Police horse's attacked by dog

M0nica

If dogs had to be licensed and chipped, the listing would be part of that and proof would be required at that point.

After that, follow-up would only be needed if a breach of the rules was reported. Moving breeds between categories would e part of completing ordinary statistical returns that the government does anyway. Number of dog attacks in a year andbreeds involved.

Great ideas

This is one occasion when I’m pleased someone was filming

I agree NanaDana he was really brave when other men stood by filming on phones.
The dog should be put down and the owner heavily fined at the very least.I’d prefer to see him do six months tbh.

As a lifelong dog-owner, I am often infuriated by the minority of irresponsible owners who give the rest of us a bad name. There are many places where even allegedly well-trained dogs should be on a lead, and around horses is one of them. The dog in this case appeared to be totally out of control, and the so-called owner was a waste of space as regards stepping in to stop it. The member of the public with a stick who bravely stepped in was taking a heck of a chance, and was lucky not to be seriously mauled himself.

If only sodapop

That sounds like a plan tickingbird

It’s a certain type that own these American bullies and the young man that owned this one is typical. No care for the dog. All about status and look what my dog can do. Pity the owners can’t be banned, put down.

Callistemon21 Why anyone wants a dog like this is beyond me especially someone who has no clue about how much training is involved.

Some breeds must be banned, imo. Adequate dog training, dog exercise, lead rules - common sense (which is uncommon) - err on the side of caution.

Law: "All dogs must be implanted with a microchip loaded with information about them (breed, sex, colour etc), their keepers' details. Puppies must be microchipped and registered with a database by the time they're eight weeks old."

However, rules can't stop a dog from attacking you or your dog/ horse/ child - I know this well from a horrific experience. We now carry legal deterrent spray. We also avoid off lead / not muzzled dogs.

If dogs had to be licensed and chipped, the listing would be part of that and proof would be required at that point.

After that, follow-up would only be needed if a breach of the rules was reported. Moving breeds between categories would e part of completing ordinary statistical returns that the government does anyway. Number of dog attacks in a year andbreeds involved.

One difficulty with the idea of several lists and different categories is who enforces this. We don’t have enough police officers to investigate crime never mind adding more work. Dog wardens are also overwhelmed and don’t have any real powers.
People x breed bullies, rotties, pit bulls so it’s difficult to identify what breed.
These back street bullie type breeders are already breaking the law by cutting the puppies ears. I’ve not seen any prosecutions.
I fear the easiest response by local councils is to have all dogs on leads in any public place. I keep my over enthusiastic young lab on lead but my little spaniel is happy to trot along off lead, she’s no problem with people or dogs and it would be such a shame if she didn’t get off lead walks with plenty of free time to sniff.
Like everyone else, I’m sick of irresponsible owners who know nothing about the training involved.

I can see no reason why it should not be possible to have several lists, one of dogs that are banned and a second of dogs that should always be on a lead and muzzledwhen in a public space. There could also be other rules that limit the ownership of dogs on the muzzled list, like owners having a minimum area of outside space, properly fenced, so that these dogs are not cooped up in flats or in houses with excessively small back yards.

It should be possible to move dogs from the free to muzzled to banned list based on a rolling 5 year review of the number of attacks on human and animals they have made.

I suffered an attack from a muzzled dog, it was on a lead but was too strong for its owner pulled away and left me with a badly bruised arm. I cannot remember the breed or if I really noticed.

BlueBelle

Sorry Blondescot I totally understand what you said
If you can actually compare an out of control chihuahua with an out of control American Bully you must be having a moment
I believe banning American Bullies is the only way forward and should be done as soon as.

NO, you are missing my point. I'm not saying an attack by a chihuahua is the same as one by a much larger, more powerful dog (although if a chihuahua were to run up and nip at the legs of a horse, it could still cause a serious accident). The point I'm trying to make if that if you choose to own a dog, no matter what breed, then it is your responsibility to ensure that your animal is under control at all times. If that's not clear enough, then I'm done.

Sorry Blondescot I totally understand what you said
If you can actually compare an out of control chihuahua with an out of control American Bully you must be having a moment
I believe banning American Bullies is the only way forward and should be done as soon as.

Oreo

The American Bully dog should be on the banned list.
Tbh I think every dog in a public park or street should be on a lead and wear a muzzle.
Especially big powerful dogs!

Yes, I agree this is another breed which should be put on the banned list.

Why anyone wants a dog like this is beyond me especially someone who has no clue about how much training is involved.
In some cases they are more like weapons than pets.

