dangerous dog: Where do I stand?

[RosieH]

SteveT Wrote:

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> It sounds good practice to me RosieH, muzzle all

> dogs as you suggest, before they leave home and

> reach the street.

Steve, I wasn't actually suggesting that we do it - just that if it's good for one breed, it's good for all.

[bonniebird]

SteveT Wrote:

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> It sounds good practice to me RosieH, muzzle all

> dogs as you suggest, before they leave home and

> reach the street.

You don't half talk some rubbish steveT Why don't we punish all teenage boys when only a few of them are bad >:D< As a person who obviously hates dogs, you should maybe walk away from threads like this, you don't help.

[SteveT]

Bonniebird I could not walk away from the pitbull which attacked me.

I am a citizen,

I was attacked,

I am allowed my say.

I am not intent on punishing all dogs, merely making the animals safe enough, for strangers to feel safe.

I think it would be no different to putting the lead on, the animal would get excited at the anticipation of the excercise, not the actual muzzle wearing.

I do not hate dogs at all, I hate the fear they can cause people.

I resent the lazy obnoxious owners who only care about whether it won the fight.

Although the responsible owners are not guilty of fighting dogs, not all collect up their pets deposits.

All I wish is to cross open public land and not be at risk from an unleashed animal.

[bonniebird]

Not all dogs are like the pitbull that attacked you! I have 2 toy breeds one of which is blind! She stays on the lead 90% of the time, would she be a threat to you? I think not. I don't feel safe with some people in the parks, what should we do, stop men on there own or groups of youths from hanging in the park because I don't feel safe?

Surely you are not afraid of every dog you meet? I too cannot understand why these thugs get these poor dogs, abuse them, make them fight, don't pick up after them etc etc. Why nothing is being done about these "people" is totally beyond me, but I suspect it comes down to funding as does everything else. These people need to be punished and yes some breeds are not suitable as pets to these idiots. The thing with you SteveT is that in threads to do with dogs, you make horrid remarks abouth them and totally come across as a dog hater, my dogs are 2 of the lovliest, well behaved dogs you could ever wish to meet and to put them in muzzles is totally rediculous. You seem to like wildlife as I read your remarks in the wildlife threads, but because one dog has attacked you, you should not be against them all.

[????]

100

[ImpetuousVrouw]

I once had two guys attempt to rape me. I think all men should have to wear chastity belts.

I am a citizen,

I was attacked,

I am allowed my say.

I am not intent on punishing all guys, merely making the men safe enough, for strangers to feel safe.

I think it would be no different to putting the condom on, the guy would get excited at the anticipation of the excercise, not the actual chastity belt wearing.

I do not hate men at all, I hate the fear they can cause people.

I resent the lazy obnoxious men who only care about whether they got what they wanted.

Although the responsible men are not guilty of trying to rape, not all are as responsible.

All I wish is to cross open public land and not be at risk from an unfettered male.

[RosieH]

bonniebird, to be fair, I think Steve was responding to my post, where I said that if you're going to muzzle one dog, you should muzzle them all. Just because toy dog owners don't like my staff doesn't mean that he should be made to wear a muzzle while their dogs aren't.

I don't actually think dogs should be muzzled, licences is a good way to go.

[Huggers]

-Steve T says he was attacked by a pitbull. They are by law required to be muzzled. It wasnt. So how would a law on muzzling have protected him? It was unaccompanied- that was the problem.

-The dog that rushed out of the house and attacked the OPs dog would also not have been muzzled under any muzzling law, since it was in its own home from which it escaped.

-no muzzle will protect you from a serioulsy aggressive dog- especially if unaccompanied. They can get them off, they can bite through them.

-if you have a serious fear of something which is impeding your peaceful progress through the world then you need to address this perhaps with a cognitative behavioural therapist. A fear of lions may be evolutions way of making you sensible when walking through the savannah, but a fear of all dogs is just screwing your life.

- lastly, the sight of quite a few muzzled dogs is misleading. Many dogs are muzzled periodically to stop them eating all the chicken bones.

[KidKruger]

It always astounds me that members of the public are allowed to walk about with animals (on a lead or otherwise) which, if they (the animals !) lose their temper / feel inclined, are capable of badly mauling or killing another member of the public while being ferocious or intimidating enough to prevent successful intervention by bystanders.

For me, it should not be about anything other than the potential damage an animal has the power to inflict on somebody.

Animals that can inflict slight injury, maybe.

Animals that can inflict major injury, why ?

[first mate]

It's arguable that the animal species with the greatest capacity and motivation to harm you and that is wandering around unrestrained is homo sapien.

[KidKruger]

First Mate it's an obvious point but what's the point in making it ? Are you saying because homo sapiens are dangerous there should be NO restictions on other animals because that would be HYPOCRITICAL ??

[first mate]

Dogs, the species I believe you are referring to, are already restricted by, for the most part, being kept on a lead. Most people agree that dogs should not be allowed to roam unleashed on the public highways and byways. Any dog that is so aggressive and strong that it can drag its owner towards something it wants to attack is, first off, so unusual that it becomes a statistical anomaly, and would not anyway be curtailed by muzzling (as Huggers has already said).

Any person that regularly walks a dog offlead on the street/has a highly aggressive dog that they do not control, is not, I think, the type of person to muzzle their dog whether it is the law or not. You may not be aware that it is already illegal to cross a road with an unleashed dog- people still do it though.

It is my belief that dangerous humans, prone to violent behavior, probably enjoy greater freedom and exist in greater number than do highly aggressive dogs. It's a slightly flip observation but I do feel the dog thing is somewhat sensationalised by people who don't really think through what they are saying.

[bonniebird]

I just heard on London radio 94.9 that parliament are debating dangerous dogs again this week. This time they are considering prosecuting the owner of the dog and not targeting certain breeds.

A representative from the Dogs Trust said " Just beacause a dog looks a certain way, doesn't mean that it will act a certain way". If you can't be bothered to train your dog and teach it basic good manners and easy commands, then with certain breeds you'll be in trouble. Lets hope the powers that be get it right this time and that they follow through the prosecuting of the owners, its not rocket science.

[pommie]

best thing to do if this ever happens again is not hit the dog or kick it but to put your hand over its nose so it cant breathe and then has to release its grip on the other dog. Only found this out after the attack that i witnessed

[ianr]

>I just heard on London radio 94.9 that parliament are debating dangerous dogs again this week.

I guess that's the second reading of Lord Redesdale's Dog Control Bill. http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/dogcontrolhl.html

[believe]

There is a middle aged man that walks thru ED with his dog without a lead, his dog is a stocky docked weimaraner NOT to be confused with Clarence from the Bishop which is a lovely good natured dog. Well this dog is agressive and attacks other dogs. Please beware, The Man is Gingerish with a limp also agressive. Use a lead, put your dog on a lead.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Oh I frequently meet that man when I'm out dog walking. He's very friendly and charming. It's always my dog that's going for his so I'm always apologising. (My dog has a pathalogical hatred of Weimaraners.)

[believe]

Different opinion, his dog attacks other dogs and is NOT kept on a lead!

[ianr]

I looked at the Hansard report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/100709-0002.htm of that Bill reading that I mentioned on 8 July. The Bill itself seems to me unlikely to get anywhere in the long run (eg: "This Bill needs such an enormous amount of improvement that maybe it should be retired into private life."), but there was, pre-election, a Defra public consultation on dangerous dogs legislation http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/dangerous/index.htm, and I got the impression that the present government is committed to looking at its outcome.