Out of control dogs

[Accy cyclist]

I've just heard on the local radio that a dog has been shot dead in Speke Liverpool after it mauled a Scottish Terrier to death and attacked its owner,which police described as an horrific attack The other week an elderly woman out walking her Dachshund around here was attacked by a Rottweiler after it first attacked her dog. Naturally she's upset about it, The dog survived but she hardly takes it out now, Every day i see chav types around here out walking with dangerous looking dogs not on leads and without collars (so they can put them on a lead if another dog approaches)., I went for a ride on the canal tow path yesterday, a dangerous looking dog off the lead blocked my path. I had to dismount and calmly walk past the monster as it growled at me.
The question is where do we stand with defending ourselves against these dangerous dogs? The police say it's not an issue until they actually bite you which to me is a bit late! Why don't the police when driving past these irresponsible owners(to put it mildly)stop them and order them to put the dog on a lead or threaten to call out the dog warden who'll take it away and charge them. When i take my little dog out now i always carry a heavy steel walking stick to defend us if we are attacked. I've even looked up stuff about pepper sprays but i believe that if you carry such a thing you'll be in more trouble than the cretins you're defending yourselves against!

 

[Accy cyclist]

Here's more on the story.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/speke-dog-attack-armed-officers-9791253

 

[Levo-Lon]

We need a" destroy the owner policy" in this country..
morons and their ego's..init

we have similar incidents here with out of control people who have dogs

 

[Accy cyclist]

I've just heard another story on the local radio about a dog on dog attack, This time it was in quite posh Lytham St Annes where a 12 year old blind poodle was so badly savaged by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier type dog it had to be put down. The owner was an elderly man who just walked away, according to reports. So it's not always young chav types who let their dogs wander around in a dangerous manner!

 

[ScotiaLass]

It's simple. Unless it's a working dog, like a farmers dog or Police dog, all dogs must be under control (i.e. on a lead/long lead) in public places.
Microchipping is going to be law soon, why can't they add in that dogs must be on a lead?
No matter how under control you think your dog is, it is an animal, and as such has the capability to kill.

I've owned German Shepherds for years and my dogs have had the sweetest temperaments you could find.
But I would NEVER leave any of them alone in a room with my children/grandchildren. Ever.

 

[Svendo]

It's already a requirement for dogs to be on a lead on the public highway which covers a large proportion of public places. Highways act 1984? I think. And under 'close control' on land with livestock, which isn't specifically defined but is taken to mean on a lead or as-good-as discipline.

 

[swee'pea99]

all dogs must be under control (i.e. on a lead/long lead) in public places.

As an owner, I have to say that seems a bit OTT to me, and I'd hate to see it enforced. I take my hound to t'woods every day, and she loves to go off for a sniff through the bushes. Having her on a lead just wouldn't be the same. Nor is she - or 99.999% of dogs - any danger to anyone when runing around like that. Sounds a bit 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' to me.

I don't know what the answer is, TBH. Tho' personally I think I'd start with including more dogs in the list of banned species. I'm sure there's any number of cuddly-wuddly staffs out there who 'would never hurt a fly', but the fact remains, too many of them do the 'he's never done that before' thing every year to make them, IMHO, a risk worth taking. I'd look pretty slantwise at rottweilers and dobermans too...

 

[Svendo]

This was also one of the 'push' factors that led to me moving from Rochdale to Todmorden.

An increasing number of incidents walking Daisy on the canal culminating in a ~£300 trip to the emergency vet in Bury when a staffie (off the lead) belonging to a 'scutter' bit her front leg needing 10 stitches.

Acc. To GF who was walking her the owner was more bothered about getting his dog and legging it than taking responsibility, which might have been wise actually as GF was for ripping his front leg open and didn't chase him only because she needed to look after Daisy.

She also said Daisy (10 year old at the time Border Collie) wasn't having any of it off this dog and was fighting back until her leg was bitten. Which does make me sort of proud, especially as I'm a complete coward!

