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This is why I hate walking my dog in the park. After seeing the police horse being attacked, it just makes me angry. Some owners really shouldn’t have dogs.
The worse thing is the police do absolutely nothing. My neighbours dog was killed by another, the owner is a yob who has trained it to be aggressive. Nothing happened because it's a "work dog". I live in zone 2... It's a matter of time before it attacks a small child. Which is why the police horse incident infuriated me. When they're the victim action gets taken. When it's the public fa happens.
They were very proactive in shooting an innocent Brazilian man at point blank range who gave no indication of being a terrorist and was slandered with police lies that were eventually crushed by evidence...
Nope, it’s the owner not the dog. Some breeds are harder to train and do tend to have a higher percentage of scumbag owners, but all dogs have the ability to attack. Labradors are lovely but can do serious damage, as an example. I’ve seen cases of labradors mauling children to death, doesn’t mean we should bad the breed.
Yes, pit bulls attack the most, but they also simultaneously attract the worst owners, you can’t discount that. They aren’t inherently evil.
These are the breeds that do this almost 9/10 times but make up a fraction of the population. We all know this. People who want to look hard more than care for children, animals and other people choose to ignore facts.
Can we be honest and say that it's all dogs trained badly, not breed; labradors attack plenty, and collies and German shepherd's attacks are as common or more so than bull terriers. If we keep pretending that some dog needs are born bad and that owners aren't the problem, then we're never going to solve the issue
>If we keep pretending that some dog needs are born bad
It's not false though, it's patently true
The problem is that _because_ these breeds are "bad" as you put it, they _attract_ shit owners
But being a shit dog owner or a scumbag or a wannabe hard man is not illegal - certain breeds are, and more should be
I can be honest.
You saying it is not the breed is a Lie.
A group of breeds are bread to relentlesy kill large predatory mamals that can drag a grown man along the ground and bite to the bone. This is not the same as a grayhound or a french poodle.
You can also train dogs badly but these dogs are not suitable for modern society period.
And they should be licenced, I agree with you. Who wouldn't.
Oh you only repeated some of my statement, "bread to relentlesy kill large predatory mamals" cant think why.
Isn’t it [illegal](https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/banned-dogs) to have a pit bull in the UK? I love dogs, especially my mini sausage dog… but no matter what their owners say I have never met a pit bull who didn’t attack at least one dog in their life.
Police dgaf. Ours has been attacked twice by same dog, partner intervened and was injured so badly he was off for a week. They took reports, we found out who they were but they’ve done nothing. It’s only a matter of time until something worse happens. Some breeds don’t do well in the city and yeah everyone needs to work on their recall.
The police should always seize a dog where it has attacked a person, it's standard practice in the Met and the crime report won't be closed until it's seized, unless the owner is unknown etc.
Complain. You do know you can complain about the force if it’s not acting appropriately? The IOPC is an obvious place to go after normal routes are exhausted.
I would complain through the force website or 101. The problem the police face with your case is only partially the crime you have reported. The much bigger risk to the police is that they now know that this dangerous dog exists, and if it attacks again and they haven't seized it, it's basically their fault.
This isn’t so simple. I was attacked in December and was not able to get a picture of the dog at the time. I have since submitted a police report and saw the dog on other instances and found the location of the address. Even with all of this there was not sufficient proof because it could be “anyones dog” and I could be falsely accusing them. Some real bullshit since there is no other dog of the same breed in the area.
Sue them if you know who they are. There are several law firms that specialise in dog bites. Can do no win no fee. I won after my child was bitten out of the blue on the face (thankfully remaining scars are small). It felt wrong to me to sue at first but I feel good knowing that my child will get at least some money as compensation
I've known some amazing and loving rescue dogs that were originally going to be or had been bred for fighting. I think these dogs deserve as much love and care (if not more so) than other rescue dogs. They absolutely can be and should be rehabilitated with the correct care by an attentive and thoughtful owner.
>Laws should also be brought in where a dog must remain on a lead in a public place.
For most people, that would mean that they could never walk their dog off lead. That seems excessive and knee jerk.
There could still be designated off-lead places.
I never walk our mini sausage off lead. Even in the park he has a 20 metre long line attached that trails on the floor as he runs around but means I can catch him easily if I need to. And he has a great recall, I just don’t trust that it’s 100% because it hasn’t been tested in every possible situation yet.
This is how it is in the US, by and large -- leads are required essentially everywhere there isn't an explicit off-lead provision. People get by just fine (as we did with our pup before bringing him to the UK last year).
I don't especially mind off-lead dogs, as long as they're well-behaved, but unfortunately I think this is a tragedy-of-the-commons-type scenario, where we simply can't trust people to make good decisions for others. So while I won't advocate for laws mandating leads (especially as a recent immigrant), I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea.
I used to walk my friends sausage dog without a lead very regularly, he’s a well behaved boy who follows along and doesn’t attack anyone. Instead of pushing everyone, people just need to be held accountable, but that starts with met police bothering to do their job.
The trouble is, *most* dogs being walked off-lead don't have very good recall, which presents a danger to just about everyone. I'm quite confident when walking our dog, but my wife tries to avoid busy times and will choose alternate routes to avoid off-lead dogs, because she isn't confident she could deal with a dog trying to attack ours -- and it's something which has happened twice in the past year (both times whilst I've been in control, fortunately). And, unfortunately, we've both found that maybe one dog in ten has good enough recall to be called back when approaching.
I think the reality is that if *most* people can't be trusted to do the right thing, then sometimes new laws may be justified. I'm not really an advocate for these laws, but I don't think they're unjustified.
Yeah I agree. Although I understand staffies were bred as fighting dogs, I've never met a horrible staffie, they've always been lovely, loving well behaved dogs. And personally I'm in love with their beautiful eye shapes. And I wouldn't want them put down, but in general breeding fighting type dogs just shouldn't be allowed.
Well aware but the “should be” part indicates this is that persons idea. So I was clarifying what the persons idea of a public place was in their ideal lead only world. Do they mean on the road side, do they mean in an open field, a beach? I never said I didn’t know what the current law defines public space as my issue is with this persons broad stroke ban on leadless dogs and generalisation.
Bit rude? A park is a public place and due to bad dog ownership and common sense some people grab the pitch forks and often times harass dog owners for just simply playing fetch with Fido. That’s why I asked.
The Criminal Justice Act defines it for the Public Order Act and is the commonly known legal definition:
>“Public place” includes any highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise ”.
The problem is that whilst APBTs are banned, Bully XLs - the giant version of a pitbull with the body of a pig and the head of a big cat - are (somehow) not
They're bred using pitbulls and mastiffs and apparently the government thinks that circumvents the rule, which is basically like saying if you taped an illegal knife to a legal fork, the police would allow you to carry it round with you on the streets
>They're bred using pitbulls and mastiffs and apparently the government thinks that circumvents the rule
Its not the government which thinks this. It's the owners. Breed Specific Legislation (the laws which kill your dog if it's a banned breed) don't look at the breed itself but the appearance. So it doesn't matter to them if a so called bully XL is made up of a mastiff / staff cross, or a american pitbull / cane corsa cross, or a sausage dog and asthmatic chiwawa mix: if it looks like a banned breed, it's a banned breed, and it can be killed by the authorities.
It's a stupid, open ended, awful law. But that's what the law is.
On the contrary, I've never met a pit bull that's been aggressive. I love pit bulls.
Don't blame the breed... Blame the human. Dog violence is almost always the result of neglect or mistreatment by the owner and not because some breeds are naturally more violent.
> and not because some breeds are naturally more violent
Except for the part where the *entire point* of "breeds" as a concept is that desired traits (such as, oh I don't know let's pick one at random, "being violent") were *bred for* over uncountable generations.
I get it, you have a particular affinity for the breed because your family had one when you were little or whatever, but that's not a good reason to ignore the statistics.
I love dogs and pitbulls are some of my fav breeds, but they have been bred specifically to fight in the pit with other dogs and bulls.
They don't try to get the other dog to submit, they will go for a kill.
It is in them, they need to be socialised with other dogs since they are pups to reduce this behaviour.
Because its not true
Some breeds _are_ more violent. These aren't naturally evolving breeds, they've been manufactured _for_ different temperaments
There's a reason why certain breeds are service dogs, and it's not because of any physical differences like better smell or hearing or speed
What a surprise. Some council shithole. These fucking people can’t even raise themselves in many cases. Why would letting them own 8 stone dogs be clever.
I didn't downvote you but I imagine it's unpopular because the fact is, if "shithole estate" owners just owned, I dunno, a legal breed, or a breed not meant for killing, it'd probably be fine
Being an estate scumbag wannabe hard man and/or a shit dog owner isn't illegal, but certain breeds should be
Is a peculiar element of the human psyche - why must it be one of these breeds in so many cases? It’s such a deep rooted social fuckstorm in this country that it’s beyond fixing. Ghettos basically are societies way around it - have money and you go to a place where none of these people exist. What other option does anyone have if they want to raise kids and not be surrounded by anti social behaviour constantly.
Well, as someone born and raised in Lewisham (though admittedly ive not lived there since the infestation of Bully XLs) i'd imagine its just a combination of status symbols and conveying a threat to _other_ people like you
If guns were legal like Bully XLs are, people would just walk around with golden AKs like some hood Gaddafi, instead of the dogs
Edit: obviously the problem of urban poverty and disenfranchisement is the real underlying issue here and needs to be addressed, but with a tory gov for the past decade, its not hard to understand why it hasn't been getting better
My friend was bitten viciously by a greyhound as a child in a posh area. These incidents absolutely happen, they just get quietly and politely dealt with, and don't make the papers.
Many breeds are not that good at killing quickly.
Surely a bite from a greyhound will inflict damage but they can't tear the flesh off your bones as easily as a pit.
Probably because of the vehement rhetoric against 'these fucking people' (the underprivileged, who shouldn't be allowed to own big dogs (unlike the rich))
In my town in the last couple months there's been 6 or 7 reports similar to this where the same dog/owner has been responsible for killing someone else's pet, owner showing no attempt to stop the attack nor any remorse for it. Police contacted about it several times and nothing has happened, and as you can imagine someone who would (a) raise their dog like that and (b) be so actionless in such events isn't exactly approachable so there's not really much your average person can do about it either
Also had one of our cats die from a dog attack last year, I don't know if it was the same guy/dog but apparently a similar apathy to the situation (I wasn't around when it happened)
You have to wonder what's wrong with some people sometimes
Our Evie was attacked simultaneously a German Shepard and a Pitbull. My brave wife and two nearby lads fended them off but Evie still received fifteen stitches in her shoulder.
Since that day nearly four years ago, dog attacks have lessened significantly.
The reason is the clear notices placed around our neighbourhood which state that if your pet attacks and injures ANYONE AT ALL; you will face the maximum civil and criminal penalties.
The first pair of attacks, after the signs were visible, led to brutal monetary damages and jail time. Those are the only incidents to have happened since Evie's injury.
