To the man who was walking his 2 dogs on Ondine Road last night! (June 2011)

[Willard]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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I'm becoming increasingly

> uncomfortable with the witch hunty tone of this

> thread.

It's not a witch hunt. The term witch hunt refers to scape-goating and some sort of moral panic or hysteria. As a dog owner he is responsible for his dogs' behaviour. It's his choice not to walk them on a lead (despite previous form) and there are more than enough witnesses to what happened. Yes, you might be feeling uncomfortable but probably not as uncomfortable as the owner of the cat who had its face mauled off.

[first mate]

Pommie, I agree, that you can never trust any dog 100% around children, but that is generally more a reflection of the way some children are allowed to pull animals around. If dogs were generally such a liability around people and children, they would not have evolved over thousands of years to live so closely with us. I am frequently shocked by the things some toddlers do to dogs they don't know. I feel that as a society we have lost a degree of animal know-how and there are completely unrealistic expecations of how much a dog or cat is supposed to put up with to be deemed 'safe'.

[Sunlover00]

Really awful to hear about the poor cat, we have two lovely jack russell shih tzu cross dogs that often get confused with the two alleged attackers as we also frequent goose green. we sometimes talk to the guy that people are suggesting and we will ask him about it.

We always walk our dogs on leashes until they hit the park as i wouldn't be surprised if they chased a cat out of instinct but im pretty sure they are not cat killers as they have lived with cats before.

anyway please don't confuse my wee dogs as the culprits we are as shocked as anyone by the very sad post,

[cassidy]

Does anyone know if it was a black and white cat that was killed as we have a frequent visitor to our house and we haven't seen him for a couple of days.

[InScarlet]

Yes it was the black and White cat. We've been seeing it quite frequently down Ondine Road recently. It seems like the cat was quite old and had cataracts.

[DeptfordDiva]

Poor little thing - it really didnt stand a chance !!

[honeybee79]

Please contact the Police and the RSPCA so see what, if any, action can be taken.

Horrifying.

[sweet megan]

This is horrific - I have cats & a dog they all get on well, but I would still not trust my dog not to chase a cat outside if it run,as its a natural instinct thats why its important to have it on a lead when walking in the street.

If people know who this man is then they have to report him to police/RSPCA- it sounds like trying to talk to him makes no difference, he needs someone with authority to address it otherwise other cats in the area are not safe.

[Ingrime]

Terrible, what sort of animal (no pun intended) would let something like this happen??

[Frankito]

I have two points to make in response to the above:

1- talking to this man obviously hasn't worked in the past and if it had, this poor wee cat wouldn't have died under such horrific circumstances. How many more innocent animals are at risk\ will be injured whilst these animals are allowed to run free by this ignorant idiot. This isn't a witch hunt, it's an opportunity to do some proactive (or would that be rwactive now given the circumstances...?).

2- on the point re all dogs being killers... Only in the same way as humans are killers.. Applying that same logic I guess you could say that kids aren't safe either from any adult as we too have the potential to kill. Are all dogs killers by instinct? No? Am I wrong? Perhaps but someone needs to prove it beyond reasonable doubt before I will even consider it. I am a dog person through and through although very realistic about the potential threat an untrained or misguided dog however all dogs in my experience who have been properly nurtured and disciplined would never randomly attack a person unless placed under considerable threat of attack. Yes there are devil dogs out there and devil owners too but to tarnish all of our four legged friends with that one brush is to create unnecessary hysteria.

End rant!

L'enfern c'est les autres indeed! Grrrr...

[dulwichbloke]

So, is someone going to do something by way of reporting him to the Police/RSPCA? Peckham Native - your mum appears to know who he is. Others do too. I would suggest someone reporting him, rather than just moaning on here about it. If he is left to his own devices his dogs will likely kill again and if that could have been prevented...

[Willard]

Well said.

dulwichbloke Wrote:

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> So, is someone going to do something by way of

> reporting him to the Police/RSPCA? Peckham Native

> - your mum appears to know who he is. Others do

> too. I would suggest someone reporting him,

> rather than just moaning on here about it. If he

> is left to his own devices his dogs will likely

> kill again and if that could have been

> prevented...

[celebrationoftheyear]

I agree. I would happily drop a call to the RSPCA if I knew who he was/where he lived. If anyone knows, PM me.

[nancysmum]

if you are talking about the elderly man who walks his two russells on goose green, I know him personally and cannot believe he would allow this kind of behaviour. His dogs bark but don't bite (when I was childminding the children would always play with the dogs and the man made sure the dogs were well behaved). Please don't point fingers unless you are sure it is that person.

[Huggers]

I know who you mean Nancysmum, and he has got very forgetful of late.

