Whippetty Boy attacked tonight by two other dogs

[UnseenAcademicalMum]

Just wanted to say, our new rescue dog, Whippetty Boy,was attacked tonight by one staffy/rotti/english bull terrier pup (5 months old) and another staffi cross. Both dogs were off the lead and the pup, who was the more aggressive had only been with the chav owner for 5 days.

Whippetty Boy got off fairly lightly because he "only" has teeth marks in his rear end - if the pup of the two dogs had been full grown, I dread to think what injuries whippetty boy would have had. He came home, went to his crate and hs refused to come out since .

After the "owner" of these aggressive dogs had finished threatening dp, he then stood and beat the pup with his fist . We have reported him to the police (I dread to think if it had been a child as opposed to a dog which was attacked), but the police were not so interested . The f*ing "owner" said the pup had only attacked once before - in the five days he has had him. The dog was off the lead, the guy was face down into his mobile phone. Is this really what the world is coming to?

Those poor dogs. What kind of life to they have in front of them, to be owned by chavs like this? (and also for whippetty boy, and my ds2, who just awoke with nightmares about the strange dogs)

Unseen, your local authority must, as Val says, deal with dogs, though it does not need necessarily to employ dog wardens. Some councils even contract out the service to a third party.

All Councils have published standards for dealing with correspondence, and if you have written to your Cllr, you can expect a reply within a certain deadline. If you haven't received this, please do chase it up. I would suggest looking up who is the Chief Officer for Environmental Health/Environmental Services and requesting a meeting with them, accompanied by your ward Cllr, and asking for their proposed actions. You can also look at all the budget papers for any cuts online - I'd suggest having a nosy around the council website.

Please don't give up on this - am feeling so sorry for your whippy.

Hi all- the local councillor came to our house today to discuss what could be done (hooray - pity it only coincides with a local election).

They are looking at whether to propose all dogs on leads in the park (could be detrimental to responsible dog owners), more police patrols, cctv cameras etc. They are very much looking at this as a police thing and putting pressure on them. I have spoken to many dog owners over the last few days and know this guy and his dogs aare known around abouts. I'm thinking of making a petition next.

I won't let this rest.

Otoh, whippety is doing well. Obiedence classes went well, though he can be snappy with certain breeds (!).

What sort of petition are you thinking of?

I ask as if it's directly to do with this arsehole I'd recommend that you distance yourself from it. Do it through a third party or via an animal rights group so there's no comeback to you. Please feel free to pm me if that's the case and I'll do what I can to help.

I agree with you that a call for dogs on leads only penalises the decent folk and the twats will doubtless still ignore it. I'd even go so far as to say that it may well be damaging in a wider sense and set an unwanted example to other boroughs... I know that in Peckham, for example, decent dog owners are up in arms as Southwark are/were trying to enforce such a bylaw across the board. Problem is if they do so them it will be Lambeth next, then Lewisham, then Wandsworth....

That said, SOMETHING needs doing and good on you for involving your councillor. Amazing what they can do when a local election is looming,eh?

Certainly the Police should be acting and I'd personally be pushing for their involvement and support. ScuttleButter is your expert on these things, I'm interested as to what she'll advise when she reads this.

Thank goodness whippety is doing well... with your help he will thrive and overcome his fears, of that I have no doubt. Gentle hugs to the little fella. :)

Update for Unseen. I've just spoken to your local council having had an RSPCA solicitor confirm to me that the law requires every council to have someone responsible for stray dogs but not for any of the advice or policing of dogs and their owners which we have come to expect. They tell me that they "Only deal with dog fouling and roaming dogs" and that they haven't adopted the dog control orders legislation which is available to them. If they did implement this legislation you'd have some hope of the problem being addressed... but that would mean that your council would have to pay someone to do the job and they clearly don't want to do that.

In anotherwords they are just scraping by with doing the bare minimum. They consider anything else to be a Police matter if it involves criminal behaviour or an RSPCA matter if there are welfare concerns.

The solicitor has asked to be kept informed if there comes a point where this or any other council has not got anyone responsible for stray dogs and assures me that they will deal with it.

My own view is that there ARE welfare concerns wrt your dog, his dogs and any others which his meet and that the bastard owner is breaching the Animal Welfare Act in inciting/causing/not preventing his dogs fighting others. Problem is, you need to locate him, prove it was his dogs, prove he caused or incited it and we know that the ones which will suffer are his Bull Terriers. He will get a slap on the wrist if you're lucky, his dogs will almost certainly be ordered to be killed.