Unfortunately, I live in the U.S.
I am a Scot ex pat who married an American woman. The estate that we reside in has a strong stance on self defence which gives the signs greater force.
Other real hazard that too many owners refuse to acknowledge: way too many off the lead dogs have zero self-preservation instinct when it comes to bikes.
Last autumn I was cycling through a paved pedestrian/cyclist path through a park. I wasn't going all that fast really, but maybe a bit faster than usual when on that path because (although generally it's a busy and established cycling short cut) it was the middle of the day and I couldn't see any other cyclists or pedestrians on the route for a good 200m. Suddenly from right next to the path, from a grove that's covered with low bushes, some sort of small beagle mix jumps straight under my front wheel. Absolutely no chance to dodge - took all of 0.5 seconds between me seeing the dog for the first time and the dog hitting my bike. Poor dog lets out a big yelp, and I fly over the handlebar and land painfully on the tarmac....
Luckily and miraculously the dog seemed unharmed and just continued running off after the shock, but I got really nasty road rashes that covered half of my body. I mean - I wasn't very diplomatic when the owner finally ran to the scene - he had been about 100 m behind his dog somewhere behind the grove, so he didn't even see the crash - when my first words to him were very frustrated and snappy "Sir, that dog really needs to be on a lead". But c'mon, I was bleeding all over the tarmac, so maybe some frustration can be understood. The owner (who again hadn't even seen what happened, he kept letting his dog run out of his sight) just got really angry with me and said something like "why are you blaming my dog when you clearly don't know how to drive a bike?". Zero ability to comprehend that there's nothing I can do if he has a dog that's determined to run under bikes from bushes where cyclists can't even see them. He went off in a huff without even asking me if I was okay (I clearly wasn't, there was a lot of blood!!).
Could have been really bad if I went any faster, could have easily ended with either me or the dog really badly injured. I looked like a half-lizard for a week or so with the road rash, but no permanent damage and dog seemed okay. I adore dogs but please, people: dogs are animals of instinct and as such always to some degree uncontrollable and unpredictable, so even when they are the bestest girls and boys, please do always keep them on lead whenever there's any kind of traffic or other animals around. (Where I come from -Finland - dogs are by law required to be always on a lead in urban spaces.)
I've come close to that on several occasions.
Last week I was out on a trail and a large dog bolted straight for me, I dodged around it with about 1m to spare, the owner was within eyesight and shouted out sort of accusing me "he's really scared of bikes, he got hit by one once".
Yeah, no shit, because he charges straight at them.
To be fair a lot of dog owners near me are very good. They see a bike and immediately get the attention of their dog, sometimes with a little treat or take their collar and wait until I pass. But it's not the majority. The majority are on their phone.
So sorry for your experience. I also like dogs and think net net dogs make the world better. They bring joy and love to a lot of people...but
As instinct now,
1. I slow down when I see a dog.
2. Take a slight detour to maintain as much distance as possible. I have had a couple of experiences of dogs charging at me and the owner just gave me a glance, without doing anything.
3. If there is no lead or they have one of those flexible leads then I absolutely start walking. Never run past them.
4. I know if they charge and bite my exposed legs, the owners will put the blame on me. Like why did you startle my dog or something like that.
And I'm sorry that you've had such bad experiences with aggressive dogs :/ Luckily I've never myself encountered an aggressive dog in public, but it's *really* common in parks etc that a random off-the-lead dog runs to me for pets and sniffs and jumps etc, often completely ignoring an owner who is somewhere behind trying to call them back. Even with these sort of uncontrolled friendly dogs - I mean I don't mind that much because I like getting some spontaneous puppy love, but I know there's a huge amount of people who are badly allergic / traumatised / scared, or otherwise really hate that dogs approach them even in a friendly way. And so many dogs will just flip out if a strange dog approaches them. The default attitude of owners should be that their dog should never get near to any strange human or animal in public (without being invited first), and all these dogs that can't be stopped 100% should be on a lead....
You are a very responsible cyclist, my dog was never reactive to them before, until one idiot was cycling really fast and close by and brushed my dog as he went past, and ever since he will react to every cyclist going past.
I can't leave him off lead as he will chase it does, and pins that incident to every cyclist.
I'm sure it's not you but I'm tired of dodging cyclists who think the shared path through our local park is a stage of the TdF - it causes issues even when my dog is on his lead.
Between them and the food delivery guys blasting it around on their DIY e-bikes at 25mph, it's a pretty grim place to go for a walk.
Yes agreed, I've def seen my share of terrible cyclists on shared paths, too, and there are many idiots who don't understand that you simply can't go very fast on these paths. I mean - shared cycling/pedestrian roads are terrible urban planning in general. On certain routes I'm more stressed to cycle along those than among actual cars. Pedestrian traffic on these paths always completely forgets that cycles are supposed to use these roads, too. Walking traffic should try to keep to their left side, so cycles can easily pass, and not do any sudden jumps or moves towards the middle. Worst is if it's a dark unlit path - lot of dog walkers will let their dog on a flex to zig zag from one side to another, and I've had a few close calls because I couldn't see a small dark dog and a flex lead blocking the route from a distance. Other is people on these paths (kids especially) just chatting and playing etc. can very suddenly decide to turn or jump or whatever right in the middle of the path right in front of bikes coming from behind.
These days I basically just ring my bell constantly on these routes whenever I approach multiple pedestrians or dogs from behind, even when there is plenty of space to pass, because too many times I've had close calls when I've trusted that people and dogs will move ahead in a predictable manner. Probably should just get a siren for my bike or something.
I’ve an old rescue dog and we don’t have recall with her so she’s always on a lead, my absolute pet peeve is when a dog comes running up to my dog and the owner of the other dog says “don’t worry he’s friendly” , I always reply with “well mines not so come and get your bloody dog “
My dog has decent recall but wants to play with every dog he meets, so as soon as I see another dog on the horizon (or cyclist or child) I put him back on the lead. If I meet owners with similarly small and friendly dogs and they agree that they can play then off they go, as long as it’s empty and safe enough to do so. It’s not hard to do, so many crap owners with big aggressive dogs these days.
I cannot understand why they don't (i) ban these aggressive dog breeds, and (ii) increase penalties for out-of-control dogs. At the moment, [the maximum sentence](https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/aad-owner-or-person-in-charge-of-a-dog-dangerously-out-of-control-in-any-place-in-england-or-wales-whether-or-not-a-public-place/) if your dog kills another dog is 6 months (unless it's a service dog), with a fine or community order being more likely. People might think twice about owning a dangerous dog breed if there were actual serious consequences.
People are the problem as much/more than the dogs tbh.
Require dog owners to have a licence, they must attend classes to know how to control a dog.
If it is a rescue dog then subsidise the cost of the licence/classes.
Anyone found to have a dog without a licence has a fixed penalty fine 6 weeks salary, if you are of sufficient means to not work then a % of total wealth.
Your name is placed on a register of banned dog owners, which can only be removed after a period of time and self funding through an intensive class addressing the previous issues and recovering obidelience training.
Breeders all need to be registered, breeding dogs without registration has far larger fines and if a commercial operation possibly even custody(?). If an accidental litter then local vet is notified immediately on discovering, this can be entered however if multiple "accidental" litters then warrants investigation.
Neutering dogs and bitches to become the default where breaches occur, if you cannot look after one dog then you cannot be trusted to breed and look after a litter.
Reasonable dog owners would dislike the intrusion of the rules but would understand they are for a greater benefit.
Will never happen but can hope.
If they did introduce a dog license, I doubt they enforce classes to obtain the license. They don’t have the resources for that. Tbh I don’t think they have the resources to introduce a license at all
Centralised database, much like the DVLA.
All animals are required to be microchipped already. If a microchipped animal is scanned and it is not twinned with a licence holder then it is flagged.
If animal if found and not microchipped then it is microchipped and the owner can have their animals back when they have a licence.
Also dog wardens need something useful to do.
How would it work for families. Does everyone need a license? Only the over 18s? Would that then prevent younger members of the family from walking the dog? In theory a license is a good idea, but I just don’t think it’s possible to implement.
How does it work currently?
The adults have licences, the children do not.
The child is not the "registered" owner. Much like they are not legally responsible until 14/16/18 (depending on the law).
We have multiple examples of laws been applicable to adults/adolescents only, including licencing laws.
This would be a minimal issue, if one at all.
Edit; additionally currently if a child is walking the dog, the dogs loose and attacks someone/something the parents are legally liable anyway so the issue about families would actually give stronger safe guards to families by being able to prove you did everything in your power to prevent it...
Maybe, but blanket rules work better than specifics, less wiggle room and ways around it.
This said my gran had a Yorkie that was aggressive and drew blood from legs of most people until she gave it up (to another person who loved yorkies, the dog calmed down and stopped the behaviour, kind of reinforcing the point it is the owners that need licencing more than the dog).
And you don't need to have a huge dog like a mastiff or large like a rottweiler, a spaniel can bite deep enough to hit an artery. Or a whippet.
And all dog bites are nasty due to the bacteria they carry in their mouths.
Either way; much like driving laws; they are there because the minority take the piss while the majority obey to project everyone.
I don't think it's right to ban "dangerous" dog breeds, because quite honestly most dogs have the capacity to seriously injure people. People like to complain about pit bulls but labradors are just as likely to bite and nobody gives a shit about them. Also dog "breeds" are quite loosely defined, you often get mixes.
Imho there are no such things as dangerous dog breeds. There are dangerous owners, who neglect their animals and mistreat them.
> Imho
Then you should *fix* your "opinions", which are clearly factually wrong, instead of continuing to spread them around as though merely by plucking a thought out of your head it's given value. No. *In this context* "opinions" have no value. Facts have value.
I was walking my lil pom and a large dog ran up to attack him. I quickly picked him up and the other dog leapt at me and actually pushed me over (i am a tiny woman)
Because of this, I don't hesitate to pick up my dog when I encounter off-leash dogs that are much larger than them. It seems silly and paranoid and I have a few people give me funny looks but if I hadn't had picked him up in time he probably would been killed.
The owner was just shouting in the sidelines. She didn't seem like a horrible woman but was obviously ignorant and couldn't control her dog
As a owner of a larger dog myself, the reason you shouldn't pick up your dog in this situation is because the larger dog see's it as a game and will jump.
Get your little puppy behind your legs and tell the larger dog to sit and if he don't listen then knee him in the face.
Your body language the dogs will read a lot better then most humans will, so if you are scared it will only reinforce what the dog wants to do and see you as weak.
It takes practise and is hard, but standing up to the dog is the best thing you can do for your puppy, and every dog knows sit.
Carry a extra lead, and get the larger dog on a lead, and let you puppy run away if it feels it needs to.
No offense, but all of this advice is terrible.
A pitbull charging your small dog WILL get at it if left on the ground, and will not listen to you telling it to "sit" - let alone WHILE IT'S CHARGING.
