A fourteen year old girl has been killed...

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

...mauled to death by four dogs.

RIP

I wouldn't trust any dog, tbh. And I'm a 6ft tall adult.

Poor girl That is horrific

Secret the cynic in me is thinking the 5th dog was a breed that wont get people frothing so isnt worth mentioning.

They should be banned. Why anyone would want to have this sort of dog as a pet is beyond me. I don't give a shit about it being the way they are handled, it is insanity to insist on keeping these working dogs as pets when there are many other soft mouthed breeds available.

cheddars, it does say they have reassured the community there will be a heavy police presence, so I imagine it's something to do with that (whoever owns the dogs/house or more etc)

I also think it's a lab or a shih tzu or bichon.

I don't want to be all bust lifting les dawson here, but as it hasn't been destroyed one would assume it was neither aggressive or dangerous?

I've never heard of an attack by a lab on a staffie, either in the newspaper or by word of mouth. That was the point I was making.

The fact is the idiot owners are NEVER going to change. That's why these breeds should be outlawed. Prohibit them from being bred.

We laugh at the Americans when they saw a gun never killed a person. A person killed another person. Simple solution the Americans can't face up to is guns need to be banned. Same principle here, only with dogs. No more children will be killed then.

It's a combination of factors isn't it.

I'd be willing to bet that these dogs were not bred for good temperament. I read (don't know how true it is) that the owner breeds and advertises her dogs as "aggressive" on Facebook. No matter how well treated and brought up a dog is, if its ill bred it MAY be more predisposed to aggressive behaviour. Some things ARE genetic.

Combine that with the - alleged - fact that these dogs were kept in a small yard and therefore under exercised AND probably ill trained/controlled, and that there were a lot of them AND that food was involved and it really is a recipe for disaster.

I don't subscribe to the pack theory at all but there's no doubt that when you've got a group of dogs as in this case, if one kicks off they all set each other off. A bit like a horde of over excited children; as a group they are more likely to get OTT and out of control than as individuals. Especially if food is involved.

Absolutely tragic. Poor girl.

Scarletts, banning them wont do a thing, it puts the real problem in a nice little 'lalala fingers in ears' box that gets put away and forgotten about.

The owners are the issue and need sorting out, thats the root cause of the problem, not the breed.

Snuffle

Please do not demean the death of a child by referring to people 'frothing.'

I know the area where this girl lived very well. The community is in pieces. They are mourning and seraching for answers, not 'frothing.'

There is probably not a lot of info out because the authorities are still conducting the post mortem.

Snuffle

How do you think the problem should be sorted. Please note that if you say 'education' you are spectacularly missing the point why some people own these dogs in the first place

This sort of dog? Do you mean staffies?

Well I have 2. And a foster. And I have these dogs because people but then because they think they are evil fighting dogs. When it turns out they are not born wanting to kill people, they abandon them into rescues.

And then someone like me comes along and has to train and socialise them.

Not everyone who has a staffie is an idiot looking for a status dog.
The people who do buy these dogs for that reason are the ones who do not bother to train them. And that is when tragedy like this happens.

Not because of the breed of dog. Because of the owner.

You ban them, then you actually DO prosecute with custodial sentences for anyone that continues to breed or purchase these animals. As I said- I really don't think nurture can over rule nature with animals.

According the the news:

Apparently the 5th dog was in a locked room and not involved in the incident, hence why it was not shot at the scene.
I think the dogs were still very aggressive when police turned up and that was probably the reason they were killed immediately.

The girl was also not an unknown. She was a friend and had been there several times before.

And apparently the dogs were known for being a nuisance, aggressive barking, etc.

JustGive - well now you have heard of one by word of mouth. My dog still has the scars, and hopefully the Lab still walks with a limp.

But banning breeds just ignores the problem and passes it on, the idiots who dont just ignore the banning will just start on another breed, and then another, and then another.

Callisto

Er no, not if you can't teach your Jack Russell the difference between a squirrel and someone's pussy cat. Which I can't, so have to be very careful to stop him chasing anything except a ball. The fact that he might go for a cat terrifies me. And anyway, since when has random killing of wildlife been OK?

I've seen a collie and a terrier cross attack a staffie who was playing fetch.

I also know that they have tried to take a bite out of my neighbours lurcher when he was on a lead.

IF the owner does indeed breed these animal using more temperamental animals then they are most definitely to blame and need to be jailed. So again, that simply reinforces the position that the owner is an idiot.

And FWIW my BigDog has been attacked by a lab, a jack Russell, a boxer and another staffy. He has been attacked quite badly because he doesn't fight back. He lays on the floor.

But it's always his fault apparently because of his breed.

Tougher punishments for irresponsible owners would be a start, instead of just brushing the problem off on to another breed.

Hula- I read the report as the fifth dog was at the scene but was contained without lethal force?

The bbc report states that she was found alone with five dogs

scarlettsmummy you obviously know nothing about the breed or have any real experience of them.
So it's all based on what you "think" you know.

It's not facts. And banning staffies won't stop dickhead owners finding another dog.

MaryZ- it's only been 15 years or so when Rotties, GSD and Dobermans were the "Hard Man" dog of choice.

Snuffle

If you are saying that labradors, as a breed, are more aggressive than sbt you live in a parallel universe to me.