I hate Belfast City Council - Lennox Dead :(

[LtEveDallas]

Well the Bastards won in the end

BBC Report

But the BBC has fucked up as well - first line of the report: "Lennox, an illegal pit-bull terrier type dog.."

The whole point of the campaign being that he WASN'T a Pitt Bull Terrier.

I am gutted for him, gutted for his humans. Gutted for the little girl who wanted her best friend back. Gutted for all the people in all the other countries that offered to take him - and BCC wouldn't back down.

AND the fuckers didn't even let the family see him before they killed him - and will cremate him against the familiy's wishes.

BASTARDS.

Run Free Lennox

I saw this on Twitter :( It does seem a case of a council not wanting to 'lose face' rather than an actual public service. How utterly pathetic.

Personally I believe the poor mite was dead months ago. It's all very sad and very unnecessary.

Dooin, you may well be right. That poor bloody family.

I wish I had lots of money - because you know what, I'd take out a civil case against that bloody woman (I wont name names as much as I want to) that LIED and LIED and LIED and inevitably was that cause of that poor dogs death. I don't have a word bad enough to call her.

It is very sad, but whilst I would have loved to have seen him returned to his family, I think it is kinder to Lennox than letting this continue to drag on.

After the horror that he has been put through, I am pretty sure he would not have been the dog they knew anyway, re-habilitating him might have been nigh on impossible.

My heart goes out to his family, they must be heartbroken.

It's disgusting that they've got away with this. What really makes me sick is that they described it as "humane", there was nothing humane about their treatment of Lennox. :(

I am fuming at this, he wasn't a 'pit bull type' he was an American Bulldog/Labrador cross, Victoria Stillwell is on BBC Ulster in a mo as she offered to take him to the States at her own expense and let him live with her!

An unpredictable dog - even the owner said he had anxiety issues- who had been in kennels for 2 years. On what planet would it be safe to give him back to the owners?

The photos of the state he was in were shocking . BCC should be prosecuted for that, let alone letting THAT WOMAN lie under oath that she was scared of him.

And as for the 'Expert' - he wasn't a behaviourist, he was a bloody police dog trainer - and not a very experienced one at that.

It should never have got that far Seeker - he shouldn't have been taken in the first place. But why wouldn't it have been safe? He wasn't dangerous before, he wasn't dangerous when they took him out of his fucking awful prison. There is no reason to believe he wasn't safe.

Even if he was damaged, mentally, by his shocking treatment, and experienced behavoiurist could have overcome that. VS was willing to try, even CM was willing. Got to be better than death

I agree with Dooin.

Poor dog. Should never have been allowed to go on so long, and then not have been left in hands of uneducated people to decide his fate.
Hope karma sorts those out who ' cared' for him in the horrid kennels

Seeker towards the end the family agreed to hand him over to an experienced dog handler, who would have taken him out of the country.

Anxiety issues are common and do not automatically equal a dangerous dog. They can be worked on very successfully.

The council's 'expert's' report was at odds with the reports of independent, qualified behaviourists, who all stated that Lennox was an anxious, but polite dog and did not pose a threat to the general public.

As LtEve said Peter Tallack is not a qualified behaviourist. He was a Police dog trainer. A trainer and a behaviourist are not the same thing. I go and set myself up as dog trainer tomorrow if I wanted to. All I'd need is some fancy business cards.

Obviously all I know is what has been reported in the papers, but even the owner said he could be aggressive, and he was a big powerful dog, handing him back to a family with children and allowing him to be around children, in whatever country seems to me to be grossly irresponsible.

And if he would have to spend the rest of his life on a leash and muzzled, what sort of a life is that for a dog?

I guess this outcome is no surprise to anyone, doesn't make it any less sad and disgraceful though. That poor dog :(

Is it naive to hope that some good might come of this, that it might raise awareness of just how stupid, cruel, pointless and unfair this law is, and what it means for dogs and families?

His owner said he could be aggressive!

When and where Seeker?

I was so saddened it has come to this when he could have been re-homed to someone else
Why put a healthy dog down, he wasn't a pit bull type-its a disgrace, so many people signed the petition and it has come to this.
This was someones beloved dog and they have the heartbreak of knowing he has been put to death for no good reason.

about three quarters of th way down

If we are going to harp on about 'types', all dogs are potentially dangerous in the wrong hands

Don't think anyone has mentioned "types" have they?

It was reported that Craig told the dog wardens not to approach Lennox because 'he will tear your face off'. Even if this is true and I believe that the Barnes' family are disputing that this was said at all, it sounds like something I would have said about my terrier at one point instead of going into the whole "My dog is nervous aggressive and fearful of strangers. Please don't touch him/walk upto him unless you can read his body language and can calm him first. He may start growling out of fear and if you ignore the growling this will escalate to snarling and eventually result in my dog becoming very uspet and snapping at you before crumpling into a cowering wreck at my feet" only to have people relpy "Aww, look, his tail is wagging, he's friendly" A quick and firm "Get away, my dog will bite" always works.

So it's quite normal and ordinary for a dog owner to warn somebody that it might snap by saying "he will tear your face off" right.

Yes, ime, it is. The general public tend to be eejits when dealing with other people's dogs. The amount of times I have been told that my dog is behaving one way when I can clearly see how stressed he is becoming is absurd.

A firm "my dog bites. Get away now" is never questioned. "You are making my dog uncomfortable and he may snap" is almost always questioned.