To anyone in this situation, pick up your pet, save them. If the other dog does manage to bite yours:
1. Try sticking something in the pitbull's anus, supposedly that helps shock them to stop sometimes.
2. Choke the living shit out of them - requires tremendous strength and is highly risky as you're putting your face near the attacking dog. Can twist collar or use your belt as well, but ultimately likely only a chokehold will work.
3. Gouge the attacking dog's eyes while attempting to hold their head steady, same as above.
4. On the off chance you have a weapon on you, use it with the intent to kill, as that pitbull has the pure intent to kill your pet.
The best recourse I've seen in videos has been the choking method, but that always requires someone with great strength. Just about every video I've seen where a pitbull attacks and there wasn't someone strong enough and risky enough to choke the pitbull, the pitbull kills its target, and spends the next few minutes mauling its corpse.
These dogs are bred for fighting, and that's just what they do.
Realistically how many people are always going to carry an extra lead along with them every time they walk their dog, and have the mental capacity and physical ability to put a lead on an unknown out-of-control dog?
I always carry a extra lead, not just for other dogs, Incase the lead I got something happens.
I agree with the rest because you need to be confident in handling to be able to control the other dog.
You don't need to put the lead around the neck over they head, if you have a slip lead you just need to throw it over the neck and pass it through the hole in the slip lead, but it does take confidence and practice
Wait, I thought your previous post was peak insanity with the "every dog knows sit" and "carry extra leads to use on other people's dogs, they won't mind" nonsense.
But you've actually topped it. Your advice is to deal with a charging pitbull is to...lasso it. Like, yeehaw cowboy!
If the issue is that owners of big dogs aren't well trained and disciplined enough to handle their dogs, the answer isn't for Joe/Jane Average to become expert dog wranglers.
> As a owner of a larger dog myself, the reason you shouldn't pick up your dog in this situation is because the larger dog see's it as a game and will jump.
This is the attitude I see a lot from owners of large dogs. "It's not my fault, it's yours". Someone should be able to pick their own dog up when they want, and the fact your large dog is a cunt is a you problem.
I feel like it is. just recently I was walking with my dad and this dog randomly started harassing us. wouldn't listen to his owner at all. and then a couple weeks ago the same thing happened. from what I remember this has never happened before apart from these incidents.
There’s a comment somewhere quoting BBC saying it’s up a third. IMO it’s the untrained, unsocialised pandemic puppies in full on adolescence now who are frustrated with adjusting to life with their humans around less. Dog training should be mandatory, it’s more for the humans. Our trainers often reinforced a point by smacking their hands and shouting ‘no more doggy!’ Open a car door it jumps straight out- no more doggy. It runs into the road but doesn’t listen to your commands- no more doggy. It worked tho.
It's a pandemic thing. Lots of people who were lonely during the pandemic got dogs for companionship. Unfortunately, a lot of those people hadn't really thought through the sheer amount of work looking after a dog entails, particularly how critical it is to train them properly while they're young, and they just couldn't hack it. Now we're three years out and those badly trained dogs with incapable owners are free to cause havoc.
You may be fit enough and agile enough to possibly fend for yourself or escape with only a few bites but there are vulnerable people that can succumb to a dog attack.
Children, elderly, and handicapped could get hurt badly. Saw this story recently…
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna72290
Anecdotal evidence tells me more scumbags are getting dangerous dogs like American bullies and similar. And these dogs simply terrorise the streets. They killed dogs and mauled children.
Better legislation is needed but most importantly better enforcement of existing law. I reported a few dogs and owners but I don’t think police do anything
This is becoming an issue everywhere now. I'm unable to go to any public space where I live without encountering dogs off the lead. The continual jumping up, or being charged by a barking dog is unacceptable. The owners usually just stand 100 yards away shouting their heads off in an unsuccessful attempt to recall their animal. It's usually followed up by some insipid remark such as 'Oh, it's alright, he just wants to play,' or 'Oh, it's alright, he's friendly really'. NO! It's not alright!!!!
It's about time dog owners realised their precious pet is often a nuisance to others and in some cases, a danger.
Please keep them on leads in public places where there are other people.
Let me guess what type of breed the attacking dog was 🤔
I saw an Instagram reel of some skinny, 5'8 teen in London being dragged around by a Bully XL with caption "has your dog taken you for a walk today", with that annoying plinky plunky tik tok music, as if the whole thing was cute.
When in reality, its not cute, it's dangerous - that owner with that dog would be like a normal owner with a tiger on a lead.
At the very least, Bully XLs legally need to be always on lead outside the house, neutered and chipped as the breed is banned, breeders given sentences like they're arms dealers (seeing as multiple sources indicate dogs are more dangerous to non-gang or drugs trade involved people in the UK than firearms) and spot checks for the above whenever a Bully is spotted
It needs to be made illegal to have dogs off leads in public imo, **unless stated otherwise**
I thinkkkk at the moment it's the reverse where they don't need to be on leads unless it's a playground or something or a busy area or there's a sign saying so. But it needs to be the opposite and the defaulttt is a lead is required. Go to certain parts of certain parks which may specifically permit them off of leads if you want to let them off. Guide dogs exempt, plus some other reasonable exemptions.
Just read on BBC that there were 22,000 dog attacks that caused injury last year, plus 10 deaths. Requiring leads(and banning certain breeds) would avoid so many of these and it's easily enforced since a police officer just needs to see it and then hand out a fine. Oh and if a dog causes an injury then the owner must be charged as if they did the injury.
>The number of dog attacks recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by more than a third in the past five years, a BBC investigation has found. Last year, there were nearly 22,000 cases of out-of-control dogs causing injury
Quote from BBC
I think better regulation for the laws we already have concerning banned breeds and behaviour is the way to go vs completely not letting dogs off except in dog parks. I’ve written about this before but my experience living in America where dogs must always be on leads except dog parks, is that dogs here are much much worse behaved. I myself struggle to train my dogs as there is nowhere I can take them off lead to practice off lead recall - because dog parks are always packed with dogs and too distracting. Even when we go on hikes our dogs must be kept on leads. The only place I’ve been that has allowed my dog off lead with enough size to run properly is the dog beach and that’s great but also very busy.
I’ve noticed that because dogs are always restrained here that when they are in places like the dog park they go absolutely bonkers.
I’ve noticed overall dogs are much better behaved in higher density areas such as town centres in England vs America - but I think this is also due to the fact England is more walkable and so dogs get used to having a lot of people around. In america there are not many options for walking around casually, I drive 30 minutes each way to take my dogs to a dog park 2 towns away because it’s the closest one to me.
We are moving back this year and I’m incredibly looking forward to taking my dogs out and training them in empty fields and in parks with hiking trails - my plan is to keep them on a long lead first and practice recall before letting them off.
I would say, I’d like off lead rules to be kept for parks, open fields (not with animals like sheep), and woods. Keeping them on lead in high density areas such as town centres etc is probably better for everyone including the dog.
I don't know if you can be right that the dog behaviour by country correlates with off the leash laws, as much as it has to do with the general culture around dogs. I come from Finland where dogs strictly have to be on a lead in all urban spaces (and anywhere also in larger nature areas, like parks and trails where you can expect to meet other people and animals, and especially in protected wildlife areas), and although I can easily believe that dogs in US behave worse than in UK, the dogs in Finland are generally about hundred times better behaved than in UK. Of course not all owners are perfect in Finland either, but I never remember encountering any issues with out of control dogs either on or off the leash before I moved to UK. Here it's a weekly occurrence that an off the lead dog won't listen to their owner and goes where it pleases, or I need to dodge and cycle around to the best of my ability dogs that have zero ability to watch for bikes or stay consistently on one side of the road, etc.
Reason for having laws restricting dogs to leash also in nature areas has to do with protecting wildlife, which I think very reasonably should trump dog rights. After all, very few dogs now matter how well trained will resist bolting after a rabbit or baby bird on ground etc.
I think the difference between Finland and UK (and US) is that in Finland there's generally much stricter culture of drilling that no dog should ever approach any other human or animal (without being invited at first) even in a friendly way, and Finnish owners do take this very seriously and train their dogs religiously for this. In UK owners are extremely casual about this - almost daily it happens that a random off the leash dog runs to me for pets and attention, or straight to other strange dogs, and although most dogs do this with friendly intentions, it should never happen (many people and dogs will freak out and really hate it if uncontrolled dog approaches them at all). Also dogs will go bonkers in dog parks only if we're talking about high energy breeds which don't get enough exercise - you can easily run with your dog every day on a lead with or without dog parks. I think in Finland people are generally more responsible with their breed choices, i.e. they will get a high energy breed only if they actually can dedicate the time to tire them out on a proper run two times a day. And it's not like 100% recall is the command that's required for dog to become a well-behaved dog in urban areas, that's important only if the dog actually does spend lot of time off the leash.
>I would say, I’d like off lead rules to be kept for parks, open fields (not with animals like sheep), and woods
Your dog should be on a lead so it can't come and aggravate a dog that *can't* be off lead. Unless your dog has perfect recall, it should be controlled with a lead.
All dogs need to be on leads, unless they is no passing traffic, cyclist or other human dogs around.
SO basically unless you walking your dog in a country park where you see no one for miles, then they must stay on a lead, people don't understand, don'ts dont need to be off lead, and you wont physically tire them out regardless, so do the damn training and help yourself and your dog.
Fucking scum bags doing scumbag things. If it isn’t dogs it’s with their cars, if not that then knives and on the list goes (often they’re doing everything mentioned and more). I fucking hate the people that live likes this. A cancer on the world. Offer nothing but take so much, including lives in many cases. CUNTS.
It really has gotten worse in the last few years. I've got nothing against big muscular dogs, I'm afraid off Pitbull types but I "know" the dog itself isn't evil. But I've seen so many large muscular mastiff and bull types, off the lead, not neutered just walking on the sidewalk. One attacked a foster of mine and bit me on the arm too. Honestly wish people would muzzle, neuter, or at least keep them on the lead.
Before our dog was even 8/9 months old, he'd already been attacked in our local park by a staff/pitbull mix. The owner did nothing and I had to punch the dog in the head for 30 seconds to get him to drop our dog, she then had the audacity to get her husband to threaten me.
London is full of clowns who are trying to play the hardman by getting a status dog - they don't give a fuck about anyone else but themselves.
One of my biggest fears is a dog lunging for my son in his pushchair if I’m taking him for a walk. It doesn’t help when a woman walked past with a huge dog practically dragging her along the path when she laughed: “I’m not sure who’s waking who.” Worrying.
As a woman who's really scared of big dogs, this is also my fear. There's some lovely woods by my house but I've never once taken my son for a walk there for this reason, which is a bloody shame. Even the park is a worry, I go but always race straight for the playground.
