How many more killed babies do I have to hear about on the news before something gets done about these fighting dogs

[legscrossed]

I feel physically sick.

18 month old girl versus bull mastif.

Hideous

It absolutely petrifies me, we have a baby ourselves.

ofgs.

It's very sad. Very tragic.

But it is not the fault of the dog. Yet another attack where a child has been left with the 'uncles' dog. Aka a dog who has not been raised with children.

I love my fathers Akita. I can 110% say he would never hurt me. He'd lay down his life for me, but I wouldn't trust him within spitting distance of my dc because he has not been raised with children and has a very low tolerance for them because of this.

I do however feel very sorry for the child's family. It is a tragic, awful thing to happen. RIP you poor child

I agree with ShinyAndNew my mums dog is as soft as claggy toffee and entirely blind but i still wouldn't leave her alone with my ds. Any animal is a risk to children if left unsupervised or put into the wrong conditions.

I think the attacks that make the papers tend to be of certain breeds because the 'people' who leave their dogs around children tend to be the types who want certain kinds of dogs.

its extremely rare , but very tragic when it happens

It's not rare enough though

I too would blame the people who should be supervising the dogs involved.

Every time I read these headlines, I think "oh ffs, yet another chavscum family trying to up their self-esteem and social standing by having a vicious dog". And then I think - maybe it's a lovely middle-class family and their labrador has had a bad day.
Then I read the story, and yep...it's always another set of lowlife.
Destroy the dogs humanely, and then the owners less so.

The title is out of order...... What is it with mumsnet right now?? Competing for most vile thread title it seems!!

Agree about thread title. Awful.

It reality, help deal with it, help make laws to help prevent such tragedy.

It is not "extremely rare".Maybe it is where you live Mary but on a larger scale it is actually quite common.

It is appalling that some people want to treat their dogs like people and forget that they are pack animals!!!!!!!!!

I too feel physically sick, and that's just from reading the thread title
OP, I really think you could have come up with something slightly more tactful.

Regardless of class or fault, my heart goes out to that poor family and the pain that little girl must have suffered
So sad

Gross title.

Just read this now & felt sickened,that poor little girl,its not her fault that her family chose to leave her within biting distance of the dog.

When will people learn?

RIP little angel.

please get rid of the title

your sentiment is fine but your wording awful

FFS I hate that these threads become an 'offensive title' bandwagon. As if your delicate stomachs matter when you consider the content of the thread....really - sorry if I am offending anyone and I am sure you will all jump on me, but a little girl was killed - are you really saying it's a distasteful inconvenience to your day to have been made aware of it? Because to me, that is how it comes across.

It also surprises me when I see posters complain about these sort of thread titles.

I find the thread titles from posters threatening violence far more offensive, but they seem acceptable enough.

Hear hear.

I just think the wording in the title for something so tragic is a bit off really.
I can't even begin to image the pain that family must be going through.
I haven't read the story and don't intend to, but saying "how many more chewed up killed babies......." is just un-called for isn't it? It's insensitive to the family and to any family that have experienced anything similar.

I think that children being savaged by these type of dogs is becoming far too common.

As others have said, so many time it has a male owner but is then left with someone not the owner, often a female relative, who is also looking after children, with the result that the dog asserts itself and attacks a child.

I would like to see something done, although it's hard to see how you could legistate and enforce re. where these dogs are left. The Dangerous Dogs Act (re. pit bull types) was difficult enough to police and that made it an offence to own a particular type of dog.

On second thoughts I'd like a cull of all these horrid dogs..

I agree with those who say people need to know not to leave dogs with children, not destroy all dogs. It is depserately sad and I think dog licences and compulsory dog training classes woudl help as people could be told not to leave their dogs alone with children ever.

WRT the thread title I find it a bit dispresepctful TBH, a small child has died, she never asked to be a 'sensation'
A lot of people have 'in the news' hidden because of the titles some people come up with.
Just rememebr there are bereaved parents on here who might come on for a chat and be faced with something like this. It's called empathy and not needing to grim everyone out to get attention for your thread.
I have asked MNHQ to change it if possible.

title doesn't bother me, but the fact that these things are happening ALL THE TIME now does.

the panorama programme (ages ago) highlighted the way they are being bought into england (usually from ireland iirc) - they are being used as people as a status symbol and something should be done right now. makes me so angry as it's not rare anymore. wonder what the coroner will say.

It is the owners not the dogs which are the problem.

I have always owned dogs and my children snuggle down with them and there is never an issue. I have owned collies, GSD crosses, staffie bull terriers, jack russels, heinz dogs.

Sadly some people are irresponsible in life whether it be behind the wheel of a car or alcohol. There are many deaths from alcohol/car accidents caused by irresponsible and ignorant behaviour but we do not suggest that all adults are deprived of these items but put measures in place to make sure that their irresponsible use is limited.

I don't know how you can police this though. It's like saying all baths should be removed from houses because some idiots leave their children unattended... I'm sure no one intends this result but they just don't seem to associate their intentional ownership of an aggressive dog with the result.

I agree it is the fault of the owners.

However they tend to go for a few certain breeds - Staffies, Akitos, Rotweillers, chosen because they have big jaws/are strong/will be intimidating in certain circumstances.

It is these types of dog which do the serious damage.

The people who have these dogs are usually of the underclass, though, and are not the type to go to dog training classes, compulsory or not.

I don't think there are any laws that could stop this situation. Even if there are I think it would be impossible to police. As mentioned in previous posts this situations tent to occur in certain types of families/situations (not saying that it couldn't happen anywhere though). People who leave dogs with children if more so if they are classed as dangerous dogs, are they going to care about dog training or licences?

The public do need to be educated but possibly by getting the media to be as judgemental as possible. Get them to re-write their broadcasts so that they are not impartial or as fence sitty as possible e.g. " This tradgedy was completely avoidable. The family members in this case have allowed a 'dangerous' dog to have access to a baby with horrifying concequences etc...'

I appreciate that this would be very hard on the family involved but it might be the only way to send the message to others that it is a stupid risk to take.

Soapbox, if the media described the attacks in that way, particularlyprior to trial, they could be sued for libel.

They can only report the (inevitably damning) comments of the judge when sentencing.