Advice needed: Off lead dog, multiple attacks

[Empusa]

(x-posted in chat)

There is a couple near us with a very large dog who they never have on a lead. This dog has gone for our dog 3 times so far, with the knob end owners either standing by or blaming us! (Our dog is on lead)

We now know their address, unfortunately it turns out they are in our cul de sac. Is it worth reporting them? Who to?

Yes and your local dog warden, if you have one. If not PM DogsBestFriend, she is an expert on all things dog warden-y.

Hello!

Yep, the Dog Warden is your first option but some councils have dispensed with this service as far as advice and wider duties are concerned and now only carry out the bare minimum legal obligation of having someone available to collect stray dogs. (So can you do me a favour please - as I'm monitoring this whole sorry debacle which has been caused by cutbacks, if you call the council and they say they have no DW can you innocently ask them who collects srtays then and report back if they have no-one?).

That aside it could be escalated to the Police as the dog is out of control in a public place. As you can imagine that puts the poor dog in a vulnerable situation, that's the only problem.

Complain too to your local council/HA if they are social housing tenants as their behaviour is anti-social and causing distress to neighbours. Regardless of who owns their home ask your council if they have an anti-social behaviour officer and if so contact them.

HTH. :)

We have a similar problem in our area - an owner with a massive, dog-aggressive dog, been banned from all local parks, but seems to do some kind of circuit (i.e. return to park they were banned from a few months ago, until they're reported again).

I think you should definitely report, but can you speak to other dog owners in the area? - i.e. is there any posibility of reporting 'collectively' somehow, if other people have had problems with them too (and haven't reported already)?
It's likely that you'll hear very similar accounts from other dog owners.

I say this knowing how horrible the possibility of being singled out by these a*holes is.

IME, the police are unlikely to do much unless a person has been injured by this dog. Park wardens may also sit on the fence if you're the first person to report this...

Sorry if this sounds a bit doom and gloom.
Good luck, though. Updates would be much appreciated!

"That aside it could be escalated to the Police as the dog is out of control in a public place. As you can imagine that puts the poor dog in a vulnerable situation"

Tbh, their dog is already at risk. Someone round here owns a doberman, if they let their dog go for that dog, then it's pretty much guaranteed to get hurt.

Thank you so much for the advice. DH is calling the dog warden now.

"I think you should definitely report, but can you speak to other dog owners in the area?"

We've already heard from a neighbour (who was luckily there at the time) that this has happened multiple times, to many different people.

Try and get those owners to report too, if possible...

Alright, reported it. Now to wait. I'll have to meet the other dog owners around here.

In the meantime, consider carrying a compressed air spray.

It will deter mean dog from attacking but cause no harm.

If as soon as you see mean dog, you use the cannister in his direction, he will probably just keep well away from you and yours.

Our local dog warden is actually very good. I hope you have the same luck with yours.

Meant to say, it sounds like an angry goose hiss and if directed at an attacking dog, they nearly always react accordingly and avoid the source.

I have to say that the Police response is variable in these situations but I have known of several where, rightly or wrongly, the Police have gone in with anything from strong warnings to threats (some of which were inaccurate but that's another story!) if the owners didn't control their dogs.

Dog on dog aggression is a civil matter (you can issue proceedings for a Magistrate's Order to control the dog of course, that's another option) but I've known several cases where the police have interpreted it as a DDA matter.

With luck, if you have a DW proper and your council has adopted the recent Dog Control Orders available to them, you should have a solution without needing to resort to relying on anything else.

The latest news is.

The council have written to the owners.

We've just taken our dog out for a walk, we are a couple of feet from our front door when some big fucking bloke just came running after us, and yelled at us for "intimidating" his mum. Saying he's going to fight us etc. Blaming us for everything.

Shaking now :(

Police on way.

We now know that they were watching for us. I suddenly do not feel safe in our own street.

Hope you are Ok just saw your other thread on chat.

Definitely been better.

Worried now as they'll be able to see the police at ours from their window.

Tell the police excatly how you feel - intimated , threatened etc - they may today just give him a warning - Section 5 Public Order act - warm him to stop and if he does it agion he will be arrested .

Is it social housing ? - if so report them also to the housinmg association - ask police for incident number as your call today would have been logged .

stay strong. you have done nothing wrong. keep a written record.