Boy 10 mauled to death at holiday park

[Witchofzog]

I can't link on this phone but it is on most news sites. The owner was found off site after a police hunt so possibly fled when she knew her dog had killed a child. It's just awful - a young boy probably just going to the loo in the middle of the night on a campsite having his life ended because of a dangerous dog and an owner who can't control and/ or keep it securely away

@PottyPotterer none of that will prevent irresponsible dog owners from buying a dog and not looking after it properly.

I know what to do around dogs and have taught my children, but still we encounter dog after dog that is poorly controlled and behaving in a way that scares my children. A few times I have been concerned that we were about to be attacked and wondering which of my children I should try and protect first. All because irresponsible idiots are free to have as many dogs as they like and treat them how they like.

This poor child was nine, left on his own in a van with that a vile dog that was known to be dangerous so his mother and the owner could go and get pissed with some guy.

This ^

Adults at fault.

PottyPotterer none of that will prevent irresponsible dog owners from buying a dog and not looking after it properly.

Well the point of educating children is to hopefully reduce the number of irresponsible owners in the future. Meanwhile I do think tighter regulations around breeding with compulsory training would help, however not all dog trainers are equal and I've came across a fair few who have exacerbated problem so trainers themselves also need tighter regulations imo.

Breeding and ownership that should have said. Another major problem is the law and pet ownership. The police have zero interest in problem dogs, not their problem you see. Even when someone is prosecuted for cruelty/neglect they're given a slap on the wrist and a 6 month ban. I strongly believe anyone found guilty of mistreating or neglecting animals should face a lifetime ban, I do not understand how lax the law is on this matter.

staffies and associated "bull type" breeds should be banned - I know people go on and on about "its the owner" but as there is unlikely to be strict controls on buying a dog introduced then these dogs should be banned.

You can introduce all the laws you like - decent dog owners are already abiding by them. It's the section of society that want these "status" breeds that are the problem - the dogs are by and large untrained, never exercised and contained in cages or left outdoors for hours on end, never socialised with humans or other dogs, fed utter crap, often inbred and then people wonder why they snap. And poor animal welfare/neglect needs to be made into a far more serious crime.

It's never the dog's fault - always the owner and the environment the dog is kept in.

I've just had a look at that Animal Friends website and the 'study' was only looking at personal injury claims, and they even state that the breed responsible for the most attacks on delivery workers was German Shepherds! Yet the Independent has somehow twisted that article to say that Labs are the breed most likely to attack you. Ridiculous.

This is awful 😩 it's also neglect. A report I read was that the child was in the caravan on his own when nearby holiday makers heard screams and attended. The rest of the group were in a different caravan drinking. Why leave a 9 year old on his own anyway? And why didn't they hear the commotion? Why do parents continue to leave children on their own whilst they drink till gone 5am in the morning, heartbreaking. Plus this dog has 4 other reports of being dangerous!

I thoroughly agree that any adult or child coming into contact with dogs should be taught basic canine body language.

This 'ladder of aggression' is useful for understanding the more subtle signs of stress that a dog will show before getting to the final warning stage of growling. So often a dog desperately tries to tell the human that they don't like what's going on in a peaceable fashion. The human either ignores or fails to recognise all the ways the dog is trying to communicate with them and eventually feels it has no option but to bite. I saw it recently in my own dog when I had to put eye drops in. I knew he wouldn't be impressed so I muzzled him and he showed a lot of the subtle signs of stress before finally snapping - I couldn't be angry as he had tried to tell me and I'd had to ignore it so I could get the drops in.

If there was dog licencing it would only have an impact if it included some theory classes for prospective dog owners, and some practical classes once they have got the dog. Simply paying a sum of money per year wouldn't help anyone; we already have a system for banning people from keeping dogs and licencing wouldn't change that.

Only a few days ago I had a child who looked barely 2 quite literally chase my dog up a pathway and go to stroke him; the parents did nothing to stop the child. Knowing full well that DDog has no interest in strangers but wouldn't bite the child, I took this as a teaching opportunity and told the child loudly (so the parents could hear) that before stroking a dog, the child needed to ask as not all dogs are friendly. Allowing a toddler to chase an unknown dog is simply not responsible parenting.

...nipped a child recently. They were supervised by an adult (although I’m not sure it was very closely...

A nip from a puppy (which my children get daily on their legs) is not the same thing as an adult dog bite....Though I make sure my puppy is supervised and on a lead when visiting kids are around...

Ah that old chestnut, 'the nip'. You see it's only a 'nip' folks, dont make a fuss now, carry on regardless -as the blood pours down your fingers, & drips onto the floor

For you to say all bull breeds shouldn't exist is vile, mine and 1000s live peaceful happy lives...

...dogs are ingrained into society...They're part of society and they always will be. Many people believe they were an integral part of our evolution...We need to learn how to live alongside them in the modern world as we seem to have forgotten...

This is the oft repeated mantra of dogs are humans or can be made, or 'trained' to be, argument again.
The last comment is particularly telling as that poster spent the rest of the his/her post informing us that dogs are most definately not human but if we could learn to accommodate them more (!!!! ), be taught how to deal with them from the first day at school, and presumbly how to tolerate their daily 'nips' then everyone could live contented on planet dog. No worries there eh people?. According to those in the doggy know, if we had MORE dogs in 'society' there would be much to look forward to in a new canine utopia of love peace and doggy understanding. We just need more brainwashing , ooops sorry I meant to say training.