 

[Andy_R]

As an owner, I have to say that seems a bit OTT to me, and I'd hate to see it enforced. I take my hound to t'woods every day, and she loves to go off for a sniff through the bushes. Having her on a lead just wouldn't be the same. Nor is she - or 99.999% of dogs - any danger to anyone when runing around like that. Sounds a bit 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' to me.

I don't know what the answer is, TBH. Tho' personally I think I'd start with including more dogs in the list of banned species. I'm sure there's any number of cuddly-wuddly staffs out there who 'would never hurt a fly', but the fact remains, too many of them do the 'he's never done that before' thing every year to make them, IMHO, a risk worth taking. I'd look pretty slantwise at rottweilers and dobermans too...

All dogs have the potential to be dangerous. Because they are pack animals, there will be a time when a dog, if not properly brought up and treated, will challenge other pack members or protect their pack from others. It's their nature. To single out any particular breed is just ridiculous - the owners need to be looked at and determined whether they are suited to the breed of dog, or indeed whether they should be allowed to own dogs.

 

[rualexander]

It's an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act for any dog to be dangerously out of control, it doesn't have to be any defined dangerous breed.
Dangerously out of control just means that the dog is causing someone to feel their safety is threatened.
http://www.deednotbreed.org.uk/index.php/0-dog-laws/dangerous-dogs-act-section-3

 

[DRHysted]

The only time I have ever had one of my dogs attacked was by Jack Russells.
A lot of the "Vicious" breeds in this country are sweet and gentle in others where they are brought up as family pets.
Having spent many years dealing with "dodgy dogs" in rescue (most were retrained and rehomed), whenever I see a bad dog story I always want to deal with the person who made it that way.

Personally we walk the New Forest everyday with our pack of six, only 1 will not be trained to sufficient standards to be let off the lead and enjoy her walk. But she is completely deaf, blind in her right eye, and has failing sight in her left, she is walked on a flexi

 

[Mark1978]

I agree with the shooting of owners who dont realise that if they cant control their dogs, they should be on a lead....

We climbed Scafell Pike last week. On the way down we witnessed two dogs (springer spaniels) that were off lead, chasing a sheep down into the valley. Knowing that if the farmer was about, he would be entitled to shoot the dogs to protect his livestock, we tried to get over the valley to restrain them. Just before we got there we saw the owner chasing them. He managed to catch up with the dogs (after the dogs had spent 10 minute chasing and antagonising the sheep) and to our horror, we saw him starting to punch the dogs in the head in what I assume was his way of punishing them for his inability to control them. Needless to say, I shouted at him across the river, called him a "Fskng sicko" and gave him a piece of my mind. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a video of this in order to report him. He turned away and continued back up the mountain with his dogs on leads.

This sort of person should be put down.

 

[Accy cyclist]

As i said before in my opening post, i can't see why the police don't stop these thug types who just let their dogs wander 20 feet in front or behind them? To me it's a form of intimidation. You can see people crossing the road or shutting their doors when Tyson's approaching. It's not necessarily the dog i have an issue with, more the stupid owner! Some of these dogs look like they're pissed off with their dumbo owners and would give anything for a quiet life instead of being used as a weapon by their owners.

 

[rualexander]

No it doesn't. Section 3 is a specific offence, and the wording " (a) it injures any person; or (b)there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will do so" applies only to that specific offence - which is around dogs in private places, not in public. The web-site you link to has misread the legislation and conflated lots of things.

No it hasn't, and yes it applies to public places.
https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/overview

 

[swee'pea99]

All dogs have the potential to be dangerous.

To single out any particular breed is just ridiculous

I agree with and acknowledge the first statement, which is one of the reasons I admitted that I don't claim to have any definitive answer to the problem, but I do disagree with the second. Some breeds are more hard-wired for aggression than others - and often they're the ones that can also do the most damage. The two tend to go together because certain breeds have been consciously bred that way, for generations. Staffs have for centuries been fighting dogs; rottweilers & dobermans have been guard dogs. When any of these breeds is allowed to go bad, there's a real danger that they will go really bad, and become really dangerous. Unlike, say, corgis or beagles or spaniels.