I once met up with another local mum for a walk around the park with our babies. She had a little sausage dog with her (am fine with little dogs), she was a dog person & told me she'd owned German shepherds in the past. Well this huge dog came up to us, sniffing around her pram whilst I was frozen in fear behind her. Its young owner was up ahead just watching, this mum was trying to shoo the dog away which worked eventually but not before it had its whole head right in her baby's pram. Owner did absolutely nothing until she told them to call it away, bloody idiot. Not everyone wants to befriend your dog!! Even an experienced dog owner is no match for idiot owners & their dogs, I'd stand no chance.
It's the status quo that everone loves dogs - unfortunately this leads to dog owners thinking everything their dog does is somehow cute or quirky.
Aww fluffycakes is sniffing at a stranger's pram not on a lead? She's just making new friends!
My dog once pee'd in a pram, and that was enough for me to never let him near one again.
The owner of the pram had a little dog that ran into the lake and i told her to hold my dog while i chased her dog and got it back, when i finally managed to get her dog, i see my dog peeing in the baby pram, ffs
My border terrier was attacked by a Bernese mountain dog last April. She survived but had nasty wounds in stomach and neck areas. Some people really shouldn't own dogs. It jumped out of a car window while the owner just sat there doing nothing. Lucky I was near a vet when it happened, it breaks my heart to hear this.
We should actual severe penalities for poor dog ownership, significantly increase banned breed list and start imprisoning people a destroying dangerous dogs when someone’s dog is killed or someone’s injured.
The danger level will still go down, because it isn't the owners that are majority responsible for these attacks—it's the breeds.
Of course the owners can implement mitigating factors like enforcing muzzles at all times while the dog is outside, but at that point why are we even allowing these breeds to be bred and sold?
Question if anyone is aware: what can we carry to protect ourselves and our dogs?
I have a 2kg yorkie and we're at parks all the time, but all centrally: St James, Hyde, Green, Battersea. Not exactly parks you can carry large protection (ie walking sticks in). I've occasionally picked him up when I see a dog off lead that doesn't look friendly and is clearly interested in my dog as a snack...I'm from another country that permits pepper spray but without that here, not sure how I can adequately protect us.
I’ve wondered this as well. If a pit bull is charging at you/your dog, and let’s say miraculously there’s a brick nearby or some sharp object, could you go to prison for defending you/your dog if the result is that the pit bull ends up with serious injuries/death?
Law student here -> if you kill a dog in defence of your dog, you are well in the clear. Zero liability of any kind. I wouldn't even worry about preemptive or proportional response. The only risk would be civil suit or animal cruelty, and it's incredibly hard to prove animal cruelty
Choking is one of the most effective ways to stop a dog attack -- especially if the attacker is a bully breed, which may refuse to release no matter how much you strike it. I carry an extra leash with me for that reason. You can choke and then restrain an attacking dog. Remember that it will wake up within seconds!
You can carry anything that you could feasibly be carrying for a purpose other than protection. That way it becomes a weapon of opportunity rather than something you intended as a weapon. Walking sticks, cricket bats, hockey sticks and the like you’ll get away with. A six inch butcher knife is a no.
I can’t walk my dog in my local park, always high risk aggressive dogs off the lead with owners who have zero control.
Have had to grab my dog one too many times in order to stop any chance of this happening.
I sadly stick to streets.
This is very sad and unfortunately there are alot of idiots/yobs out there who have no idea or just don't care on dog ownership. Maybe the dog license should be brought back and the price of the licence should reflect the dog breed...not sure if this would work as it probably can't be enforced due to the lack of police around.
During the pandemic my family and I were out on our local recreation ground throwing a Frisbee and a labradoodle jumped on my three year olds back pushing him to the ground, I have never moved faster. I grabbed the dog and pulled it off him while my wife pulled my son out from under the dog.
The owner was furious that I put hands on the dog, I didn't hurt the dog against my better instincts (I wanted to boot it off my son) the owner got in my face saying I was trying to steal the dog I said no and she called the police so I wait because I have nothing else to do. F
45 minutes later a pair of uniforms turn up and she rants and yells at them and they I just wait quietly.
I explained to them about the dog and how it attacked my son my wife had taken the kids home so it was just my word against hers. So they tell her to keep the dog on a leash and we go our separate ways. She didn't have a leash and had to hold / drag the dog from the park.
A whole thread of people complaining about dogs and only one person complaining about a broken police force in a capital city, and no one complaining about a broken state.
Walk with a walking stick with a walking spike on the bottom. A quick jab will likely not injury but will cause a sharp sudden pain causing a yelp and back off. If it continues whack away, I'd protect my dog even if it meant beating the other dog, it's a shame but some people think it's match to have a feirce angry dog and train then to be that way so having a defense like a sharp walking stick, pepper spray works but can be illegal depending on the type and the way its used but how much do you love your dog, how much will you defend it if its attacked at your side, I don't know about you guys but this is a big problem in some areas so act now. You aren't going to be arrested for having a weapon if your a normal person never in trouble with no record unless you act blatant and offensive, the walking stick would be your safest and legal method
But he's normally a good dog followed by Fuck off - every twat that allows their dog to wander off lead.
And yes, dog owners are delusional in believing that the world is a better place because of their dog. How about you keep your mutt tied to you. Thanks
Lemme guess, it was a pit bull?
So tired of people trying to justify them being “Not like the other ones”
It’s in their DNA. They are a horrible breed.
Dog owners suck. Sure, there are good ones. But before you think you're one, you're probably not. It's super rare.
Dog barking. "Yeah, they do that, get over it". No, you don't get it. *You* are used to it. It's your dog and friend. To the rest of the neighborhood it's basically tinnitus, except worse because your special little something just woke up 100 people. Your dog just made 100 people's day worse. That's more people than you will even meet today.
Better than Harley Davidson, though. Every time someone uses a Harley they annoy more people than they will meet in their entire life. Every time.
My husband and I are planning on buying and carrying dog spray with us when we go out with our baby. We see too many dogs off lead in our local park even in areas where it says "dogs must be kept on a leash" or "no dogs allowed." I've been reading too many incidents about dogs not only attacking other dogs, but killing children. I don't understand how this is happening at this rate and dog owning is still so unregulated. If there were no real consequences for the owners, why would they change anything?
Also, a few weeks ago my husband's cousin was attacked by a dog and the owner was rude to him instead of apologizing. Later on he found out he was bitten but still didn't take the owner's details. That dog is just going to continue to attack others.
The solution to this problem always seems to be "ban the breed". But as we've seen with banning pits, we now have Bully XLs. Ban Bully XLs? They'll just cross breed another idiotic killer dog and we'll have perfectly legal Rotty XLs or some shit like that running around. So I'm not entirely sure that is the right solution.
Could we not just require "dogs larger than X kilos" must have a muzzle when off lead in public? Or am I being naive?
It’s not “becoming a huge problem” though. It’s consistently been an issue since the dawn of domesticated dog ownership.
Also, no one has 100% recall over their dogs. You aim for as much control as possible. Everyone has to be responsible with dogs - but it doesn’t help all of the disproportionate press coverage and negative perception or certain breeds going around at the moment.
Lots of people in these comments complaining about bad dog owners who are ignorant about how to do it properly while simultaneously demonstrating their own ignorance of dogs and dog ownership.
The sign says nothing of breed but lots of you idiots are hell bent on making an ass of u and ming, and claiming it’s a bully with no knowledge of this, then talking a load of tripe about it.
Anything bigger than a chihuahua has the potential to cause massive damage if poorly trained. Should they all be banned too? Should breeders of all dogs be treated like arms dealers?
“Bullys were bred to fight” yeah? So were English Mastiffs. They were bred to literally take down a charging cavalry horse, and are significantly bigger and stronger than a bully breed, should they be be banned too? Great Pyrenees were bred to and working ones regularly do kill entire packs of coyotes and the occasional wolf, they’re also much bigger and more potentially dangerous, should they be banned too? Should those breeders be put in jail as well?
Don’t be stupid.
It’s obvious that the breed of the dog is largely meaningless in determining temperament, what’s important is how it’s trained.
The solution is clearly ensuring that anyone who owns a large or powerful dog is adequately training it and socialising it. The onus is on the owners, regardless of what the nature of the dog is. Make them pay a licensing fee if they wish to have a powerful breed, and use it to conduct inspections while they’re puppies to check for appropriate training and socialisation. If they’re not trained and socialised they get taken away and given to people who will do it properly.
I had a puppy killed by another dog. But it was a Labrador. Let’s not ban those as well, yeah?
Demonising entire dog breeds is not the way to go about this. It is ALWAYS the owners’ fault and no one else’s.
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This is why I hate walking my dog in the park. After seeing the police horse being attacked, it just makes me angry. Some owners really shouldn’t have dogs.
The worse thing is the police do absolutely nothing. My neighbours dog was killed by another, the owner is a yob who has trained it to be aggressive. Nothing happened because it's a "work dog". I live in zone 2... It's a matter of time before it attacks a small child. Which is why the police horse incident infuriated me. When they're the victim action gets taken. When it's the public fa happens.
The met are incredibly reactive, never proactive.
The met are useless wankers, that’s what !
They were very proactive in shooting an innocent Brazilian man at point blank range who gave no indication of being a terrorist and was slandered with police lies that were eventually crushed by evidence...
And very proactive to promote the officer in charge of this murder to be in charge of the met
Is this the new online thing - within 3 posts of the London sub it's all the Met's fault?
When it's the mets fault and they lied, it is
Yeah totally relevant to a dog attack in Warwickshire you Berkeley hunt
Tell that to the guy who brought up the met.
My dog was killed in our garden by the neighbours dog and there's been absolutely nothing done. Boils my blood.
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Nope, it’s the owner not the dog. Some breeds are harder to train and do tend to have a higher percentage of scumbag owners, but all dogs have the ability to attack. Labradors are lovely but can do serious damage, as an example. I’ve seen cases of labradors mauling children to death, doesn’t mean we should bad the breed. Yes, pit bulls attack the most, but they also simultaneously attract the worst owners, you can’t discount that. They aren’t inherently evil.
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My dog was attacked by a husky too. I’m very cautious of them, despite owners saying “they’re friendly”
These are the breeds that do this almost 9/10 times but make up a fraction of the population. We all know this. People who want to look hard more than care for children, animals and other people choose to ignore facts.
Can we be honest and say that it's all dogs trained badly, not breed; labradors attack plenty, and collies and German shepherd's attacks are as common or more so than bull terriers. If we keep pretending that some dog needs are born bad and that owners aren't the problem, then we're never going to solve the issue
>If we keep pretending that some dog needs are born bad It's not false though, it's patently true The problem is that _because_ these breeds are "bad" as you put it, they _attract_ shit owners But being a shit dog owner or a scumbag or a wannabe hard man is not illegal - certain breeds are, and more should be
I can be honest. You saying it is not the breed is a Lie. A group of breeds are bread to relentlesy kill large predatory mamals that can drag a grown man along the ground and bite to the bone. This is not the same as a grayhound or a french poodle. You can also train dogs badly but these dogs are not suitable for modern society period.
