Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Have you seen the Internet recently? Dangled sausages everywhere. It's disgusting, I tell you. Filth!
Dog attacks "skyrocketing", now "an unrecognised public health crisis"
- Thread starter notaclue
- Start date
Have you seen the Internet recently? Dangled sausages everywhere. It's disgusting, I tell you. Filth!
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
No, but it could be defending the pack's territory.
oldius
Manchester City, dogs, family and food.
The idea of licensing and microchipping only affects responsible owners.
People are parading around my local park selling designer dogs for cash. As the owner of two rescued bull-breeds, it is essential that they are only in the hands of the responsible, but they are not.
People are parading around my local park selling designer dogs for cash. As the owner of two rescued bull-breeds, it is essential that they are only in the hands of the responsible, but they are not.
notaclue
pfm Member
Having given the matter some thought, I think this is the best solution.
Dogs should have their teeth removed.
Dog owners still get to keep dogs. Pedigree Chum would do a roaring trade in dog soup. No more dog bites. A classic win-win solution.
Only a few oddballs who keep dogs for their teeth will be upset.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
I couldn't read the link in the OP beyond the opening headlines (the site wanted me to register, and can do one...) but I think 'skyrocketing' and 'unrecognised public health crisis' are typical tabloid clickbait terms, and if it's 8000 incidents a year, across millions of dogs, that's hardly the sort of numbers that justify such frothing at the mouth, or calls for an outright ban, surely?
Domestic dogs should not bite any human except if it is defending itself, or its human family.
There are certainly some weird humans...some on this thread.
SteveG
pfm Member
Our dog is a largish (30kg) friendly Labrador. He's a rescue dog but his only real issues is that he likes to bark at other dogs, although not in an aggressive way (it seems more like his way of saying hello - and he's improved a lot in the 3 years we've had him due to doing a lot of socialising him with other dogs). He's never bitten anyone (or another dog) but I still wouldn't leave him alone with a small child. I'm not concerned that he'd bite a child - just that he might be flatten them (he has history of that) while being friendly. No matter the dog though (and no matter how well behaved) I still don't think leaving a dog alone with a child is a good idea.
99.99% of the dogs we meet out on walks are also friendly enough (although a lot of smaller dogs do seem quite likely to bark at my dog, especially Jack Russels) but there are definitely some folks out there that like their dogs to be (and look) aggressive (to people and other dogs) which is a real shame.
You do meet the occasional person that hates all dogs (and clearly there are a few here as well) - but thankfully they are also rare.
99.99% of the dogs we meet out on walks are also friendly enough (although a lot of smaller dogs do seem quite likely to bark at my dog, especially Jack Russels) but there are definitely some folks out there that like their dogs to be (and look) aggressive (to people and other dogs) which is a real shame.
You do meet the occasional person that hates all dogs (and clearly there are a few here as well) - but thankfully they are also rare.
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
don't forget their owners
mansr
Objectionist
Meanwhile, the RSPCA receives some 50,000 reports annually involving dogs. Maybe we should ban people instead.
Furthermore, around 25,000 people are killed or seriously injured in road accidents each year. There are 38 million motor vehicles and 12 million dogs in the UK, making them about equally dangerous. Anyone for banning cars?
SteveG
pfm Member
Anyone tries to remove my dogs teeth is definitely risking having their own removed!
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
notaclue
pfm Member
You can't "ban people". Not least because there would be no people to administer the bans if people themselves were banned. I suspect you haven't though it through properly. In fact, I suspect you haven't thought it through at all. Daft.
I would not ban cars, but I would certainly legislate to make them safer. For example, no car should be able to go over about 30mph without special permission (mostly reserved for emergency services, etc).
gordon
self-righteous, but never right
After a couple of months of being leery of stray dogs, I adopted a dog from the same animal shelter, which had been my plan before being attacked, so all's good.
In defense of the dog's owner, he's a nurse, and took me to the hospital, waited 2-3 hours it took to stitch me up, and drove me home. He was completely cooperative with the police, put the dog down that night, and got his insurance company to contact me. The dog did have an electric collar, and he told me he was zapping the whole time it was attaching me to no avail. He had only had the dog a few weeks. I think he just end up with a dog that should not have been available for adoption.
Breed really matters. It's obvious really - breeding is done to promote very specific behaviours and characteristics and it works.
I've had a number of breeds of dog over the years and the difference between them has been marked. In particular, a terrier we had was entirely focussed on killing small things, when out of the house, and would be liable to attack anything intruding into her personal space, or any Boxer dog within 100 yards. In the training venue she would be a model dog and easily passed the Kennel Club Gold award, but once out on a field she wouldn't even make eye contact, being solely focussed on hunting. If let off the lead she would end up rampaging through gardens in search of rabbits, so we weren't able to let her off the lead outdoors with any confidence until she was fifteen. Yes, if we'd spent (even more) countless hours training her for years, it might have made a difference, but she really was verging on being untrainable in some ways - little interest in food and very single minded. Luckily, she was effectively a long-legged Jack Russell so was not a threat to life and limb, and she was very tolerant of the cats at home. The cross Lab we had, on the other hand, was entirely agreeable, eager to please, and was never aggressive to anything.
Put the wrong breed of dog with the wrong type of owner and there will be trouble. Bully-breed dogs are capable of devastating attacks and yet seem to attract people with little concept of how to handle them safely and with little regard for the safety of others.
What can be done about it? Very little.
I've had a number of breeds of dog over the years and the difference between them has been marked. In particular, a terrier we had was entirely focussed on killing small things, when out of the house, and would be liable to attack anything intruding into her personal space, or any Boxer dog within 100 yards. In the training venue she would be a model dog and easily passed the Kennel Club Gold award, but once out on a field she wouldn't even make eye contact, being solely focussed on hunting. If let off the lead she would end up rampaging through gardens in search of rabbits, so we weren't able to let her off the lead outdoors with any confidence until she was fifteen. Yes, if we'd spent (even more) countless hours training her for years, it might have made a difference, but she really was verging on being untrainable in some ways - little interest in food and very single minded. Luckily, she was effectively a long-legged Jack Russell so was not a threat to life and limb, and she was very tolerant of the cats at home. The cross Lab we had, on the other hand, was entirely agreeable, eager to please, and was never aggressive to anything.
Put the wrong breed of dog with the wrong type of owner and there will be trouble. Bully-breed dogs are capable of devastating attacks and yet seem to attract people with little concept of how to handle them safely and with little regard for the safety of others.
What can be done about it? Very little.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
Definitely this. And it's always struck me as odd that the 'hard men' image types favour a powerful dog, such as a Staffie/Rottie/Pit Bull type as a way to bolster their image. Whereas in fact, what it says to me is 'I feel I need this dog to protect myself'.