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.

To those saying 'it's not the fault of the dog'...

...Nobody has blamed the dog. To do so would be ridiculous.

Laws to deal with dogs such as this do not 'blame dogs', the idea is ludicrous- do you think firearms law 'blames guns?'

Guns can be dangerous.
Dogs can be dangerous.

Legislation needs to happen.

It would be good to have a campaign to target the women who live in these families - perhaps via SureStart or HV - getting them to be alert to the danger and refuse to have these animals in the same house as young children.

About 8 years agoo I used to live in a barn conversion in the middle of nowhere, my ex DH worked away all week every week and i was alone about 4 miles from the nearest village so i got a dog for company and in the hope that if anyone ever was outside that they would be put off by the barking. I got Daisy as a puppy so that she would be intergrated into our family as one of us and would be used to children.

She was the most lovely, good natured and obedient dog and i felt very safe having her sleeping in the downstairs hallway, she never once growled or anything and she was a bull mastiff - i would have never ever have left her on her own with my girls though and they were (5,8 and 10) it just makes sense. Cases like these are usually the owners fault and there is no way that any dog owner should be irresponsible enough to leave a dog and child unattended.

Now we have two Chorkies (half yorkie and half chihuahua) and i have a 14 month old DS - as small and benign as our dogs are i would still never leave the dogs and DS on their own, dogs are dogs and children are children and especially with young children supervision is always required.

I agree about the thread titile OP, i know its an awful subject but the sensationalist way it was written is a little distasteful - we all have pretty good imaginations without it needing to be spelled out.

As a toddler, our family labador attacked me. I have an older sister so the dog was a little used to children but the dog was quite old so had grown up mostly only around adults.
Dogs can be very protective of their pack, so if a child isn't accepted into that pack, the child may be attacked.
Owners of dogs I feel are responsible for their dog and if there are babies or toddlers in the home then the dog needs to be kept a close eye on.
I don't think legislation will be of much help, we used to have Dog licences, did they help prevent attacks?

Doesn't have to be before the trial and plenty of columnists etc give their opinions all the time. I appreciate there is a fine line to walk but it's not libelous if it's true.

Legislation? I live in The Netherlands. Until spring last year certain breeds of dogs were out-lawed. One canny politician finally noticed that the type of person who has an illegal dog really doesn't give a flying fuck about legislation/training/etc. and so they've done away with the rule. All dogs must be registered at the council (dog poo tax) and if something goes wrong it's a dog-per-dog basis.

Your original post/claim is fucking ludicrous.

How many more pricks do I need to see driving BMWs before we ban German cars? LOL!ROFFFL! ARF! I just weed a bit!!111!!!

Shit Skihorse I own a BMW and a staffie, Im screwed!

Happened to a 7-day old baby in Florida a few days ago too. mum was asleep in the same room and was woken by friend visiting! It is too tragic, these kids have no chance growing up with parents who will not train or supervise a dog properly.

I hope all the people who felt the thread title was tasteless will have a similar reaction to your last post, skihorse.

I see your point tethers but the title is talking about a real child, skihorse's post is clearly a joke, so very different.

When i said it's not the dogs fault I meant a lot of people say about the breeds being dangerous, so it is a 'dangerous' dog, but not all staff's mastiff's etc are dangerous, it is down to the owners being irrresponsible iyswim.

Having read the report the mum and grandma and her sister were in the room when the attack happened. Poor girl.

the title expresses the grim reality of the situation.

No, not all staffs, pitbulls, rottweilers etc are dangerous - but they all have the potential to be because they are stronger with a more aggressive temperament.

You'd have to be thick as shit, lowlife to keep these dogs around children - which most of these people are.

IS THERE A LINK TO THIS STORY AS I CANT FIND IT ANYWHERE???

TIA

X

tether -

My views on this are not conducive to reasonable discussion, Jack, sorry- You(one) wouldn't keep a sharp knife in close proximity to a baby/small child, yet people keep dogs with sharp teeth near them all the time and then are surprised when the dog decides to use them.

All dogs are potentially dangerous. I know this will provoke a million responses of "I know 115% that my dog will never bite", but they are; in the same way that a gun is dangerous. It requires a human to operate one, and they bear legal responsibility, but the gun is dangerous nonetheless. I'm not arguing that dogs bear legal responsibility- however this is not the same as legislating for them. Cars require licensed drivers.

I think I'm with the OP on this one- I think it might be best if I step away from the thread.

A mastiff isn't a fighting dog, as far as I am aware.

I have two staffies. They only eat adults.

aren't mastiffs usually a gentle breed? They aren't fighting dogs or hunting ones either.

According the report I read, the owner was a responsible one

We all need to realise, dogs are unpredictable and we should be much more careful when our children are near them.

A mastiff isn't a fighting dog?
In what sense?

They have been bred and used for fighting for over 2,00 years. The Roman Empire used to export them from England as they were in such demand. In Tudor times, they were in thae baiting pits against bears and other dogs.
Do you think feeding them bikkies for a century will change that?

The thread title is upsetting.

It is understandable that the OP posted in anger and in distress after reading about what happened to the little girl. Of course it is horrifying and sometimes we write or post from our heart.

At the same time we have to consider the feelings of other posters who will be upset by a title like this. There have been numerous threads about this.

It would be good if MNHQ could change the title so that this discussion could be about the dangers of owning dogs and what we can do to protect the children, rather than whether the title is appropriate.

Skihorse
I have reported your post.

Oops. Two thousand years.

Completely childish thread title. It reduced a serious debate to horrified gawping. It's like seeing someone rubber-necking at a road accident. Are you fifteen?

Plus, as far as I know (from listening to Radio 4, no less ), it has sod-all to do with breed of dog and everything to do with how it's trained/cared for (or not cared for). The point is that the kind of people disinclined to properly train their dogs are inclined to follow the trend for staffies etc.

Why report skihorse? At least her tasteless comment was ironic and trying to make a point. The OP was just tasteless full stop.

tethers, I do see your point, totally, I agree that all dogs are unpredictable and I have said on this thread that something neds to be done to let people know that they are dangerous.

Thread title has been changed now so latecomers will be awfully confused.

Also, seeing as how no details of the family have been released it is a bit much to tar them as lowlifes and members of the 'underclass' (horrible word) just because a dog killed their child.

This atricle seems to refute that anyway

As to the discussion. I live in Geneva, Switzerland and as I have posted before, there are strict laws here dealing with dog owndership.

Every dog owner is obliged to go to a training class, at first just theory, but later to be extended to practical training.

Dog bites have to be reported to the authorities, dog on dog as well as dog on human (no rules as far as I know if human bites dog)

Certain breeds are banned, no longer permitted to be imported and bred. They are compulsory castrated so that they cannot be bred and have to wear muzzles in public. Their owners have to attend yearly training sessions.

All of these regulations (and more) were brought in after a child was mauled to death.

Every dog has to have a tag, and you can only get a tag when you can prove that you have done the training.

I reported Skihore because, while I appreciate dark humour, I find that a thread discussing the death of a baby is not the best place to make jokes about it.

Sorry, Skihorse. On an unrelated thread I would probably have found it funny, just did not think that it was really ok on this thread.