How will the powers that be stop unsuitable people keeping dangerous dogs?

Question

I meet yobs regularly when I walking my well behaved dogs and feel threatened by them. I reported this to police but they said unless the dog is proved to be a pure breed by would you beleive DNA testing they can do nothing about them. Family pets are being attacked all the time by these louts and their loutish dogs it is destressing and cruel to witness such behaviour.

Answer 1

Dogs really are not dangerous by nature, they have idiot owners. Very few animals will actually kill or harm another animal without reason or provocation. Unfortunately, we humans are one of the few that will. The real problem then is not the dogs but the morons that teach dogs to be mean.

A solution is a very hard thing to come up with. Stiff penalties for the jackasses who teach animals to be dangerous? Preventing them from ever owning an animal again? Public floggings for cruelty to animals? (That's my favorite one) But outlawing the animals is not going to cure the human sickness that makes people want to abuse an animal and make it mean.

Answer 2

Two factors come into play. The first is the reluctance of the Police to do anything about even pure breed Dogos (if a complaint has been made). The second is that threatening dogs are not covered, e.g. Mastiffs, and non threatening actual potentially dangerous dogs (a few unusual breeds), are not covered by legislation. And thirdly, the Magistrates are under the same illusion as members of much of the public that dogs are not all potentially dangerous animals, some more so than others.

Answer 3

You feel threatened? Are they actually threatening you or your dog?
Dogs will make a big show of being tough to another dog and being on a lead can make them feel restricted and feel the need to make other dogs stay away from them.
Please don't judge a dog or it's owner just by looks. Most people can not correctly identify a dog breed with just a quick look.
Dogs will attack other dogs but it isn't always a bad as people think. There's lots of barking and growling and they will grab each other but not draw blood or really hurt each other if they are left to sort out who is the dominant dog. What turns these domination scuffles into a real fight is when the owners start to scream and shout at the dogs and try & interfear. This seems to drive the dogs on to really fight & draw blood.
There are alway exceptions to the norm....so alway lookout for other dogs either on or off lead and move yourself & your dog out of harms way/out of site.
Talk to a dog trainer about reading dogs body language and try & socialise your dog with other dogs. This will help to teach your dog to approch a strange dog in a way that won't encorage a fight.

Answer 4

Please classify your term of dangerous dog. I think it may be a little different then mine. My idea of a dangerous dog is the common house pet that is raised like a human. That never learned its place in the pack and that is given confusing signals from other pack members. One that is spoiled rotten. One that received its training from Pet smart, instead of a competent trainer. And just to drive this point home, this morning I received an email from a friend who told me that a female malinois was dumped at the county shelter on Dec. 25 because her owners could not handle it anymore, whatever that means. Normally I do not get emails like that and I do not pay attention to them, but, this is my breed and now I need to investigate this and see what the problem is with this dog, if it is not too late. Dogs get about 5 days before they are put down. So, in conclusion, how about we ask the question of "Will the powers that be, stop dangerous PEOPLE from keeping dogs?"

Answer 5

Regularly?
All the time?
Are you a Daily Mail article writer?
There is no such thing as a bad dog, it is the owner who has trained it (or not).
This latest case still begs the question what was the girl doing?
Why do we always assume the victims are innocent and the dog has just attacked?
Back to the question. The police can do sod all, it's a stupid law which is virtually unenforcable. Therefore they, quite sensibly, don't try when they can be out catching prostitute killers and the like. I know which I'd rather have them doing.

Answer 6

There's no such thing as a bad breed of dog; it's all to do with how the dog is trained. A dog of any breed can be dangerous if not properly trained and controlled. I am in favour of compulsory training classes for all puppies and for all dog owners.

Answer 7

I don't actually think that they can enforce keeping dangerous dogs out of peoples hands, unless they bring back compulsory dog licencing. Then people will complain about 'big brother' and 'personal liberties' and say that it's another way of the government invading their privacy, so I doubt that they'd do that either.
It's a no win situation, really. SO long as people are breeding dangerous dogs, people will want to own one

Answer 8

I agree with you totally while walking my dogs on lead i always get dogs running up to mine and causing mine distress because there on a lead.I like to think im a responsible dog owner as my 4yr old jr x attacks other dogs badly so i keep her on the lead and muzzled,i dont understand why other owners dont do the same.Its very hard to actually report a attack and i think you have to go to the local dog warden or council,police very rarely get involved in dog attacks unless on humans.I do feel for you and your dogs though it is very distressing for both dog and owner when attacked.Good luck

Answer 9

The answer is to bring back licences. Not for dogs themselves, but for owners. You should have to prove you are capable of keeping a dog and not mistreating it. Too many people now have dogs such as pit-bulls and Staffordshire bull terriers as status symbols. Having to apply and pay for a licence as well as proving oneself suitable would deter the undesirables whilst genuine potential owners would be happy to do it.

Answer 10

Yes, I have noticed how most of these dogs are owned by 'hard' looking people. I think it is for the image rather that anything else.We have enough breeds without these large and unpredictable animals. They should most certainly have a law preventing families with babies from owning these dogs. I have listened to that old chestnut 'Its not the dogs fault' Dogs, like all animals are unpredictable. I just wish some peple would show more love and care for their children and less for their dogs.