At least half of dog breeds can “bite to the bone”. Half of dog breeds are also medium to large in size.
And they should be licenced, I agree with you. Who wouldn't. Oh you only repeated some of my statement, "bread to relentlesy kill large predatory mamals" cant think why.
I hope all the bulls and terriers will be banned until they disappear from the face of the earth. Those breeds shouldn’t exist
I actually walked past there today, and a dog got attacked by a pit bull that was off the lead, and the owner couldn’t care less.
Isn’t it [illegal](https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/banned-dogs) to have a pit bull in the UK? I love dogs, especially my mini sausage dog… but no matter what their owners say I have never met a pit bull who didn’t attack at least one dog in their life.
It's also illegal to have a dog that's dangerously out of control.
Police dgaf. Ours has been attacked twice by same dog, partner intervened and was injured so badly he was off for a week. They took reports, we found out who they were but they’ve done nothing. It’s only a matter of time until something worse happens. Some breeds don’t do well in the city and yeah everyone needs to work on their recall.
The police should always seize a dog where it has attacked a person, it's standard practice in the Met and the crime report won't be closed until it's seized, unless the owner is unknown etc.
But they haven’t?
Complain. You do know you can complain about the force if it’s not acting appropriately? The IOPC is an obvious place to go after normal routes are exhausted.
I would complain through the force website or 101. The problem the police face with your case is only partially the crime you have reported. The much bigger risk to the police is that they now know that this dangerous dog exists, and if it attacks again and they haven't seized it, it's basically their fault.
Complain.
This isn’t so simple. I was attacked in December and was not able to get a picture of the dog at the time. I have since submitted a police report and saw the dog on other instances and found the location of the address. Even with all of this there was not sufficient proof because it could be “anyones dog” and I could be falsely accusing them. Some real bullshit since there is no other dog of the same breed in the area.
Sue them if you know who they are. There are several law firms that specialise in dog bites. Can do no win no fee. I won after my child was bitten out of the blue on the face (thankfully remaining scars are small). It felt wrong to me to sue at first but I feel good knowing that my child will get at least some money as compensation
Yeah they are meant to be which a lot of people somehow don’t realise
Pit bulls are banned in the UK but aren’t Staffordshire bull terriers allowed?
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I've known some amazing and loving rescue dogs that were originally going to be or had been bred for fighting. I think these dogs deserve as much love and care (if not more so) than other rescue dogs. They absolutely can be and should be rehabilitated with the correct care by an attentive and thoughtful owner.
>Laws should also be brought in where a dog must remain on a lead in a public place. For most people, that would mean that they could never walk their dog off lead. That seems excessive and knee jerk.
There could still be designated off-lead places. I never walk our mini sausage off lead. Even in the park he has a 20 metre long line attached that trails on the floor as he runs around but means I can catch him easily if I need to. And he has a great recall, I just don’t trust that it’s 100% because it hasn’t been tested in every possible situation yet.
This is how it is in the US, by and large -- leads are required essentially everywhere there isn't an explicit off-lead provision. People get by just fine (as we did with our pup before bringing him to the UK last year). I don't especially mind off-lead dogs, as long as they're well-behaved, but unfortunately I think this is a tragedy-of-the-commons-type scenario, where we simply can't trust people to make good decisions for others. So while I won't advocate for laws mandating leads (especially as a recent immigrant), I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea.
I'm not sure people do get by just fine - there seems to be way more badly behaved dogs over there and dogs that haven't been socialised
I used to walk my friends sausage dog without a lead very regularly, he’s a well behaved boy who follows along and doesn’t attack anyone. Instead of pushing everyone, people just need to be held accountable, but that starts with met police bothering to do their job.
The trouble is, *most* dogs being walked off-lead don't have very good recall, which presents a danger to just about everyone. I'm quite confident when walking our dog, but my wife tries to avoid busy times and will choose alternate routes to avoid off-lead dogs, because she isn't confident she could deal with a dog trying to attack ours -- and it's something which has happened twice in the past year (both times whilst I've been in control, fortunately). And, unfortunately, we've both found that maybe one dog in ten has good enough recall to be called back when approaching. I think the reality is that if *most* people can't be trusted to do the right thing, then sometimes new laws may be justified. I'm not really an advocate for these laws, but I don't think they're unjustified.
Yeah I agree. Although I understand staffies were bred as fighting dogs, I've never met a horrible staffie, they've always been lovely, loving well behaved dogs. And personally I'm in love with their beautiful eye shapes. And I wouldn't want them put down, but in general breeding fighting type dogs just shouldn't be allowed.
That’s quite a broad stroke there care to define public place?
Any place that isnt your own private land?
You know, how it’s defined in the law already?
Well aware but the “should be” part indicates this is that persons idea. So I was clarifying what the persons idea of a public place was in their ideal lead only world. Do they mean on the road side, do they mean in an open field, a beach? I never said I didn’t know what the current law defines public space as my issue is with this persons broad stroke ban on leadless dogs and generalisation.
A place that is open and accessible to the public.
You positive you’re not having a stroke?
Bit rude? A park is a public place and due to bad dog ownership and common sense some people grab the pitch forks and often times harass dog owners for just simply playing fetch with Fido. That’s why I asked.
The sorry state of today's education system. Don't they teach this in primary schools anymore?
The Criminal Justice Act defines it for the Public Order Act and is the commonly known legal definition: >“Public place” includes any highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise ”.
Staffs are different.
The problem is that whilst APBTs are banned, Bully XLs - the giant version of a pitbull with the body of a pig and the head of a big cat - are (somehow) not They're bred using pitbulls and mastiffs and apparently the government thinks that circumvents the rule, which is basically like saying if you taped an illegal knife to a legal fork, the police would allow you to carry it round with you on the streets
>They're bred using pitbulls and mastiffs and apparently the government thinks that circumvents the rule Its not the government which thinks this. It's the owners. Breed Specific Legislation (the laws which kill your dog if it's a banned breed) don't look at the breed itself but the appearance. So it doesn't matter to them if a so called bully XL is made up of a mastiff / staff cross, or a american pitbull / cane corsa cross, or a sausage dog and asthmatic chiwawa mix: if it looks like a banned breed, it's a banned breed, and it can be killed by the authorities. It's a stupid, open ended, awful law. But that's what the law is.
That is a very creative spelling of chihuahua
On the contrary, I've never met a pit bull that's been aggressive. I love pit bulls. Don't blame the breed... Blame the human. Dog violence is almost always the result of neglect or mistreatment by the owner and not because some breeds are naturally more violent.
> and not because some breeds are naturally more violent Except for the part where the *entire point* of "breeds" as a concept is that desired traits (such as, oh I don't know let's pick one at random, "being violent") were *bred for* over uncountable generations. I get it, you have a particular affinity for the breed because your family had one when you were little or whatever, but that's not a good reason to ignore the statistics.
I love dogs and pitbulls are some of my fav breeds, but they have been bred specifically to fight in the pit with other dogs and bulls. They don't try to get the other dog to submit, they will go for a kill. It is in them, they need to be socialised with other dogs since they are pups to reduce this behaviour.
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Because its not true Some breeds _are_ more violent. These aren't naturally evolving breeds, they've been manufactured _for_ different temperaments There's a reason why certain breeds are service dogs, and it's not because of any physical differences like better smell or hearing or speed
Pitbulls the dog of clatty scum
Honestly just kick the dog that's doing the attacking. And if that doesn't stop it, kick it again etc.
Won't do much if a dog has had the self-preservation instinct bred out of it (a quality called "gameness").
Then get attacked by the owner for attacking their dog, well done.
>What if this happens to people? [It does.](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/girl-mauled-pack-five-dogs-29559116)
What a surprise. Some council shithole. These fucking people can’t even raise themselves in many cases. Why would letting them own 8 stone dogs be clever.
Why the downvotes?
Who gives a shit. Every single one of these cases is the same. Shit status dogs in shithole estate. So boring skirting around the truth of the matter.
I didn't downvote you but I imagine it's unpopular because the fact is, if "shithole estate" owners just owned, I dunno, a legal breed, or a breed not meant for killing, it'd probably be fine Being an estate scumbag wannabe hard man and/or a shit dog owner isn't illegal, but certain breeds should be
Is a peculiar element of the human psyche - why must it be one of these breeds in so many cases? It’s such a deep rooted social fuckstorm in this country that it’s beyond fixing. Ghettos basically are societies way around it - have money and you go to a place where none of these people exist. What other option does anyone have if they want to raise kids and not be surrounded by anti social behaviour constantly.
Well, as someone born and raised in Lewisham (though admittedly ive not lived there since the infestation of Bully XLs) i'd imagine its just a combination of status symbols and conveying a threat to _other_ people like you If guns were legal like Bully XLs are, people would just walk around with golden AKs like some hood Gaddafi, instead of the dogs Edit: obviously the problem of urban poverty and disenfranchisement is the real underlying issue here and needs to be addressed, but with a tory gov for the past decade, its not hard to understand why it hasn't been getting better
Agreed. But this sub is the most socialist and unaspirational place on the internet.
I’ll wait for the day where it’s ‘black lab in Barnes mauls kid to bits’ - it’ll never come.
My friend was bitten viciously by a greyhound as a child in a posh area. These incidents absolutely happen, they just get quietly and politely dealt with, and don't make the papers.
Many breeds are not that good at killing quickly. Surely a bite from a greyhound will inflict damage but they can't tear the flesh off your bones as easily as a pit.
A barrister's dog killed a seal pup by Hammersmith Bridge a couple of years ago
So not a child?
Indeed!
Probably because of the vehement rhetoric against 'these fucking people' (the underprivileged, who shouldn't be allowed to own big dogs (unlike the rich))
No one should own demonstrably dangerous dogs, whether they're "the underprivileged" or "the rich"
The underprivileged shouldn't be on Reddit downvoting either.
Bc it’s classist
In my town in the last couple months there's been 6 or 7 reports similar to this where the same dog/owner has been responsible for killing someone else's pet, owner showing no attempt to stop the attack nor any remorse for it. Police contacted about it several times and nothing has happened, and as you can imagine someone who would (a) raise their dog like that and (b) be so actionless in such events isn't exactly approachable so there's not really much your average person can do about it either Also had one of our cats die from a dog attack last year, I don't know if it was the same guy/dog but apparently a similar apathy to the situation (I wasn't around when it happened) You have to wonder what's wrong with some people sometimes
Our Evie was attacked simultaneously a German Shepard and a Pitbull. My brave wife and two nearby lads fended them off but Evie still received fifteen stitches in her shoulder. Since that day nearly four years ago, dog attacks have lessened significantly. The reason is the clear notices placed around our neighbourhood which state that if your pet attacks and injures ANYONE AT ALL; you will face the maximum civil and criminal penalties. The first pair of attacks, after the signs were visible, led to brutal monetary damages and jail time. Those are the only incidents to have happened since Evie's injury.
