help us to feel safe. Training with them is a great source of amusement on rainy half term days. My children and yours would be safer in my house, with my dogs, than in your car, at your party with balloons, at the playground or being looked after by Granny, statistically speaking.

I don't actually know a good solution to this problem - I wish people would be a bit more sensible about dogs! Why choose these massive breeds in the first place? If you are so compelled to, then make sure that they are properly handled, and are not let off the lead! Everyone thinks their own dog is lovely, which is why there should be legislation in place to ensure that the individual owner is not making a judgment about their dog's safety around others.

But I really don't think the comparison with cars is a sensible one - dogs are not necessary for modern life. Cars are for many people. Therefore, the analogy doesn't hold true for me. We should try to reduce risk to human life as much as we possibly can. Of course, this means traffic calming, encouraging people to use other means of transport etc, but we cannot compare dogs and cars.

I think all dogs should be licensed. Any dog which isn't should be immediately seized and a decision made about its future. Any dog which attacks a human should be pts.

RIP Jade. What a horrible and sad thing to have happened.

Quite a funny x-post Dooin!

I still disagree with your post though - for a lot of people, a car is necessary because there are no alternative transport options. Now, I actually wish that wasn't the case, but I think it is a topic for another time!

Dogs aren't necessary. I'm glad you enjoy yours, but it cannot be compared to cars. Therefore it isn't a useful comparison to look at death/injuries from the two.

Peonies - I can tell you why I chose a SBT if you are interested - their reputation as a family dog, character, the temperament of every one I have met, they are actually quite small, dont shed much hair, and dont really smell too much apart from their farts.

SBTs are the only breed of dog I have owned and will ever own.