Bullshit dogs never attack unprovoked.

Like all dogs are these poor little misunderstood creatures that only bite because they are scared.

My dog has been attacked twice just for being in the same vacinity as another dog. Dogs are constantly lunging for him and growling at him, just because he's walking near them. These dogs arn't scared, they are bully's and they are exerting their dominance.

And how do you explain dogs attacking babies in baskets. It's jealousy from spoilt over indulged dogs.

Ialso think we should have a 0 tolerance policy with dogs. Any sign of aggression towards a person or a dog and the animal is put to sleep. It's not your baby it's a dog, it's aggressive so it can't live with people.

That dog had attacked 4 times, why was is still alive.

We adopted a cat last year from a flat where he had this fucking aggro 'bulldog'/Staffie type dog. It was barking its head off and growling. Poor cat was living in terror. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I do know unfortunately that some people are attracted to ‘aggressive’ type dogs that are huge and strong as some sort of status symbol and indicator that you don’t ‘mess with them’ because they’ve got this gigantic scary dog. I know someone with one of these sort of dogs and so many FB posts bragging about its weight and how heavy he is getting

@Thelovecats85 some dogs have had horrific lives! Beaten, tortured, starved by horrible humans. All by no fault of their own! Of course a dog is going to be traumatised and have trust issues! But once they are rescued, we should just kill them?!

If you were treated like that, should we give you no chance and have you put down?!

@LittleMissHappy19

They are not people, they are not babies they are dogs. If a dog can't be trusted around people regardless of thr reason why, yes it should be put to sleep.

Like someone said up thred, if normal human interaction provocates aggression, then the dog can't be around people.

Well, dogs aren't people. Any that shows aggression would be put down.

“Of course a dog is going to be traumatised and have trust issues! But once they are rescued, we should just kill them?! ”

Yes.

The people at fault here are the mother and the owner. Never leave a child and a dog unattended.

My dd loves dogs but she has been taught to always ask permission to approach a dog from their owner. This week she had a 6 month old French bulldog enthusiastically settle on her lap and wash her hands. Dog had to be picked up by the owners as they wanted to carry on with their walk. Equally I’ve picked her up (aged 8) because I haven’t liked the look or signals from a pair of off lead aggressively behaving sheepdogs. Owners didn’t give a shit.

Dogs are dangerous. Don’t leave your baby or child alone. Any adult dog that bites should be put down. I worked on community for 20 years and the small snappy dogs used to scare the shit out of me!

I adore my dog and she’s a sweetheart. But no way would I go on holiday and leave her alone with a child overnight in a strange place. She’s a dog. Not a bloody night nanny.
The mother and her friend are at fault. They should never have left the child and the dog alone. And now a child has died.

some dogs have had horrific lives! Beaten, tortured, starved by horrible humans. All by no fault of their own! Of course a dog is going to be traumatised and have trust issues!

Even more reasons not to have 'pets' and a 'pet' culture in the first place. But it continues and the pet industry continues and people breed more and more of these unfortunate creatures, destined to live their lives in a wholly unnatural environment

But once they are rescued, we should just kill them?!

Yes we should. We should humanely put them down

If you were treated like that, should we give you no chance and have you put down?!

Animals are not people. How many times does this need to be said.

Puppies are like human babies - they explore the world using their mouths and are teething so chew to release that discomfort. Part of training is to teach them to chew their own toys, not your chair legs or indeed human legs. Puppy milk teeth are sharper than adult teeth and so can hurt. There is, however, no malice behind it, it is simply a normal stage of development.

Adult dogs that bite through fear or malice are very, very different.

Adult dogs are a bit like human toddlers in terms of development. They can make some rational decisions and understand simple cost-benefit analysis. They can also be less rational - like toddlers who are having a tantrum over something ridiculous or who are scared of odd things.

Dogs who have issues can often be rehabilitated by someone willing to put the time and effort in. Many people keep dogs with serious issues but put major safeguards in place to ensure everyone is kept safe (eg muzzled, short lead, quiet location, label telling people to keep away, no visitors to the house) and you simply don't hear about those dogs as they're not allowed to cause problems.

@thelovecats Dogs that tend to lunge and bark at other dogs are usually scared and are making damn sure the scary thing doesn't come any closer. In some cases, dogs will bark at others because they're on lead and they're frustrated they can't get to them; if they can get to the other dog it will be all polite bum sniffing. It's not about dominance.

My hound is sleeping quite happily in her unnatural environment thank you. You really do sound quite unhinged.
What has happened here is shit decision making by the adults involved. It could have just as easily have been a different story for this boy as leaving him alone without an adult all night left him exposed to so many dangers. Just so happens that they stupidly left him with a dog. Could’ve been any number of disasters.
Many many responsible people own a wide variety of dogs and manage to prevent harm coming to any members of the public. Their dogs are well trained and well behaved and happy.
The people are at fault here.

X post avocados you don’t sound unhinged at all! I hope you can see that was meant for flax.

Avocados yes that was my point about puppies and nipping and that it was completely normal. They are teething and exploring using their mouths, there’s nothing malicious about a puppy nip and my children don’t have blood pouring down their legs as another poster said.

Adult dogs should have outgrown the nipping stage so if they bite it is down to different reasons and unacceptable. You can’t stop a puppy biting.