The law says
*Civil proceedings can be initiated against the owner of a dog that is dangerously out of control. The dangerousness alleged relates to its effect on people or animals

A dog will be regarded as dangerously out of control on any occasion when there are grounds for reasonable apprehension it will injure any person or assistance dog.*

I wonder if the police horse savaged can be considered as an assistance horse. Apologies, I don’t mean to be flippant. That poor horse may not return to work as the calm confident horse he was. He’ll certainly need work to desensitise him from anxiety around dogs.

BlueBelle

blondescott it does matter what breed it is these dogs have locking jaws and are heavy and overly strong, a person would probably not survive an attack so they need to be banned obviously any dog out of control and the owner should be prosecuted, but these particular dogs should BE BANNED

You're misunderstanding the point I was trying to make, which is that no matter what breed of dog you have, if you cannot control it, then it should be on a lead, and all breeds need to be properly trained. That applies whether you have a chihuahua or a Rottweiler. Banning certain breeds doesn't necessarily work - the existing legislation is full of loopholes and is rarely properly enforced anyway.

blondescott it does matter what breed it is these dogs have locking jaws and are heavy and overly strong, a person would probably not survive an attack so they need to be banned obviously any dog out of control and the owner should be prosecuted, but these particular dogs should BE BANNED

The American Bully dog should be on the banned list.
Tbh I think every dog in a public park or street should be on a lead and wear a muzzle.
Especially big powerful dogs!

Perhaps we should section every person who buys one of these dogs that are known to attack and sometimes kill people. The reason? Every one of them always says that the dog is tame and harmless and wouldn't ever attack anyone, it has such a gentle nature.

Alternatively, why not a crime of owning a dangerous dog, in the same way carrying a knife in a public place is a crime

Yes, I know both these ideas wouldn't work, but surely someone must be able to think of a way of sanctioning all those idiots who own fierce dogs, which usually they have bought because they are fierce and dangerous, and then say what softies these dogs are when they a ttack and possibly kill someone, often a child. They say that possession is 9 parts of the law.

Iam64

I watched the video on line, I’m afraid it made me weep, then angry. The owner complained he couldn’t train the dog without letting it off lead in this area. It’s obvious he’s no idea what’s involved in owning and training a dog. He made no attempt to get it under control during this vicious attack. Afterwards he blamed the horse for upsetting his dog, grumbled that because it was a police horse more was being made of the incident.
The dog will be assessed by a behaviourist to see if it’s dangerous. I hope its owner is prosecuted for having a dangerously out of control dog. It might have been ok with the right owner but if it’s not assessed as being dangerous it shouldn’t be returned to this man. Having watched that video, I believe the fog should be euthanised.

Absolutely agree with this. He's clearly totally clueless when it comes to what is involved in training a dog. It is owners like him (and god knows, there seem to be more and more of them these days!) who give responsible dog owners a bad name. It's hard work training a dog - you have to be firm and consistent and keep at it - but that's what is needed if you want to have a dog. And the rewards are oh, so worth it.

sodapop

The dog's owner needs to have the appropriate punishment, he apparently made little attempt to prevent his dog attacking the horses and in fact blamed the horses.
Another case of a dog owner putting others at risk including his own dog, I'm not sure what legislation if any would prevent this sort of thing happening.

You can’t educate spam 😟

I watched the video on line, I’m afraid it made me weep, then angry. The owner complained he couldn’t train the dog without letting it off lead in this area. It’s obvious he’s no idea what’s involved in owning and training a dog. He made no attempt to get it under control during this vicious attack. Afterwards he blamed the horse for upsetting his dog, grumbled that because it was a police horse more was being made of the incident.
The dog will be assessed by a behaviourist to see if it’s dangerous. I hope its owner is prosecuted for having a dangerously out of control dog. It might have been ok with the right owner but if it’s not assessed as being dangerous it shouldn’t be returned to this man. Having watched that video, I believe the fog should be euthanised.

I was walking my two small dogs yesterday down a deserted country track. A man appeared some distance in front of me and immediately jumped over the hedge and into the field. I recalled my dogs and put them on their leads, he told me he was terrified of dogs after being attacked by one. I really felt sad for him, how his life must be restricted and even a walk in the countryside was fraught for him.
Irresponsible dog owners have a lot to answer for.

Truly awful, heaven forbid that it had been a human, would the owner still be saying what a wonderful friendly dog it is? I hope the dog is put down as I do not believe that the animal could ever be considered save after such a ferocious attack.
Will it have to be that all dogs are kept on leads in public places or forced to wear a muzzle, but even that does not stop the animals that suddenly turn on their owners. Too many people are just not suitable as owners and too many highly unsuitable animals.

Appalling, I’m sick of hearing about out of control dogs, I was attacked by one on Monday and have bite marks on the padded coat I was fortunately wearing.
I don’t know what the answer is, my incident was reported to the dog warden, who knows any outcome.