Ignorance of scociety?

blaaah

Hi all,

I just had a very patronising conversation with a passer by on my walk today. This person was cycling past on his bike and makes the comment 'huh, no muzzles on them dogs I see'. He is of course right by law as I am required to put muzzle on my dogs (rottie & husky). When I try to give him an insight to my dogs and an idea of maybe the law is disappointing when it comes to muzzling of dog breeds, he was clearly not able to comprehend such level of thinking, which made me quite sad indeed.

After 2 n half years I now have to muzzle my dogs or else be brought to court so he also says. I've never once had a guard stop me in all of that time and I walk twice a day.

Again, it's not case of me being wrong I know that but at same time to which what my point is, what hope is there out there if this person, a dog owner himself I might add cannot see that it's owners who have brought up their dogs wrong which cause these problems not the dogs themselves.

I guess my question is, is the law there to help or just to incriminate these loyal breeds further and further?

At end of convo he throws the 'A husky attacked a baby the other week' comment in my face while pointing at my dog as if to say those breeds are demons.

Do I bring up any interesting issues here?

BunShopVoyeur

Nope.

Forest Demon

He was right. Those laws are there for a reason. The problem is that a lot of people do not bring these dogs up right. There is no way of determining who has raised dogs properly and the fact is that and certain breeds are more dangerous then others.

As for the Guards not stopping you, that does not surprise me either. Guards rarely enforce loads of laws in Ireland.

I am sure your dogs are grand but these laws are there for a reason.

SillyMangoX

Just a note, your husky does NOT have to be muzzled. They are not a restricted breed no matter what media hype may lead people to believe.

Zapperzy

Forest Demon wrote: »

He was right. Those laws are there for a reason. The problem is that a lot of people do not bring these dogs up right. There is no way of determining who has raised dogs properly and the fact is that and certain breeds are more dangerous then others.

As for the Guards not stopping you, that does not surprise me either. Guards rarely enforce loads of laws in Ireland.

I am sure your dogs are grand but these laws are there for a reason.

Loads of people don't bring up great danes, labradors, collies, springer spaniels, pointers, st bernards, setters, golden retrievers, boxers or irish wolfhounds right either and they are all fairly big dogs capable of doing a fair amount of damage. Why not muzzle those? Again and again there are no facts that show some breeds are genetically more likely to attack humans, disregard any 'facts or studies' that are based on newspaper reports as was shown again only recently the media are completely incapable of reporting the breed correctly.

The only reason these laws are there is because uneducated people who can't tell the a dog's nose from it's arse put them there. The UK have similar legislation banning 4 breeds outright, they have now realised it does not work, attacks have increased, and they are in the process of changing it so the focus is on the owner and not the dog or breed of dog.

Target the idiot owners and not the individual dogs and we will see change.

OP your husky is not on the RB list so doesn't need to be muzzled, only your rottie does. Here is a list of the breeds http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1991/en/si/0123.html Unfortunately you'l meet idiots like that, they read a few newspaper articles and think they know it all. It might be no harm to buy a fabric muzzle for the rottie and have it in your pocket in case you get stopped by a warden, least then you can say you just took it off her for a breather. Some wardens will also accept halti and other headcollars as a muzzle.

studiorat

Was he cycling on the road? On the path ?

Were the dogs on a lead?

tk123

I wouldn't even engage with tools like that apart from telling them to mind their own business?!
Our park the other week - the most beautiful staffie puppy pulls towards an off lead dog to play. The owner was practically organising a posse in the park because it wasn't muzzled - it was a puppy FFS!! Spouting RB list propaganda and how it should be enforced without realizing she'd be fined herself since own little darling is never on it's lead. Judge by looks and muzzle? I'd have one on her over the puppy lol!

blaaah

Zapperzy wrote: »

Loads of people don't bring up great danes, labradors, collies, springer spaniels, pointers, st bernards, setters, golden retrievers, boxers or irish wolfhounds right either and they are all fairly big dogs capable of doing a fair amount of damage. Why not muzzle those? Again and again there are no facts that show some breeds are genetically more likely to attack humans, disregard any 'facts or studies' that are based on newspaper reports as was shown again only recently the media are completely incapable of reporting the breed correctly.

The only reason these laws are there is because uneducated people who can't tell the a dog's nose from it's arse put them there. The UK have similar legislation banning 4 breeds outright, they have now realised it does not work, attacks have increased, and they are in the process of changing it so the focus is on the owner and not the dog or breed of dog.

Target the idiot owners and not the individual dogs and we will see change.