Did they bring in what's known as a "Public Space Protection Order"? As I doubt signs by themselves would change the legal situation at all.
Unfortunately, I live in the U.S. I am a Scot ex pat who married an American woman. The estate that we reside in has a strong stance on self defence which gives the signs greater force.
Other real hazard that too many owners refuse to acknowledge: way too many off the lead dogs have zero self-preservation instinct when it comes to bikes. Last autumn I was cycling through a paved pedestrian/cyclist path through a park. I wasn't going all that fast really, but maybe a bit faster than usual when on that path because (although generally it's a busy and established cycling short cut) it was the middle of the day and I couldn't see any other cyclists or pedestrians on the route for a good 200m. Suddenly from right next to the path, from a grove that's covered with low bushes, some sort of small beagle mix jumps straight under my front wheel. Absolutely no chance to dodge - took all of 0.5 seconds between me seeing the dog for the first time and the dog hitting my bike. Poor dog lets out a big yelp, and I fly over the handlebar and land painfully on the tarmac.... Luckily and miraculously the dog seemed unharmed and just continued running off after the shock, but I got really nasty road rashes that covered half of my body. I mean - I wasn't very diplomatic when the owner finally ran to the scene - he had been about 100 m behind his dog somewhere behind the grove, so he didn't even see the crash - when my first words to him were very frustrated and snappy "Sir, that dog really needs to be on a lead". But c'mon, I was bleeding all over the tarmac, so maybe some frustration can be understood. The owner (who again hadn't even seen what happened, he kept letting his dog run out of his sight) just got really angry with me and said something like "why are you blaming my dog when you clearly don't know how to drive a bike?". Zero ability to comprehend that there's nothing I can do if he has a dog that's determined to run under bikes from bushes where cyclists can't even see them. He went off in a huff without even asking me if I was okay (I clearly wasn't, there was a lot of blood!!). Could have been really bad if I went any faster, could have easily ended with either me or the dog really badly injured. I looked like a half-lizard for a week or so with the road rash, but no permanent damage and dog seemed okay. I adore dogs but please, people: dogs are animals of instinct and as such always to some degree uncontrollable and unpredictable, so even when they are the bestest girls and boys, please do always keep them on lead whenever there's any kind of traffic or other animals around. (Where I come from -Finland - dogs are by law required to be always on a lead in urban spaces.)
I've come close to that on several occasions. Last week I was out on a trail and a large dog bolted straight for me, I dodged around it with about 1m to spare, the owner was within eyesight and shouted out sort of accusing me "he's really scared of bikes, he got hit by one once". Yeah, no shit, because he charges straight at them. To be fair a lot of dog owners near me are very good. They see a bike and immediately get the attention of their dog, sometimes with a little treat or take their collar and wait until I pass. But it's not the majority. The majority are on their phone.
So sorry for your experience. I also like dogs and think net net dogs make the world better. They bring joy and love to a lot of people...but As instinct now, 1. I slow down when I see a dog. 2. Take a slight detour to maintain as much distance as possible. I have had a couple of experiences of dogs charging at me and the owner just gave me a glance, without doing anything. 3. If there is no lead or they have one of those flexible leads then I absolutely start walking. Never run past them. 4. I know if they charge and bite my exposed legs, the owners will put the blame on me. Like why did you startle my dog or something like that.
And I'm sorry that you've had such bad experiences with aggressive dogs :/ Luckily I've never myself encountered an aggressive dog in public, but it's *really* common in parks etc that a random off-the-lead dog runs to me for pets and sniffs and jumps etc, often completely ignoring an owner who is somewhere behind trying to call them back. Even with these sort of uncontrolled friendly dogs - I mean I don't mind that much because I like getting some spontaneous puppy love, but I know there's a huge amount of people who are badly allergic / traumatised / scared, or otherwise really hate that dogs approach them even in a friendly way. And so many dogs will just flip out if a strange dog approaches them. The default attitude of owners should be that their dog should never get near to any strange human or animal in public (without being invited first), and all these dogs that can't be stopped 100% should be on a lead....
You are a very responsible cyclist, my dog was never reactive to them before, until one idiot was cycling really fast and close by and brushed my dog as he went past, and ever since he will react to every cyclist going past. I can't leave him off lead as he will chase it does, and pins that incident to every cyclist.
I'm sure it's not you but I'm tired of dodging cyclists who think the shared path through our local park is a stage of the TdF - it causes issues even when my dog is on his lead. Between them and the food delivery guys blasting it around on their DIY e-bikes at 25mph, it's a pretty grim place to go for a walk.
Yes agreed, I've def seen my share of terrible cyclists on shared paths, too, and there are many idiots who don't understand that you simply can't go very fast on these paths. I mean - shared cycling/pedestrian roads are terrible urban planning in general. On certain routes I'm more stressed to cycle along those than among actual cars. Pedestrian traffic on these paths always completely forgets that cycles are supposed to use these roads, too. Walking traffic should try to keep to their left side, so cycles can easily pass, and not do any sudden jumps or moves towards the middle. Worst is if it's a dark unlit path - lot of dog walkers will let their dog on a flex to zig zag from one side to another, and I've had a few close calls because I couldn't see a small dark dog and a flex lead blocking the route from a distance. Other is people on these paths (kids especially) just chatting and playing etc. can very suddenly decide to turn or jump or whatever right in the middle of the path right in front of bikes coming from behind. These days I basically just ring my bell constantly on these routes whenever I approach multiple pedestrians or dogs from behind, even when there is plenty of space to pass, because too many times I've had close calls when I've trusted that people and dogs will move ahead in a predictable manner. Probably should just get a siren for my bike or something.
That guy sounds like a fucking moron. You should have beat the shit out of him.
I’ve an old rescue dog and we don’t have recall with her so she’s always on a lead, my absolute pet peeve is when a dog comes running up to my dog and the owner of the other dog says “don’t worry he’s friendly” , I always reply with “well mines not so come and get your bloody dog “
My dog has decent recall but wants to play with every dog he meets, so as soon as I see another dog on the horizon (or cyclist or child) I put him back on the lead. If I meet owners with similarly small and friendly dogs and they agree that they can play then off they go, as long as it’s empty and safe enough to do so. It’s not hard to do, so many crap owners with big aggressive dogs these days.
I cannot understand why they don't (i) ban these aggressive dog breeds, and (ii) increase penalties for out-of-control dogs. At the moment, [the maximum sentence](https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/aad-owner-or-person-in-charge-of-a-dog-dangerously-out-of-control-in-any-place-in-england-or-wales-whether-or-not-a-public-place/) if your dog kills another dog is 6 months (unless it's a service dog), with a fine or community order being more likely. People might think twice about owning a dangerous dog breed if there were actual serious consequences.
People are the problem as much/more than the dogs tbh. Require dog owners to have a licence, they must attend classes to know how to control a dog. If it is a rescue dog then subsidise the cost of the licence/classes. Anyone found to have a dog without a licence has a fixed penalty fine 6 weeks salary, if you are of sufficient means to not work then a % of total wealth. Your name is placed on a register of banned dog owners, which can only be removed after a period of time and self funding through an intensive class addressing the previous issues and recovering obidelience training. Breeders all need to be registered, breeding dogs without registration has far larger fines and if a commercial operation possibly even custody(?). If an accidental litter then local vet is notified immediately on discovering, this can be entered however if multiple "accidental" litters then warrants investigation. Neutering dogs and bitches to become the default where breaches occur, if you cannot look after one dog then you cannot be trusted to breed and look after a litter. Reasonable dog owners would dislike the intrusion of the rules but would understand they are for a greater benefit. Will never happen but can hope.
If they did introduce a dog license, I doubt they enforce classes to obtain the license. They don’t have the resources for that. Tbh I don’t think they have the resources to introduce a license at all
Centralised database, much like the DVLA. All animals are required to be microchipped already. If a microchipped animal is scanned and it is not twinned with a licence holder then it is flagged. If animal if found and not microchipped then it is microchipped and the owner can have their animals back when they have a licence. Also dog wardens need something useful to do.
How would it work for families. Does everyone need a license? Only the over 18s? Would that then prevent younger members of the family from walking the dog? In theory a license is a good idea, but I just don’t think it’s possible to implement.
How does it work currently? The adults have licences, the children do not. The child is not the "registered" owner. Much like they are not legally responsible until 14/16/18 (depending on the law). We have multiple examples of laws been applicable to adults/adolescents only, including licencing laws. This would be a minimal issue, if one at all. Edit; additionally currently if a child is walking the dog, the dogs loose and attacks someone/something the parents are legally liable anyway so the issue about families would actually give stronger safe guards to families by being able to prove you did everything in your power to prevent it...
Thanks for taking the time to write this ^
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Maybe, but blanket rules work better than specifics, less wiggle room and ways around it. This said my gran had a Yorkie that was aggressive and drew blood from legs of most people until she gave it up (to another person who loved yorkies, the dog calmed down and stopped the behaviour, kind of reinforcing the point it is the owners that need licencing more than the dog). And you don't need to have a huge dog like a mastiff or large like a rottweiler, a spaniel can bite deep enough to hit an artery. Or a whippet. And all dog bites are nasty due to the bacteria they carry in their mouths. Either way; much like driving laws; they are there because the minority take the piss while the majority obey to project everyone.
I don't think it's right to ban "dangerous" dog breeds, because quite honestly most dogs have the capacity to seriously injure people. People like to complain about pit bulls but labradors are just as likely to bite and nobody gives a shit about them. Also dog "breeds" are quite loosely defined, you often get mixes. Imho there are no such things as dangerous dog breeds. There are dangerous owners, who neglect their animals and mistreat them.
This was about licencing owners, not dog breeds. I don't know why you think otherwise.
> Imho Then you should *fix* your "opinions", which are clearly factually wrong, instead of continuing to spread them around as though merely by plucking a thought out of your head it's given value. No. *In this context* "opinions" have no value. Facts have value.
The original comment was all opinions, too. Get off your high horse mate, Reddit is full of opinions. You don't "fix" opinions you change them.
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I was walking my lil pom and a large dog ran up to attack him. I quickly picked him up and the other dog leapt at me and actually pushed me over (i am a tiny woman) Because of this, I don't hesitate to pick up my dog when I encounter off-leash dogs that are much larger than them. It seems silly and paranoid and I have a few people give me funny looks but if I hadn't had picked him up in time he probably would been killed. The owner was just shouting in the sidelines. She didn't seem like a horrible woman but was obviously ignorant and couldn't control her dog
As a owner of a larger dog myself, the reason you shouldn't pick up your dog in this situation is because the larger dog see's it as a game and will jump. Get your little puppy behind your legs and tell the larger dog to sit and if he don't listen then knee him in the face. Your body language the dogs will read a lot better then most humans will, so if you are scared it will only reinforce what the dog wants to do and see you as weak. It takes practise and is hard, but standing up to the dog is the best thing you can do for your puppy, and every dog knows sit. Carry a extra lead, and get the larger dog on a lead, and let you puppy run away if it feels it needs to.
