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

@kissing
The slant here is that chavs and thugs own bull breeds, that IS ignorant and judgemental.

No, that’s exactly what is isn’t, though there is that separate aspect to Staff ownership.

I’m saying the respectable women of Mumsnet who own these wretched dogs do so because the dogs make people wary.

It’s a sadly common urge to impose on others, not a class choice thing.

@kissing
Your last post is laughable and ridiculous, I can assure you my dogs don't make people wary; they are very sociable friendly dogs with plenty doggy friends.
You sound like an insufferable snob.

"Didn’t princess Anne appear in court because her staffy attacked someone?"

No, it was an English bull terrier. Different dog.

I had a staff for 12 years. He was the softest soppiest and most gentle dog I have ever met. I would have another staffie in a heartbeat.

My ex mil had a cocker spaniel that was vicious as fuck and unstable.

No doubt it is true that a minority of bull breed/attack dog owners are 'the well-heeled', however it remains the case that the majority are from a different socio economic sector

I can assure you my dogs don't make people wary

Assuming you own Staffs, how would you know? Wary people will just avoid you and your dogs.

Why is it snobbish to think that Staffs look like tough and powerful dogs and that their owners know it? It would be snobbish to think that the owners were too stupid to realise.

Why are people only citing and posting anecdotes about their own dogs, or people they know whose dogs they know, or any dog they have met (whatever that means).

We need to be looking more at the statistics, looking at the cold hard facts. How they relate to current legislation, suggesting changes and doing this without sentimentality about any dogs we might personally 'know'.

Many many people are wary of dogs particularly the attack dogs, I personally steer very well clear of them and I feel very nervous if I see them off the lead

I regularly see posts like this on facebook. Why are people who own these breeds obsessed with getting their dogs as muscly as possible? It's a status symbol.

@kissing
Where I live there are plenty dogs and nobody avoids us, maybe that's because they aren't ignorant and take the dog individually instead of believing media hysteria and inaccurate information.

A 10-year-old boy has been mauled to death and you still can't accept that these large powerful predators are dangerous, inherently dangerous

Is anyone really going to suggest that the dog in Crazy’s picture isn’t going to make people wary if they come across it? Seriously?

@crazycatgirl
These posts aren't an accurate reflection on bull breed owners, this a minority, you can find a negative to virtually anything you want; maybe have a look at who you are friends with on FB. Mine aren't muscly, just average dogs.

I'd certainly be wary of any of your 'bull' types and as for that ridiculous photograph.

G R I M

@Bookworm4 I'm not friends with that person on facebook, they have posted that on a nationwide dog owners group that I'm a member of.

@hear
Have you read anything in here other than those comments that fit your opinion?
Dogs are not predators, they are domesticated for 1000s of years, no dog is born vicious as has been stated dozens of times responsible owners train and socialise their dogs.
Personally I don't like the owners who unnecessarily build muscle in their dogs for show, this is why numerous posters have tried to get through to the narrow minded on here that it is deed not breed.

I really hope you don't judge people the way you do dogs, based on appearance.
Anyway I'm wasting my energy on small minded snobs, I'm off to tuck my dogs in for the night.

The actual breed is a bit of a red herring. Any dog can attack, due to illness etc making it unpredictable.

For this reason I wouldn't have a dog in my home that I wasn't confident I could overpower single handedly of I had to. And I don't understand why anyone else would. For me that means any dog larger than a small spaniel. I wouldn't have a Labrador or a staffy, no matter how well trained.

...they are domesticated for 1000s of years,..

This alone should be enough to make us more wary of them, not less. It is only relatively recently that humans consider them to be pets.
Imagine a working dog 500 or 1000 years ago. How it would have been treated. How they would have been inbred to work only for food, or for fear of not receiving it
Dogs are obsessed with food. They will do anything for it. This is why burglars feed dogs before they enter property

It's as if there is some genetic mutation in dogs that cannot be switched off

I really hope you don't judge people the way you do dogs..

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

The actual breed is a bit of a red herring. Any dog can attack, due to illness etc making it unpredictable.

For this reason I wouldn't have a dog in my home that I wasn't confident I could overpower single handedly of I had to. And I don't understand why anyone else would. For me that means any dog larger than a small spaniel.

The less dog mesmerised of us did suggest size as a means of separating out dogs that should and shouldn’t be allowed as pets. That met with fierce resistance though.

Nothing that might be effective in tackling maimings and killings by dogs seems acceptable to the MN dog lobby.

I'm off to tuck my dogs in for the night...

Tuck them in?

Dogs are not predators, they are domesticated for 1000s of years, no dog is born vicious as has been stated dozens of times responsible owners train and socialise their dogs

You know very little about the dangers of dogs and are part of the problem if you really believe that.
I have lost count of the number of owners who after any sort of incident state "oh fido has never done that before....."

It is exactly the same sort of thing the NRA come out with after the latest high school shooting "Guns aren't dangerous, its the owners"

Dog ownership should be curbed, the costs to society is now too high.

...and yes if you are on benefits and/or using food banks ie poor, you should not be wasting what little money you have on a dog, that is not elitist, its basic money management, the PDSA isn't part of the benefits system.

Within 3 weeks of owning our puppy he has cost us £300 for vaccinations and a stool test. We had to really think abut the costs of dog ownership before we got him

I think we need to focus on statistics (you know real facts) before quoting anecdotes about spaniels (who can me mad but don’t maul children to death). Unfortunately it is the same breed that comes up time and time again.

DDog gets tucked in too. He's currently under my duvet licking my feet...