rottweilers - time to ban them?

[tatt]

Another child savaged www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Girl-six-is-mauled-by.3140748.jp

to add to one killed last year

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5377262.stm

Not time to ban the dogs but time to tighten up the licencing / training laws.

I know a lovley Rottweiler! He is as friendly as any well trained dog is! It's not a breed that should be banned but like HD says we need to tighten liscensing and training laws.

Where we lived in NZ each dog had to have a yearly inspection and some onw wouls come out and spend time with the dog to see if there was a hint of violence ect. When they passed thet were given a coloured coller with a mark on it to say they had been inspected if a dog didn't have one it got taken away.

happydaddy the voice or reason. and you are soooooo right.

agree. with HD- don't blame just the animals as the owners are also at fault.

the owner of the dogs involved in the attack on the 5 year old said they were lovely dogs too. They probably were at times. Think rottweilers need to be added to the dangerous dogs list as the people who own this type of dog clearly don't control them adequately.

Sorry but it isn't the dog but the owners who are at fault be it a rotti or a terrier.

I know 3 lovely rotti's who are very well trained and a nasty nipping JR terrier.

None i would leave with a child/venerable person.

You only have to see the lack of control mamy owners have over their animals in the park and on the street to know they haven't a clue.

Dogs are pack animals and as such need leadership, if the owner doesn't/can't provide that then they are failing to properly care for their animal.

My mum has 2 rotties, utterly soppy and loving. They live in Spain and have to have the dogs muzzled in public and have to take a personality profile test to show they are trustworthy owners. Owners are more often than not to blame for the way they have not trained their dogs.

so - license the owners? Different licenses for small and large dogs or the more dangerous breeds? Compulsory training before you can acquire a dog? How do you show you can train/ properly take responsibility for a dog?

Some breeds need experienced owners maybe there should be licencing to reflect that.

I heard her uncle on the Stephen Nolan show this morning. It would have broken your heart.

But I agree that it's the owners who need to be looked at.

Also, this was an NITB approved house. I wonder do they check very often to see if changes have been made. Or even if the dogs lived on the farm when they were approved?

The uncle said today that the dogs were supposed to have been tied up during the day if the children were out playing, but they hadn't been

Every argument on this thread applies equally to pitbulls.
I've known plenty of "sweet" pitbulls, too (grew up in USA).
Rottweilers seem, to me, to have all the same breed traits as pitbulls, except that they are much bigger and therefore have a lot more strength with which to attack.

I agree with MNP.

My pomeranian has been attacked twice in the past year whilst on the lead, once by a staffie X (which was on a stretchy lead which it broke) and once by a terrier that was not on a lead. I was nearly knocked over when I was 8 months pg by a lab that jumped at me, and there is a pair of psycho spaniels near here whose owners have not bothered to train them. It's not the breed of dog, it is the owners that are the problem.

I have owned two rotweillers, one from a puppy, which grew up with DD1 (she was about 5 when we got him) was a wonderful dog who i would have trusted as much as any other dog - he was very well trained, formally and by myself and he was just a lovely lovely dog. The second we took on from battersea dogs home when DD1 was 15 and dd2 not even thought of . HE came with ishoooos, HUGE ishooos and he was a worry when we first got him and in the wrong hands, he would have been dangerous, no question about it. The poor sod had a rough start and had no qualms about defending himself. I have never seen a rottie scared. When dd2 came along it was a huge worry, and by the time she was begining to get mobile we took the painful decision to rehome our boy, however that decision was taken away from us because he developed cancer and died . I love rotweillers and think they are amazing dogs, and given the right owners as lovely and teddybear like as any other big dog.

BUT i do think they should be under the same dangerous dog legislation as pit bulls. They are not a dog for the inexperienced owner, they are incredibly intelligent and dominant and with the average rotweiller weighing in between 40-50kg (thats about 8 stone i think!) well, it doesnt bear thinking about when it goes wrong does it. The problem is, the IDIOTS who own these dogs as a sort of status symbol. They think its great to have a big hard looking dog, i can tell you there is nothing more intimidating than the famous rotweiller stare. So, in the wrong hands, these dogs are a huge danger and not just because of their sheer size. But of course that doesnt help and that was why we chose to rehome ours as we could not garuntee his temprement (had bitten me when we first got him) around our dd and you cannot possibly separate the dog and child at all times, you can never be 100% vigilant and my argument was, if he loses it, i'll not have the strength to stop him. I get so cross and sad when you get the jack the lad owners strutting into the vets with their rotties like some sort of trophy and they have no clue how to control them, this is also becoming a problem with staffies too.

So im afraid i would support a ban of my absolute favourite breed of dog, for public safety and the welfare of the animals themselves.

