Dangerous Dogs Owners

The argument is just going round in circles. You think you've nothing to lose by banning Pits, I think you've nothing to gain not long term, you'll just be kicking the can down the road by taking the route of least resistance rather than actually fixing the problem properly. I don't own Pits so I've no dog in this fight (no pun intended) but I do have dogs and have had dogs on the Restricted Breeds List before and probably will again in the future and I don't want to see them with the next target on their forehead.

There are pitbulls that live happy lives and never bite anyone. That doesn't make them less dangerous.

Don't know what to make out of it.

Haven’t read this whole thread but post sums it up nicely.

It has been my opinion for a few years that these dogs should be treated as deadly weapons. They are used as weapons of intimidation by low level criminals because they know that the worst that will happen them is a fine and the dog destroyed. No conviction. Whereas if they were carrying a knife etc, they could face a world of trouble.

Walking them without a muzzle, off lead or without a suitable lead (the amount I’ve seen on plastic leads and retractable leads is shocking) should attract a criminal conviction equivalent to assault.

Does this penalise responsible owners? Of course it does. But no more than our gun laws impose very stringent conditions on responsible gun owners. The alternative to lax gun laws would be horrific.

We can see that dog control laws that don’t reflect the reality on the ground is horrific. It’s been obvious for years but unfortunately it takes something like this terrible incident to prompt action.

Treat every restricted breed dog as an unlicensed gun. Give owners 6 months to register or surrender them. Then start convicting anyone who still has an unlicensed one.

Banning pitbulls tomorrow would mean that far less children would end up like that child in Wexford, just like banning drunk drivers has resulted in less pedestrian deaths.

Banning pitbulls tomorrow would mean that far less children would end up like that child in Wexford

No it won't.

Dogs absolutely do not get a taste for blood. Don't be ridiculous.

In other news.

Pretty much this, and pitbulls are way out ahead on this.

Manged to get the 1,700 but didn't bother with the rest of the indo. . I just googled dog attacks Ireland and the 2nd story down is about attacks and it's been there fro the 5th december. I already put up wexford and waterford numbers a few days back.

In Co Wexford, where nine-year-old Alejandro Miszan was mauled by a pit bull cross in a housing estate just over a week ago, there have been 54 incidents involving pit bulls since 2017.

In Co Waterford, there have been 123 calls to the council about pit bulls and 29 attacks recorded, including 12 on people, 15 on other dogs and two on cats.

In Co Louth, there were 22 incidents recorded. A dog, cat and rabbit were killed, and 2 adults and a child were bitten. The majority were attacks on other dogs.

In Tipperary, the council has received 7 complaints of attacks involving pit bulls since 2016. Earlier this year, a young woman was left with lifelong scars after she was attacked by a group of pit bull terriers while out walking her two dogs in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. One of her dogs didn't survive.

14 attacks have been recorded in Sligo, including 8 on adults, 1 on a child, 3 on other dogs and2 on livestock.

South Dublin County Council declined to comment, while Fingal County Council said it started recording the breeds involved in attacks only this year. There have been 8 attacks reported in which pit bull terriers were involved. 7 of these were attacks on other dogs but in which 2 people received injuries. 1 attack was a dog-on-person attack.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has recorded 11 attacks involving pit bulls.

Dublin City Council said it had received 80 complaints about aggressive dogs this year but it did not provide a breakdown of breeds involved.

Some county councils such as Leitrim and Cork City said they had no record of any attacks, while other local authorities (Cavan, Wicklow and Mayo) had 3 or fewer.

Between 2016 and 2021, there were 4,009 attacks involving a range of breeds on livestock, dogs and humans reported to gardaí. This includes 1,705 attacks on humans, with the number of attacks rising each year.

In 2016, Paola Sahovic was attacked by her dog – which was a cross between a pit bull and a mastiff – at her home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Doctors had to carry out emergency surgery to save her arm.

In 2020, a seven-year-old boy died after being attacked by Rottweilers in a house in Dublin.

That same year, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by a mixed-breed Staffordshire bull terrier while playing football with friends near his home in Dublin. Darryl Brady-Graham suffered severe facial injuries and needed counselling after the horrific incident in Clonsilla.

The didn't mention the waterford baby that was killed in 2021

Today's headline is not mention of dog breed.

Gardaí are investigating two separate incidents in which up to 70 sheep were killed by dogs in recent days in counties Offaly and Kildare.

In Moneygall, on the Offaly-Tipperary border, up to 50 lambs on the farm of John Healy were killed in a dog attack.

Read the thread and you will see some posters defending pitbulls to the end.

I am a dog owner and a dog lover but those breeds are not suitable to urban environments.

I live I the suburbs and as I said I've reported one owner 8/9 times in the last few months. It says everything about ownership and enforcement

Maybe before banning breeds we should see if the existing restrictions can be enforced? There is absolutely no enforcement of them at all right now, and if at the very least these breeds were always muzzled and on the lead in public then we would have an idea if banning these dogs would even do anything.

But to be honest, if we can't enforce muzzle and leash laws (or even mandatory microchippig & licences) then would a ban be enforced?