Man's Best Friend At It Again

[Canary42]

Another innocent little toddler killed by dog - no doubt it's all part of the "unconditional love" the doggie brigade are always bragging about.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-60866899

About time dog laws were tightened (e.g. Bring back licences: No dogs allowed in households with youngsters: All dogs to be muzzled in public places. . . . . ) but fat chance of that with the strength of the Dog Lobby in this country.

[pixie374]

Danny, my local rescues won't allow people with children to take staffie mixes. Not because they are generally aggressive, but because when they lose it, they lose it. (Their words).

[1ozzy]

"I know what 'they' say, danny, but it is so often those types of breeds that do this."

Nothing to do with the breed of the owner of the dog Naomi?
Hmm,,

[Deskdiary]

Before we got our current dog, following the death of our 12 year old Lab, we thought we’d do the ‘right thing’ and look at rescue centres, and I’d conservatively 80% were Staff-like dogs, all of whom were described as “Experienced owners only - not suitable for households with children”.

That spoke volumes to us.

[pixie374]

It's a mixture, ozzy. The wrong dogs in the wrong hands. That dog may have been perfectly fine as a guard dog elsewhere.

[barry1010]

The same breed of dog killed a 55 year old man in Scotland last November.
Since 2020 9 people have been killed by dogs in the UK. Two were Staffie crossbreeds; one attack was by 3 British Bulldogs; 1 Chow-Chow cross; 1 attack was 2 American Bulldogs; 1 American Bully; 2 American Bully XL; 1 Husky.

In the previous decade there were 27 deaths in the UK. 7 involved Staffies or Staffie crossbreeds.
One death was caused by a Jack Russel cross; another by a Lakeland Terrier cross.

I think any breed of dog can attack suddenly, the problem is that any type of bull breed is very difficult to stop when it does attack

[dannyk13]

DD // “Experienced owners only - not suitable for households with children”.//
Maybe this was more to do with the history of those particular dogs rather than the breed.

[naomi24]

//Nothing to do with the breed of the owner of the dog Naomi?//

I didn’t say that. Very often dogs like this are the first choice of the most irresponsible of owners - those that have them as a status symbol - but that in itself says something about their reputation.

[1ozzy]

//I didn’t say that. Very often dogs like this are the first choice of the most irresponsible of owners - those that have them as a status symbol - but that in itself says something about their reputation//

I think that says more about some dog owners than the breed itself.

[pixie374]

Thus is from wiki about bulldogs (where these all originate from)
//Over the centuries, dogs used for bull-baiting developed the stocky bodies and massive heads and jaws that typify the breed, as well as a ferocious and savage temperament//

All dogs are individual, but you have to consider what traits have been deliberately bred into different breeds over hundreds/ thousands of years as well- and what their needs might be.

[naomi24]

Oh really? There are much bigger, heavier, dogs available ...

[pixie374]

Thus- this. I'm not turning into Byron :-)

[naomi24]

//All dogs are individual, but you have to consider what traits have been deliberately bred into different breeds... //

Exactly.

[pixie374]

Nature and nurture...

[burlyshirley]

I personally think more breeds should be added to the 'dangerous dogs' list, including the type of bully that killed this poor child and, I'm sorry staffie owners, but staffies too. I live in dread of meeting any of these type of dogs when out with my little dog as they could quite easily kill her with their big powerful jaws. I remember very shortly after I got her, we were walking home from the park and a huge bully type dog came loping towards us, no owner in sight, and it immediately went for Jill's underbelly (the soft part). I thought quickly and let her off lead and she legged it, she's a great runner and thankfully the bully didn't run after her. Long story short, over the following weeks, it attacked or tried to attack five more dogs in the area where I live because the stupid, irresponsible owner kept letting it out in it's own. It had one dog's head in its mouth and the owner had to punch and punch it until it thankfully let go. Luckily for us all, the owner and the dog suddenly disappeared one day, I can only assume he was kicked out of his rented flat. A loose staffie on the park terrifies me, it's that huge jaw that can cause so much damage. I know they are not all vicious, but some are and with a jaw like that, your own dog will not stand a chance.

Well said Mozz, good point.

I wonder what canary thinks about parents who torture and kill their babies and toddlers, surely THEY should know better ?? And there are far too many of them lately as well.

And while I feel sorry for this family for losing such a beautiful child, they were stupid in the extreme to take on such a dog where small children run free. A dog rescue would NEVER have let them have such a dog !

[10ClarionSt]

Just remember, when you look at a dog, your looking at an animal that's descended from a wolf.

[1ozzy]

Rottweiler, Dobermann, German Shepherd?
All favoured as guard/attack dogs.
It's the way any animal is raised and trained that makes them what they are.

Some of the cutest little lap dogs can be aggressive little ***.

It's up to the owners as to what their playful puppy will grow into.

[dannyk13]

Shirley, so what you are saying is that all dogs beyond a certain size should be on the dangerous dogs list? What about Labradors and German shepherds who are the mainstay of Guide Dogs?

[burlyshirley]

Cute little lap dogs don't have killer jaws !

[burlyshirley]

Err where am I saying that danny ? My beef is with big powerful dogs with huge jaws ...

[1ozzy]

They do Burlyshirly, just takes them a bit longer to gnaw you to death.