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

I will you something I do actually know with regard to the dog attack near me. The 3 ye old was playing and so were others. The dog near enough decapitated the poor little boy. He did nothing to the dog. The dog just went for his throat on he first bite.
My friends dp was the one to pull the dog off the little boy.
So NO, not all dog attacks are provoked.

if anyone wishes to report this post, that's fine with me, I know it is too much detail but pp has really pissed me off

It's all about dog owners taking responsibility for their animals.

Any dog is potentially dangerous if it feels threatened - different breeds according to their size, power and psychological make-up may cause different amounts of damage on who or what they attack. It is far too simplistic to say that breed X is always safe, while breed Y is always dangerous. It depends on the individual dog and on the particular situation.

Dog owners must take responsibility. If your dog is easily provoked or upset, then keep it on a lead in public places, don't allow people to stroke it and certainly DON'T let it anywhere near children.

I once had a large dog attack me and knock me over on a public footpath. The owner was totally unapologetic and said "It's because you are wearing a hat. He doesn't like hats". Oh well, I'll remember next time then. How absolutely ridiculous.

I wondered if the boy got up to go to the toilet and maybe stood on the dog by mistake? Both of them an a new place in the dark and didn’t know their way around?
My giant hound sleeps shut away from the kids and cats. I go in to her first in the morning. She’s lovely. But if she were asleep and a cat dive bombed her? She may feel under attack.

So NO, not all dog attacks are provoked

And you know for certain the dog wasn't frightened of children/the noise/the way they were playing and hadn't been showing signs of stress in the weeks, months or years leading up to the attack?

Dogs will only every resort to attack as a last resort to protect themselves. Survival is coded into their genetics. It's how they evolved into the dogs in the first place. Any attack risks injury which in the wild would result in death. They simply do not risk it until they feel they have no other option.

The problem is we no longer understand them. When I worked as a trainer I was often called to dogs who 'just snapped for no reason' and was always presented with a stressed, terrified dog who just wanted to be left alone while the family would sit and tell me "Oh, looks nice and friendly now but...." Well, no, actually he doesn't friendly. He's telling you he is frightened/in pain/distressed and you are not listening.

I still get it now when off lead dogs approach my dog with a slow tail wag and lowered head with the owners yelling don't worry he's friendly. Is he fuck. He's terrified and he's warning my dog to stay the fuck away.

@Frequency

The little boy did not do anything to the dog. Therefore not a provoked attack. The dog attacked from behind the little boy as well.

Sometimes dogs do bad things usually due to illness of some kind.

Whatever the reason the little boy did not provoke that dog.

@Frequency I find your posts horrifically tone deaf and insensitive. A child had died. An innocent child. You don't know a single thing about what actually happened. If the damn dog hadn't been left in the caravan with the child then this wouldn't have happened. It isn't about teaching children how to avoid being killed by dogs. It's about protecting children from dogs by limiting the opportunity for attacks to happen.

Irresponsible and negligent dog ownership should be targetted and reduced as much as possible. People need to be educated about the risks of dogs, even ones that have never shown any signs of aggression, and to be much much more aware of leaving dogs and children alone.

Frequency said "No dog attacks are unprovoked"

I would be very interested to learn how me walking down a path AWAY from a dog and its owner constitutes provocation. Perhaps it was because I was wearing a very provocative hat?

“When I worked as a trainer”

Training children how to behave so that dogs don’t perfectly reasonably kill them?

Because you need to be trained more in dog psychology to understand how your ignorant human behaviour made the dog attack you, 2010Aussie, clearly.

Labradors are the breed most likely to bite?

What a load of bollocks.

Yes- my dp was 6 months old and in a carry cot when his grandmother’s dog jumped in and bit his face. In what way might he have brought that on himself?

No, counter conditioning dogs so they weren't scared of normal family life/hats/children/rucksacks.

“Labradors are the breed most likely to bite?”

Only because there are more of them.

How is it possible to argue that dog attacks are always the result of some provocation? You have simply no evidence to back that up.

Where is the source for the Lab statistic?

“Where is the source for the Lab statistic“

Oh, shit-actually I don’t know. I read it on here. Sorry. As you were.

@BertrandRussell at 6 months old a baby should definitely know not to cry or move, as that's obviously total provocation for a dog, and the baby is clearly inviting an attack.

Where did I say it was the boy's fault? I said it was the fault of the adults who left the boy alone with the dog/didn't recognise the dog's stress signals around children.

FFS, the level of victim blaming on dog worship on here is un-fucking-believable. Yes, we must teach children how to avoid dogs fucking killing them. This poor boy was obviously awake enough or awoken enough to scream so loud people from other units heard it and came over. I like to go walking a lot but since that out of control dog bit me I never go without a titanium walking stick because I will whack the fuck out of any that attack me or mine unprovoked, yes, un-fucking-provoked, and make sure the owner is prosecuted and their pet dealt with.

Yes frequency we all get it you’re the dog whisperer

Better to have not bred the dog at all imo

@BertrandRussell there is this about labs:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dog-breed-most-likely-to-attack-bite-you-revealed-a7166296.html

But there's no actual stats given per breed or an explanation of whether they took numbers of each breed into account.

In terms of preventing dog attacks I think dog behaviour should be taught in primary schools especially how to recognise signs of stress in dogs.

I couldn't agree more. Education is the only answer to preventing these types of attacks, and it has to start in primary. I give talks in primary schools locally in a professional capacity. The pdsa have downloadable lesson plans for any teachers interested (available on their website) in discussing responsible pet ownership in class. There are numerous canine body language videos available on YouTube. Any family bringing a dog into their home has a duty to learn as much as they can about them and to teach their dc. And of course we should all teach our DC how to behave around animals/what to do if approached because like it or not we humans share our planet with many species of animals. My own son was cornered by a growling dog at a friend's house and thankfully knew exactly what to do, or not to do. If he'd panicked and started running I've no doubt he'd have been bitten.

Talk of banning all dogs is ridiculous, many thousands of dogs help people with disabilities live independent lives, and many many more give comfort to those with anxiety or suffering loneliness. Therapy dogs used in care homes, schools and hospitals do amazing work.

In the veterinary industry there is a current drive to encourage clients to seek advice prior to buying a dog so we can hopefully prevent families ending up with dogs with behavioural issues as the environment in which a pup is raised, along with maternal health are the primary factors which determine a dogs future behaviour.

I hope the dog owner is prosecuted after she fled the scene knowing the situation.

She got on that trains hours after the dog attacked that child. It was the public that called the police. Not her handing herself in.

@Frequency

Why are you ignoring my point regarding illness etc with the dog? It proves you are wrong about any attack being provoked, I guess.

I dunno how her first thought was to run away with the dog. I mean WTF

I agree the victim blaming is shocking on here.