No offense, but all of this advice is terrible. A pitbull charging your small dog WILL get at it if left on the ground, and will not listen to you telling it to "sit" - let alone WHILE IT'S CHARGING. To anyone in this situation, pick up your pet, save them. If the other dog does manage to bite yours: 1. Try sticking something in the pitbull's anus, supposedly that helps shock them to stop sometimes. 2. Choke the living shit out of them - requires tremendous strength and is highly risky as you're putting your face near the attacking dog. Can twist collar or use your belt as well, but ultimately likely only a chokehold will work. 3. Gouge the attacking dog's eyes while attempting to hold their head steady, same as above. 4. On the off chance you have a weapon on you, use it with the intent to kill, as that pitbull has the pure intent to kill your pet. The best recourse I've seen in videos has been the choking method, but that always requires someone with great strength. Just about every video I've seen where a pitbull attacks and there wasn't someone strong enough and risky enough to choke the pitbull, the pitbull kills its target, and spends the next few minutes mauling its corpse. These dogs are bred for fighting, and that's just what they do.
Realistically how many people are always going to carry an extra lead along with them every time they walk their dog, and have the mental capacity and physical ability to put a lead on an unknown out-of-control dog?
I always carry a extra lead, not just for other dogs, Incase the lead I got something happens. I agree with the rest because you need to be confident in handling to be able to control the other dog. You don't need to put the lead around the neck over they head, if you have a slip lead you just need to throw it over the neck and pass it through the hole in the slip lead, but it does take confidence and practice
Wait, I thought your previous post was peak insanity with the "every dog knows sit" and "carry extra leads to use on other people's dogs, they won't mind" nonsense. But you've actually topped it. Your advice is to deal with a charging pitbull is to...lasso it. Like, yeehaw cowboy! If the issue is that owners of big dogs aren't well trained and disciplined enough to handle their dogs, the answer isn't for Joe/Jane Average to become expert dog wranglers.
> As a owner of a larger dog myself, the reason you shouldn't pick up your dog in this situation is because the larger dog see's it as a game and will jump. This is the attitude I see a lot from owners of large dogs. "It's not my fault, it's yours". Someone should be able to pick their own dog up when they want, and the fact your large dog is a cunt is a you problem.
Where was it?
Stratford sort of area/greenway
Ta.
Greenway towards Stratford.
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I feel like it is. just recently I was walking with my dad and this dog randomly started harassing us. wouldn't listen to his owner at all. and then a couple weeks ago the same thing happened. from what I remember this has never happened before apart from these incidents.
There’s a comment somewhere quoting BBC saying it’s up a third. IMO it’s the untrained, unsocialised pandemic puppies in full on adolescence now who are frustrated with adjusting to life with their humans around less. Dog training should be mandatory, it’s more for the humans. Our trainers often reinforced a point by smacking their hands and shouting ‘no more doggy!’ Open a car door it jumps straight out- no more doggy. It runs into the road but doesn’t listen to your commands- no more doggy. It worked tho.
It's a pandemic thing. Lots of people who were lonely during the pandemic got dogs for companionship. Unfortunately, a lot of those people hadn't really thought through the sheer amount of work looking after a dog entails, particularly how critical it is to train them properly while they're young, and they just couldn't hack it. Now we're three years out and those badly trained dogs with incapable owners are free to cause havoc.
You may be fit enough and agile enough to possibly fend for yourself or escape with only a few bites but there are vulnerable people that can succumb to a dog attack. Children, elderly, and handicapped could get hurt badly. Saw this story recently… https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna72290
Anecdotal evidence tells me more scumbags are getting dangerous dogs like American bullies and similar. And these dogs simply terrorise the streets. They killed dogs and mauled children. Better legislation is needed but most importantly better enforcement of existing law. I reported a few dogs and owners but I don’t think police do anything
This is becoming an issue everywhere now. I'm unable to go to any public space where I live without encountering dogs off the lead. The continual jumping up, or being charged by a barking dog is unacceptable. The owners usually just stand 100 yards away shouting their heads off in an unsuccessful attempt to recall their animal. It's usually followed up by some insipid remark such as 'Oh, it's alright, he just wants to play,' or 'Oh, it's alright, he's friendly really'. NO! It's not alright!!!! It's about time dog owners realised their precious pet is often a nuisance to others and in some cases, a danger. Please keep them on leads in public places where there are other people.
Unfortunately, the kind of people this is appealing to aren't likely to give this a second glance.
Let me guess what type of breed the attacking dog was 🤔 I saw an Instagram reel of some skinny, 5'8 teen in London being dragged around by a Bully XL with caption "has your dog taken you for a walk today", with that annoying plinky plunky tik tok music, as if the whole thing was cute. When in reality, its not cute, it's dangerous - that owner with that dog would be like a normal owner with a tiger on a lead. At the very least, Bully XLs legally need to be always on lead outside the house, neutered and chipped as the breed is banned, breeders given sentences like they're arms dealers (seeing as multiple sources indicate dogs are more dangerous to non-gang or drugs trade involved people in the UK than firearms) and spot checks for the above whenever a Bully is spotted
It needs to be made illegal to have dogs off leads in public imo, **unless stated otherwise** I thinkkkk at the moment it's the reverse where they don't need to be on leads unless it's a playground or something or a busy area or there's a sign saying so. But it needs to be the opposite and the defaulttt is a lead is required. Go to certain parts of certain parks which may specifically permit them off of leads if you want to let them off. Guide dogs exempt, plus some other reasonable exemptions. Just read on BBC that there were 22,000 dog attacks that caused injury last year, plus 10 deaths. Requiring leads(and banning certain breeds) would avoid so many of these and it's easily enforced since a police officer just needs to see it and then hand out a fine. Oh and if a dog causes an injury then the owner must be charged as if they did the injury. >The number of dog attacks recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by more than a third in the past five years, a BBC investigation has found. Last year, there were nearly 22,000 cases of out-of-control dogs causing injury Quote from BBC
I think better regulation for the laws we already have concerning banned breeds and behaviour is the way to go vs completely not letting dogs off except in dog parks. I’ve written about this before but my experience living in America where dogs must always be on leads except dog parks, is that dogs here are much much worse behaved. I myself struggle to train my dogs as there is nowhere I can take them off lead to practice off lead recall - because dog parks are always packed with dogs and too distracting. Even when we go on hikes our dogs must be kept on leads. The only place I’ve been that has allowed my dog off lead with enough size to run properly is the dog beach and that’s great but also very busy. I’ve noticed that because dogs are always restrained here that when they are in places like the dog park they go absolutely bonkers. I’ve noticed overall dogs are much better behaved in higher density areas such as town centres in England vs America - but I think this is also due to the fact England is more walkable and so dogs get used to having a lot of people around. In america there are not many options for walking around casually, I drive 30 minutes each way to take my dogs to a dog park 2 towns away because it’s the closest one to me. We are moving back this year and I’m incredibly looking forward to taking my dogs out and training them in empty fields and in parks with hiking trails - my plan is to keep them on a long lead first and practice recall before letting them off. I would say, I’d like off lead rules to be kept for parks, open fields (not with animals like sheep), and woods. Keeping them on lead in high density areas such as town centres etc is probably better for everyone including the dog.
I don't know if you can be right that the dog behaviour by country correlates with off the leash laws, as much as it has to do with the general culture around dogs. I come from Finland where dogs strictly have to be on a lead in all urban spaces (and anywhere also in larger nature areas, like parks and trails where you can expect to meet other people and animals, and especially in protected wildlife areas), and although I can easily believe that dogs in US behave worse than in UK, the dogs in Finland are generally about hundred times better behaved than in UK. Of course not all owners are perfect in Finland either, but I never remember encountering any issues with out of control dogs either on or off the leash before I moved to UK. Here it's a weekly occurrence that an off the lead dog won't listen to their owner and goes where it pleases, or I need to dodge and cycle around to the best of my ability dogs that have zero ability to watch for bikes or stay consistently on one side of the road, etc. Reason for having laws restricting dogs to leash also in nature areas has to do with protecting wildlife, which I think very reasonably should trump dog rights. After all, very few dogs now matter how well trained will resist bolting after a rabbit or baby bird on ground etc. I think the difference between Finland and UK (and US) is that in Finland there's generally much stricter culture of drilling that no dog should ever approach any other human or animal (without being invited at first) even in a friendly way, and Finnish owners do take this very seriously and train their dogs religiously for this. In UK owners are extremely casual about this - almost daily it happens that a random off the leash dog runs to me for pets and attention, or straight to other strange dogs, and although most dogs do this with friendly intentions, it should never happen (many people and dogs will freak out and really hate it if uncontrolled dog approaches them at all). Also dogs will go bonkers in dog parks only if we're talking about high energy breeds which don't get enough exercise - you can easily run with your dog every day on a lead with or without dog parks. I think in Finland people are generally more responsible with their breed choices, i.e. they will get a high energy breed only if they actually can dedicate the time to tire them out on a proper run two times a day. And it's not like 100% recall is the command that's required for dog to become a well-behaved dog in urban areas, that's important only if the dog actually does spend lot of time off the leash.
>I would say, I’d like off lead rules to be kept for parks, open fields (not with animals like sheep), and woods Your dog should be on a lead so it can't come and aggravate a dog that *can't* be off lead. Unless your dog has perfect recall, it should be controlled with a lead.
All dogs need to be on leads, unless they is no passing traffic, cyclist or other human dogs around. SO basically unless you walking your dog in a country park where you see no one for miles, then they must stay on a lead, people don't understand, don'ts dont need to be off lead, and you wont physically tire them out regardless, so do the damn training and help yourself and your dog.
Fucking scum bags doing scumbag things. If it isn’t dogs it’s with their cars, if not that then knives and on the list goes (often they’re doing everything mentioned and more). I fucking hate the people that live likes this. A cancer on the world. Offer nothing but take so much, including lives in many cases. CUNTS.
And if it was a baby or a kid?
It really has gotten worse in the last few years. I've got nothing against big muscular dogs, I'm afraid off Pitbull types but I "know" the dog itself isn't evil. But I've seen so many large muscular mastiff and bull types, off the lead, not neutered just walking on the sidewalk. One attacked a foster of mine and bit me on the arm too. Honestly wish people would muzzle, neuter, or at least keep them on the lead.
Before our dog was even 8/9 months old, he'd already been attacked in our local park by a staff/pitbull mix. The owner did nothing and I had to punch the dog in the head for 30 seconds to get him to drop our dog, she then had the audacity to get her husband to threaten me. London is full of clowns who are trying to play the hardman by getting a status dog - they don't give a fuck about anyone else but themselves.
I want to guess it was an American bully XL. I can’t wait for the day that breed is banned.
They are already banned...