I do think the dog licence should be reintroduced and i think it should be expensive too. OWning a dog is a huge responsibility and alot of people dont get that and it worries me deeply. Having said all that about the rottie, ive known some pretty nasty labradors in my time too and would like to stress the message that NO DOG irrespective of breed or how lovely they are most of the time should be left alone with a child.

To demonstrate this, my lovely rottie, who whilst he came with issues, settled into a lovely pet, for seemingly no reason, sank his teeth into dd1s foot when she bumped into his leg. She had to go to hospital for stitches, and this resolved our decision to rehome, it turned out however that the poor dog had bone cancer in that leg and it must have been agonising for him. So even the most placid dog WILL bite if in extreme pain or illness.

This is a subject so close to my heart and it breaks my heart to see the rehoming centres full of rotties that people just cant cope with because they underestimate the magnitude of what they are taking on when they go and buy that cute teddy bear of a puppy.

we need stronger legislation and licensing not to ban certain breeds.

People are responsible for their dogs actions and they should be checked before owning dogs to check they actually know what they are doing.

No.

Time to go after and truly punish irresponsible owners - BIG fines (including docking some of their benefit money if they're on that), tons of community service, probation, etc.

all dogs could be banned for all I care

they stink, leave hair everywhere, shit in my park and bark

what's not to like?

I agree.

do you mean what's to like?

probably

cats can also be added to the list

Well, I do agree with you there, olive.

Of course, owners are supposed to pick up after them, but they don't.

Fine their lazy arses on the spot. £150.

If they're on benefits, dock a percentage of them till they satisfy the debt.

expat, i think the fines can be up to £1000 even, but i guess its catching someone in the act of walking away that is difficult. I get soooo annoyed when people dont pick up after their dog, i mean, how would they like it if i did a huge dump in the middle of the path.

Oliveoil, you must be incredibly wealthy if you have your own park, can you not just ban them altogether

Haven't read the whole thread but sure it will end up with lets ban this dog, this dog and this dog when in fact it's the stupid irresponsable owners who need to be banned from kepping them

Its a horrific tradgedy when a child is hurt or killed by a dog and the owner should be held responsible.
I have 2 dogs and I am responsible for making sure they are well trained, well cared for and trustworthy. If god forbid they ever even nipped a child I would be at fault and would expect to suffer the consequences!

and keeping them too

i think the reticence (sp!) to ban breeds comes from the whole fiasco that is/was the dangerous dogs act in a kneejerk reaction to tabloid newspapers around that time. A great deal of suffering and distress was caused to responsible pet owners who had pit bulls, or more specifically, pit bull type dogs. The problem is, ANY dog can be a problem but there is a propensity in society for certain types of people to be attracted to certain types of dogs, those people, unfortunately being totally the wrong owners for certain breeds. If you ban rotties, and i do, in principal support the ban for reasons i have outlined below, then there of plenty of other breeds, mastiff type, huge potentially aggressive dogs that will gain popularity. Not forgetting of course the good old GSD, that was the "devil dog" of my child hood. Again, great dogs, but a danger in the wrong hands. V.highly strung ime.

There are two issues here, the risk to the public from dangerous dogs not being controlled in public areas. (have actually cut short a walk in greenwich park recently because of the gangs of youths with staffie type dogs strutting around - although that was more because the youths made me uncomfortable i have to admit but the dogs were clearly not under anywhere near the control they should have been and i could see a potential problem with DD on her little bike). And the dangers to children with family pets, i think someone refered to the fact that the dogs in the particular case in question, were normally tied up when the children were around - talk about walking time bomb!! so clearly, potentially well meaning owners with no understanding of the needs of a particular breed.

The way forward has to be stricter licensing laws although how you could police that im not sure.

It is a sad situation though when people dont feel safe to walk their children in public areas because people cant keep their lumbering mutts under control. Says LEM with great shame as her wee pup (border terrier cross) bowled over someones toddler at the beach the other day, he was off lead and i wasnt expecting to see anyone at that time of morning, BUT i was in the wrong and apologised profusely to the bemused german parent who clearly couldnt understand a word i was saying. I would not of course have been letting off my rottweillers in such a public place however. There is a bit of a difference in being bowled over by something that weighs 4kg to something weighing 50!!

Where I live many of the young men (yobs if you are being honest) have various sorts of scary looking dogs - having a major dog aversion I cant identify breeds. They rile them until they bark and fight them in public. Its terrifying for everyone particularly the many mums with young children walking around.

Of course only responsible people should be allowed to have these dogs but how on earth could this be properly enforced?

Our grim neighbours have big aggressive dogs and are not responsible people. They (the dogs not the neighbours) often jump our fence and defecate in our garden. We have complained to no avail - they are not allowed dogs in their flat. When the inevitable happened and one of their dogs was run over and killed they actually rang their landlord to blame him for it because he had put them under "pressure" by telling them they werent allowed dogs!