OP your husky is not on the RB list so doesn't need to be muzzled, only your rottie does. Here is a list of the breeds http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1991/en/si/0123.html Unfortunately you'l meet idiots like that, they read a few newspaper articles and think they know it all. It might be no harm to buy a fabric muzzle for the rottie and have it in your pocket in case you get stopped by a warden, least then you can say you just took it off her for a breather. Some wardens will also accept halti and other headcollars as a muzzle.

Great post, insightful too thank you.

blaaah

studiorat wrote: »

Was he cycling on the road? On the path ?

Were the dogs on a lead?

He was cycling on the road.

Yes, the were on their leads.

christmas2012

blaaah wrote: »

At end of convo he throws the 'A husky attacked a baby the other week' comment in my face while pointing at my dog as if to say those breeds are demons.

Do I bring up any interesting issues here?

He sounds like a right prick,i generally avoid people like that,anybody with anything negative to say or constantly bitching and arguing i completly blank,i just dont see the point on getting down over such individuals..

Having said that,there are a lot of dog wary people,and others who are scared of dogs and dont understand dogs(eg a dog isnt always angry at you when it barks etc) who could report you for not having the muzzle on them..thats just the way it is..

Evac101

As much as we might personally disagree with the laws regarding restricted breeds, it is still the law. As unfortunate as it is we can't decide for ourselves which laws are reasonable and worth obeying and which are not. Just because the person in the OP's story was not as tactful and understanding as one might have hoped doesn't change the basic fact - muzzles are the law regarding these breeds and if your RB dog isn't wearing one while out for a walk, you're in breach of it.

Now most Gardaí and dog wardens are willing to extend some leeway and understanding regarding this and it's very kind of them to do so but equally they're entitled to charge you with an offence if they so desired. Long story short, if you buy a RB you, I should hope, are going into it with your eyes open regarding the restrictions in place and if some pr*ck pulls you up about not having a muzzle on your RB dog when you should then you really don't have a right to complain about it - they're in the (legal) right, however disappointing their understanding of realities of the situation might be. Campaign for a change of the law, don't moan about people advocating you abiding by it, oh be it in a unsympathetic manner.

I'm completely ignoring his husky comments I'm aware but I'm on the way out the door so I chose to address the more obvious point in my opinion.

andreac

Huskies dont have to be muzzled, next time tell him to mind his own business and get his facts right!!

Sigma Force

Sounds like he got his facts all over the place, but you are required by law to muzzle the Rottie, even if you don't agree with it. I would also not like the idea of muzzling any of my dogs but if the law said I had to then I would..I wouldn't be happy about it but at the same time I don't need the hassle from passers by or cops...but you are right I have never seen a cop stop someone for walking their dog without a muzzle, or for walking their dog off lead or for allowing their dog to roam etc. They do sod all about it. The law isn't strictly enforced so some owners can get away with it without having any hassle.

You might need to compramise if you get any more hassle but if you have to get a muzzle there's always those pretty flowery ones or patterend ones they don't look so in your face with them on.

I can't walk my dogs locally ..country village..because of other peoples dogs many of which are vicious and unsupervised and roaming most of them are mix breeds or terriers. The law needs to concentrate on all breeds and mixes being kepts under proper control not just this breed and that breed.

OldNotWIse

blaaah wrote: »

Hi all,

I just had a very patronising conversation with a passer by on my walk today. This person was cycling past on his bike and makes the comment 'huh, no muzzles on them dogs I see'. He is of course right by law as I am required to put muzzle on my dogs (rottie & husky). When I try to give him an insight to my dogs and an idea of maybe the law is disappointing when it comes to muzzling of dog breeds, he was clearly not able to comprehend such level of thinking, which made me quite sad indeed.

After 2 n half years I now have to muzzle my dogs or else be brought to court so he also says. I've never once had a guard stop me in all of that time and I walk twice a day.

Again, it's not case of me being wrong I know that but at same time to which what my point is, what hope is there out there if this person, a dog owner himself I might add cannot see that it's owners who have brought up their dogs wrong which cause these problems not the dogs themselves.

I guess my question is, is the law there to help or just to incriminate these loyal breeds further and further?

At end of convo he throws the 'A husky attacked a baby the other week' comment in my face while pointing at my dog as if to say those breeds are demons.

Do I bring up any interesting issues here?

Not really. The restricted breed list is as it is whether we agree with it or not (I dont, personally). You dont have a leg to stand on. Havign said that, I hate annoying pollyanna feckers who stick their noses in and say things like that to people. Like, would you jump out of your car at lights to knock on someone's window and tell them their insurance is out of date? People should mind their own business a lot more, unless something is directly affecting them. Dog owners (like smokers) are just an easy target in Irish society, I think.

JustAThought

Smokers don't get the cr@p dog owners do. And they're giving people cancer.