Dangerous Dogs Owners

Surely that should be the default position?

I said I was quoting you're post NOT RESPONDING TO YOU.

You said children should be trained and called parents dummies hence it is pointless to engage with people like yourself I won't respond to you again.

To others posters here I again say dogs should be on leashes and by law dogs that are dangerous must be muzzled.

As for the poster above is shows the total mental disconnect if the dog can cause serious injury it should have a muzzle securely fitted.

Agree about asking first but I still let the dog decide. Some are mad attention whóres who will take attention from anyone/everyone ALL the time while others can just not fancy it.

Also as a teen I (for some reason) had a "viscious" German Shepherd randomly headbutt his ball to me before wagging his tail and jumping like a terrier suddenly overwhelmed by a need to play fetch for 20 minutes. After which he picked up the ball and went home.

At no point did he come near enough for a pet but he'd come up a few yards away before nudging the ball back to me and running backwards to fetch again. I never forced the issue and I think we both had fun for the experience. Ultimately its the dogs decision what they want.

jasus but the apologists out there are ridiculous

this whole scenario is like something outa Horrible Histories "Stupid Deaths" on CBBC…

Death: "Method of Death?"

Victim: "ah…well….I suppose I had what I thought was this great idea…see I love animals and I thought it would be a great idea to…well…get a Grizzly Bear cub? cos they're just so cuddly! plus I remembered watching this really cool tv programme called Grizzly Adams and well he was so cool, him and Ben the bear together having adventures…so I called mine Ben too…and he was lovely! and great with the kids too! n everything was awesome for a while…n omg so safe n everyone thought I was cool as fck n all the Insta n socials too lolz! but then he grew up and well he must have been hungry cos he mauled me n ate me yesterday afternoon…"

Death: "muahahaha!? nooo?! did I hear you right? you kept a bear in the house? as a pet? muhahahahaaa..oh you're dead funny…but at least Ben had a nice lunch I suppose…oh yes please please go thru..NEXT!"

'of course kids paid no notice and continued until I said in an authoritative manner “ Stop throwing rocks NOW'

😂

And everyone there clapped...

Such nonsense😂

Whilst I agree with you about muzzles being a sign of an owner at least obeying the law, I have a real problem with statements like "in the right hands, X breed is a great dog".

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Malinois (for example) are terrific dogs, but they are first and foremost WORKING dogs, and if people are not working them (and pets are generally not worked) then they are difficult to handle. They need to work, and no snuffle pads will make up for them only getting half an hour's walk twice a day.

One thing I quickly learned from having a very active dog (she's from a working line of sheepdogs) is that you can't "train" the need to work out of them: what they need is for you to give them "work".

Canine agility classes and other actual "work" depending on the dog's nature, is infinitely better than any amount of walking - especially walking around a town on a leash, which is next to pointless IMO for dogs that really want to work - but then that also requires the owner to spend that amount of time working with their dog. (Of course ideally only people who want to spend that time with their dogs should be owners in the first place, but - well)

To come back to the tragedy of the young woman in Limerick: she was looking for "education" classes for an excitable dog. I suspect that, whether or not the dog also needed training, which is very possible, no education classes would have trained that excitability out of the dog.

Neighbours said they never saw her out walking the dogs. So what on earth did the dogs do all day? That's an owner problem, not a dog one, and won't be fixed by a few hours spent with a trainer.

Can XL Bullys be trained? They are so severely inbred can they even understand/learn anything outside of "KILL"?

What has continually moaning about kids coming over to your dog got to do with this thread?

It has no relevance whatsoever.

Here is an example I go on the school run to pick up the kids and many times stop at the shops not far from the school on the way back.

Sometimes children run out into the road from behind parked cars sometimes they are engaged in horseplay.

By the logic of many dangerous dog owners if I or one of the other mothers run over one of these children it's the dummy parents fault for not teaching their children proper road safety.

I don't know anything about XL Bullies from personal experience (thank Christ) which is why I mentioned Malinois instead to make a general point about dog ownership and responsibilities. It's something I think a lot of people don't "get" when they talk about training, but seeing that way around explains so much about what people get wrong about dog behaviour. And not all dog attacks are Bullies, so the general point is relevant even if all Bullies were banned tomorrow.

You could well be right about Bullies, though - and I can't see why anyone would want a dog like that anyway: there are so many breeds and indeed wonderful mongrels needing a home that I would be suspicious of why anyone wants dogs bred for fighting.

In fact I'd be all for a law enforcing sterilization of any fighting breed dog, either so as to breed them out of existence altogether, or if that was too contentious (though at this rate of attacks I think it soon won't be) then have only a very few legal breeders and most people buying from them would be obliged to sterilize their pup. I say most because you might need some available for breeding from in order to prevent too much in breeding - but owning a non-castrated fighting dog should be the exception and require permission.

Where did any dangerous dog owners say this? That is just downright weird.

"Blame the deed not the breed" is another oft cited cliché used by those who seek to defend the indefensible. That said, calls for bans are misguided IMO as the state is as weak as water with little ability to enforce laws. Nothing should be banned unless it can be enforced and a ban will not be enforced.

Honestly I'd be in favour of assessing suitability for owning certain breeds and including in license criteria... No license and facing charges etc.

The justice minister was on TV the other day and was asked about bans- she said if that’s what the committee or whatever recommends that it would be implemented- I’m not convinced that there’s an appetite in the current government to move in that direction- but yes it obviously needs to be backed up with solid implementation strategies penalties fines etc as well - but just got the impression it’s not something they’re willing to give a “yes” too- it will take a child’s death or even two, before legislation is rushed through - you only have to look to the uk since February to see just how many attacks and deaths have occurred- similar will happen here there’s no doubt about it

I completely agree that children should be taught how to approach dogs: saying that as a general statement is no more victim blaming than saying that children should all learn how to swim or to cross the road safely is victim blaming for drownings or road traffic accidents. It's victim blaming only if used to excuse a dog attack, wihch is not the case here.

I've seen children come up behind my dog and pet her tail or her rump - now I know she's very confident and laid back, and doesn't react to that, but I also know other dogs that are not "vicious" by any means, but because they're anxious, would react badly to that. It's not blaming the child to say that it's important to teach children this sort of thing - without scaring them.