My own council doesn''t have a dog warden either. They use whoever is available at the time... that might be the duty environmental health officer or the pest controller... it'll be the apprentice fecking filing clerk next!

Did I ever mention that I despise a large proportion of the human race...? :(

NB When I said "They tell me that they "Only deal with dog fouling and roaming dogs..." I meant your local council of course Unseen, not the RSPCA!

Hi Val - thank you very much for the information. I think the thing is then to pressure the council into adopting the dog control order legislation?

I think whatever action which needs to be taken does need to address the general problem and not only the problem of these specific dogs (if it's not these, there will be others iyswim).

The problem with this guy's dogs is that it seems they are doomed by virtue of being owned by this scum. If they stay with him, they will have a life of being beaten and what appears to be deliberately trained for aggression; if they are taken away from him, they will be deemed aggressive dogs and therefore PTS . The guy himself would almost certainly take no responsibility for his part in their behaviour (he didn't at the time of our attack and I've heard from others whose dogs have been attacked by the same guy that he has threatened them too).

Hello, and sorry for being late to the party. Unseen, a few points. Make sure that you and every dog owner you know make a point of reporting and insisting on crime reference numbers for EVERY incident of intimidation or problem, involving not just this guy but any others. Go along to your local PACT meetings and make sure your concerns are aired and recorded in this public forum (doesn't have to be about a specific individual). Find out who is your Divisional Commander (responsible for crime in your neighbourhood), write to them or meet with them and discuss your concerns. Make sure you keep your Ward Cllr up to speed on all of this and on side. If your Cllr changes after May, make sure you get them up to speed asap. Unfortunately these days, much neighbourhood policing priorities is driven by numbers so make sure your numbers count and that local police are aware there is an issue and some concerned people who are keeping up the pressure on them.

After Val's sterling detective work, I'd make a written enquiry to the Council asking them for a copy of the relevant report/policy document stating that would be their stance on the management of dogs. Find out when this was adopted and if it has been reviewed since. If there is no policy, then it is Council officers making things up on the hoof, and doing what should be the job of elected politicians. I would also do a FOI request to find out numbers of strays dealt with, annual budget etc and any relevant background papers to the decision making discussed above. Only when you are properly armed with all this can you then proceed to stage 2 of your Council campaign.

If there is no proper policy document then ask for the management of stray dogs to be the subject of a scrutiny committee and make sure you go along and present your evidence. Scrutiny Committees can be a very useful way for Cllrs to look at an issue and they can make recommendations for action by the Council. They can be a very handy way of raising an issue and getting recommendations on to the table for action.

With regard to Dog Control Orders, these cover dog fouling, number of dogs being walked, dogs being excluded from specific areas (e.g. war memorials) or being kept on a lead (which is what makes them controversial). Councils have the power but not the duty to adopt them in their area - a crucial distinction. They are actually a powerful and flexible piece of legislation and can be very useful in replacing the myriad of dog fouling byelaws, dog bans on beaches and so on, but their very power is what sometimes has led to the accusation that they are a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Also, as Val correctly states, the best legislation in the world is no good unless there is someone there to enforce it. Remember that if say you are asking for dogs to be kept on the lead in a specific park, it need not be just Environmnental Health/Dog Wardens who enforce this - it could be PCSOs, Litter Wardens or even Park Keepers/Wardens. Also, if you are asking for this, remember that not all dog walkers will be happy - I personally have little problem with this in some areas as we've personally had so many exasperating encounters with off the lead dogs, but many here and elsewhere would see this as an affront to their dog walking experience, and will campaign vigorously against it. The Kennel Club has a DCO newsletter and this basically campaigns against most DCO consultations, so be aware that if you do this you will be the in for a lively time!

Good luck!

Thanks Scuttlebutter, that has certainly given me plenty of things to think about!

I think wrt the dog control orders, maybe the think to push for is not that dogs are kept on leads at all times, but dogs are kept under control at all times. One problem seems to be that although some responsible dog owners may feel penalised for additional rules, many now refuse to use the local (and very lovely) park due to dogs not being kept under control. This doesn't only apply to the dogs that attacked Whippety, but e.g. a friends dog (a staffie, which was on the lead btw) was attacked in the same park by a lab belonging to a "nice, middle-class" type man - the lab was also not on the lead and the guy didn't know anything about it till it was too late.

Many thanks for all your help.