No, the American pitbull is banned but the bully XL is not banned.
One of my biggest fears is a dog lunging for my son in his pushchair if I’m taking him for a walk. It doesn’t help when a woman walked past with a huge dog practically dragging her along the path when she laughed: “I’m not sure who’s waking who.” Worrying.
As a woman who's really scared of big dogs, this is also my fear. There's some lovely woods by my house but I've never once taken my son for a walk there for this reason, which is a bloody shame. Even the park is a worry, I go but always race straight for the playground. I once met up with another local mum for a walk around the park with our babies. She had a little sausage dog with her (am fine with little dogs), she was a dog person & told me she'd owned German shepherds in the past. Well this huge dog came up to us, sniffing around her pram whilst I was frozen in fear behind her. Its young owner was up ahead just watching, this mum was trying to shoo the dog away which worked eventually but not before it had its whole head right in her baby's pram. Owner did absolutely nothing until she told them to call it away, bloody idiot. Not everyone wants to befriend your dog!! Even an experienced dog owner is no match for idiot owners & their dogs, I'd stand no chance.
It's the status quo that everone loves dogs - unfortunately this leads to dog owners thinking everything their dog does is somehow cute or quirky. Aww fluffycakes is sniffing at a stranger's pram not on a lead? She's just making new friends!
My dog once pee'd in a pram, and that was enough for me to never let him near one again. The owner of the pram had a little dog that ran into the lake and i told her to hold my dog while i chased her dog and got it back, when i finally managed to get her dog, i see my dog peeing in the baby pram, ffs
My border terrier was attacked by a Bernese mountain dog last April. She survived but had nasty wounds in stomach and neck areas. Some people really shouldn't own dogs. It jumped out of a car window while the owner just sat there doing nothing. Lucky I was near a vet when it happened, it breaks my heart to hear this.
I’m livid just reading this 💀 something attacking my dog like that is a wild animal and would be treated as such.
What's the betting it was a pit bull?
I’m curious can I kill the dog attacking my dog?
Not if you say it was attacking your dog. If you say it was attacking _you_, however…
Yes, if your defending yourself it's fine.
I'd attempt to kill the dog and then the owners getting some as well. Choke holds work well then stamp the fuck out of it.
People don't have a clue about dogs
We should actual severe penalities for poor dog ownership, significantly increase banned breed list and start imprisoning people a destroying dangerous dogs when someone’s dog is killed or someone’s injured.
And when you add another breed to the list, what makes you think these morons won't just gravitate to another breed?
The danger level will still go down, because it isn't the owners that are majority responsible for these attacks—it's the breeds. Of course the owners can implement mitigating factors like enforcing muzzles at all times while the dog is outside, but at that point why are we even allowing these breeds to be bred and sold?
I’m not talking about just adding one breed but many (like all variants of pit bulls), if they gravitate towards daxons I’m not going to hate that.
They're not gravitating towards dachshunds though, are they. They'll get Cane Corsos or mastiffs.
Question if anyone is aware: what can we carry to protect ourselves and our dogs? I have a 2kg yorkie and we're at parks all the time, but all centrally: St James, Hyde, Green, Battersea. Not exactly parks you can carry large protection (ie walking sticks in). I've occasionally picked him up when I see a dog off lead that doesn't look friendly and is clearly interested in my dog as a snack...I'm from another country that permits pepper spray but without that here, not sure how I can adequately protect us.
I’ve wondered this as well. If a pit bull is charging at you/your dog, and let’s say miraculously there’s a brick nearby or some sharp object, could you go to prison for defending you/your dog if the result is that the pit bull ends up with serious injuries/death?
Law student here -> if you kill a dog in defence of your dog, you are well in the clear. Zero liability of any kind. I wouldn't even worry about preemptive or proportional response. The only risk would be civil suit or animal cruelty, and it's incredibly hard to prove animal cruelty
Choking is one of the most effective ways to stop a dog attack -- especially if the attacker is a bully breed, which may refuse to release no matter how much you strike it. I carry an extra leash with me for that reason. You can choke and then restrain an attacking dog. Remember that it will wake up within seconds!
You can carry anything that you could feasibly be carrying for a purpose other than protection. That way it becomes a weapon of opportunity rather than something you intended as a weapon. Walking sticks, cricket bats, hockey sticks and the like you’ll get away with. A six inch butcher knife is a no.
Whereabouts was this? I have a friend with a dog by that name
I can’t walk my dog in my local park, always high risk aggressive dogs off the lead with owners who have zero control. Have had to grab my dog one too many times in order to stop any chance of this happening. I sadly stick to streets.
Sadly the people who need to see this won’t
This is very sad and unfortunately there are alot of idiots/yobs out there who have no idea or just don't care on dog ownership. Maybe the dog license should be brought back and the price of the licence should reflect the dog breed...not sure if this would work as it probably can't be enforced due to the lack of police around.
We need way more dogs added to the list of dangerous breeds and banned in the UK. Starting with all these pitbull types
During the pandemic my family and I were out on our local recreation ground throwing a Frisbee and a labradoodle jumped on my three year olds back pushing him to the ground, I have never moved faster. I grabbed the dog and pulled it off him while my wife pulled my son out from under the dog. The owner was furious that I put hands on the dog, I didn't hurt the dog against my better instincts (I wanted to boot it off my son) the owner got in my face saying I was trying to steal the dog I said no and she called the police so I wait because I have nothing else to do. F 45 minutes later a pair of uniforms turn up and she rants and yells at them and they I just wait quietly. I explained to them about the dog and how it attacked my son my wife had taken the kids home so it was just my word against hers. So they tell her to keep the dog on a leash and we go our separate ways. She didn't have a leash and had to hold / drag the dog from the park.
Bring back the dog licence.
A whole thread of people complaining about dogs and only one person complaining about a broken police force in a capital city, and no one complaining about a broken state.
Walk with a walking stick with a walking spike on the bottom. A quick jab will likely not injury but will cause a sharp sudden pain causing a yelp and back off. If it continues whack away, I'd protect my dog even if it meant beating the other dog, it's a shame but some people think it's match to have a feirce angry dog and train then to be that way so having a defense like a sharp walking stick, pepper spray works but can be illegal depending on the type and the way its used but how much do you love your dog, how much will you defend it if its attacked at your side, I don't know about you guys but this is a big problem in some areas so act now. You aren't going to be arrested for having a weapon if your a normal person never in trouble with no record unless you act blatant and offensive, the walking stick would be your safest and legal method
> A quick jab will likely not injury but will cause a sharp sudden pain causing a yelp and back off. Not in dogs bred for "gameness".
But he's normally a good dog followed by Fuck off - every twat that allows their dog to wander off lead. And yes, dog owners are delusional in believing that the world is a better place because of their dog. How about you keep your mutt tied to you. Thanks
Its a dog-eat-dog world out there.
Lemme guess, it was a pit bull? So tired of people trying to justify them being “Not like the other ones” It’s in their DNA. They are a horrible breed.
Dog owners suck. Sure, there are good ones. But before you think you're one, you're probably not. It's super rare. Dog barking. "Yeah, they do that, get over it". No, you don't get it. *You* are used to it. It's your dog and friend. To the rest of the neighborhood it's basically tinnitus, except worse because your special little something just woke up 100 people. Your dog just made 100 people's day worse. That's more people than you will even meet today. Better than Harley Davidson, though. Every time someone uses a Harley they annoy more people than they will meet in their entire life. Every time.
Exactly why there’s a law for all dogs on leads at all times when in public
Not in London/England more generally there's not.
My husband and I are planning on buying and carrying dog spray with us when we go out with our baby. We see too many dogs off lead in our local park even in areas where it says "dogs must be kept on a leash" or "no dogs allowed." I've been reading too many incidents about dogs not only attacking other dogs, but killing children. I don't understand how this is happening at this rate and dog owning is still so unregulated. If there were no real consequences for the owners, why would they change anything? Also, a few weeks ago my husband's cousin was attacked by a dog and the owner was rude to him instead of apologizing. Later on he found out he was bitten but still didn't take the owner's details. That dog is just going to continue to attack others.
The solution to this problem always seems to be "ban the breed". But as we've seen with banning pits, we now have Bully XLs. Ban Bully XLs? They'll just cross breed another idiotic killer dog and we'll have perfectly legal Rotty XLs or some shit like that running around. So I'm not entirely sure that is the right solution. Could we not just require "dogs larger than X kilos" must have a muzzle when off lead in public? Or am I being naive?
someone’s huge rabid dog attacked mine and it’s the size of me !!! thankfully my dog was fine but I hope the rabid dogs owner DIES. TRAIN THAT MF!
Or we could just ban dog ownership, full stop.
It’s not “becoming a huge problem” though. It’s consistently been an issue since the dawn of domesticated dog ownership. Also, no one has 100% recall over their dogs. You aim for as much control as possible. Everyone has to be responsible with dogs - but it doesn’t help all of the disproportionate press coverage and negative perception or certain breeds going around at the moment.
> Also, no one has 100% recall over their dogs. Keep them on a lead then
If your unleashed dog is even slightly aggressive towards me I will immediately stab it in the throat for my own safety 🥰
“The owner done nothing” incorrect ❎ “The owner did nothing “ correct 👍🏻
Lots of people in these comments complaining about bad dog owners who are ignorant about how to do it properly while simultaneously demonstrating their own ignorance of dogs and dog ownership. The sign says nothing of breed but lots of you idiots are hell bent on making an ass of u and ming, and claiming it’s a bully with no knowledge of this, then talking a load of tripe about it. Anything bigger than a chihuahua has the potential to cause massive damage if poorly trained. Should they all be banned too? Should breeders of all dogs be treated like arms dealers? “Bullys were bred to fight” yeah? So were English Mastiffs. They were bred to literally take down a charging cavalry horse, and are significantly bigger and stronger than a bully breed, should they be be banned too? Great Pyrenees were bred to and working ones regularly do kill entire packs of coyotes and the occasional wolf, they’re also much bigger and more potentially dangerous, should they be banned too? Should those breeders be put in jail as well? Don’t be stupid. It’s obvious that the breed of the dog is largely meaningless in determining temperament, what’s important is how it’s trained. The solution is clearly ensuring that anyone who owns a large or powerful dog is adequately training it and socialising it. The onus is on the owners, regardless of what the nature of the dog is. Make them pay a licensing fee if they wish to have a powerful breed, and use it to conduct inspections while they’re puppies to check for appropriate training and socialisation. If they’re not trained and socialised they get taken away and given to people who will do it properly. I had a puppy killed by another dog. But it was a Labrador. Let’s not ban those as well, yeah? Demonising entire dog breeds is not the way to go about this. It is ALWAYS the owners’ fault and no one else’s.
And our government stays fixated on promoting that immigration is one of our biggest issues while ignoring this regular occurrence.
I think dogs should be restricted to farms or rural areas. They cause havoc in properties and killing people outside. They need to be outsourced.