A lot of dogs will chase cats, jack russells in particular, with chase instinct, and that is one of the reasons they need to be on the lead in the street- they could knock over a cyclist, cause a crash, anything, in pursuit of a cat.

My own dog when on lead, cannot bear onlead dogs, and gets very stressed encountering these two dogs, though is fine with them in park.

This was obviously a horrible and traumatic event for the OP as well as for the poor cat, and while I think this man must control his dogs on the street, I do not think - if he is the one we know- he is a deliberatley cruel man, he loves his dogs -but possibly has the beginnings of a touch of dementia.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

He is now walking them on leads.

[KestonKid]

Agree with Nancysmum. We know Ray to chat to and he is outraged to learn that he has been the object of these posts. He denies being involved. While therefore we have no knowledge of what happened in this distressing case, we too feel that we should not rush to judgement before all the facts are known.

[paphio]

May I talk about Mr Tiddles and friends who use my garden as toilet cum hunting ground. let us not forget cats are the one of the very few animal that kill for thrills... 200 000 wild birds a day in Great Britain. So why not spare a thought for our native wild life endangered by the whims of cruel cats.

[paphio]

just to follow thread

[genwilliams]

"cruel cats"?

What an absurd thing to post - and quite irrelevant to this discussion. We are talking about a dog owner taking responsibility for the dogs he walks through local public streets. We are not debating the natural instincts of animals (or assigning morals to them); their natural behaviour isn't in question, nor is anyone blaming the dogs.

[melanie]

I think there are a lot of very irresponsible daog owners out there at the moment.

The other day, I was walking my little shi-tzu and a man with two staffies was near me. I am frightened of these dogs due to bad experiences of them attacking mine in the past. I must have looked a bit scared, because he said to me that he would keep them on the lead.

I carried on walking and sat down on the hill at dawson heights and next things this great big snarling black dog was hurtling towards me.

it was horrendous. It grabbed my dog and all I could do was to try to keep mine off the ground whilst this things kept grabbing it. I virtualy had to strangel my dog with its own lead to keep it away from this mad dogs teeth.I couldnt pick mine up because I am pregnant and was scared the other dog would try to get me if i held my dog or knock me over. I was screaming. eventually the owner came and just grabbed his dog and started beating it around the head. i was totally shaken up. things have got so bad with these sort of dogs where i live that i am thinking about giving mine away, because the anxiety of walking her is huge. Its like facing a gauntlet of savage out of control dogs and stupid mindless owners every time i go for a walk!

[nancysmum]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. but you're right, it's often the owners, not the dogs that are the problem. Although this owner did say he would keep his dogs on the lead and perhaps (I'm assuming) only let them off when he didn't see you (if you were sitting, perhaps you were out of the line of his vision?). However, if his response was to beat his dog around the head, it's no wonder that the dog is the way he is. Beating a dog only breeds a dog with behaviour issues. It would be a shame if you had to get rid of your dog...are there not local school children (of an appropriate age) who could walk the dog for you? Good luck with the pregnancy.

[petersen]

So many irresponsible people with dogs these days, people seem to forget that they are part wolf at the end of the day. I never liked Jack Russells to be honest. Ive never met one i like anyway. I really am starting to think that should have to get a dog licence before being allowed a dog, and that ownership should maybe be regulated. After all its not just other animals that get hurt, horrific as that is, think of that little girl in Liverpool. :(

[Alex K]

Oh, Melanie. I hope that you posted out of excitement when you wrote that you might give your Shih-Tzu away. Surely she would miss you dreadfully. Would she ever understand that your decision to separate your lives wasn't HER fault?

Be staunch: Carry your head high, carry a knobkerry or a sword-cane should a dog again have at either of you, and carry on!

[aquarius moon]

Melanie,

I feel very sorry for you, because I know exactly how you feel.

I have 3 shih-tzu X yorkies and used to walk them all together. One of them was attacked by a staff last year (I

posted about it on here)

Mine were on leads on the pavement when the out of control beast flew out of an open gate. Because I had all 3 dogs,

I couldn't pick them up or react quick enough. Luckily a neighbour appeared & managed to get the dog off before it did

any real harm.

It left me shaken & apprehensive to walk my dogs, as this was not the first time that bigger dogs have gone for mine.

Since then, I walk my dogs one at a time, usually round the roads, but sometimes in the local cemetery (never in the park), where I'm constantly looking around me & keeping off main paths where other dogwalkers might be.

Having small dogs these days is a nightmare with so many irresponsible owners letting dogs that they know can be vicious, off the lead in public places.

Not only is it inconvenient, having to go out on three separate occasions twice a day, it has got to the stage where what should be an enjoyable experience is now so stressful, I can't wait to get my dogs back indoors.

I hope that you and your little dog are ok.