Another dog tragedy

I'm reading that there were 8 dogs ranging from a cross between a St Bernard /Newfoundland (think Nana in Peter Pan) and daschunds, being walked by the Dog Walker. That surely sounds like a recipe for disaster. I am not a great lover of dogs and I was amazed when a woman would walk by my home with possibly more than 8 dogs of various sizes every day and started to let them use my drive as a "pissoir" . I gave her what for and she did stop walking her pack down our road. She was a DogWalker and when I asked the council are they registered? I was told no, anyone can start up the business. I would love to have found out more about her and reported her to HRMC as I would imagine she was doing it "cash in hand" judging by the loud uncouth conversation we had. There needs to be more regulation regarding Dog Walkers as obviously a dog on it's own is a pet 8 dogs is a pack.

I agree Jane, focusing on the breed isn’t always helpful. Our postman says the worst dog he encounters on his rounds is a Jack Russell. Even some small dogs were originally bred to kill badgers etc.

Indeed there should. Dogs are by nature pack animals and one person can’t possibly control nine. En masse their basic instincts surface.

Eventually we will find out how this tragic event happened.

At 13 I was attacked by a German shepherd dog leading to a lifelong fear of dogs. 10 years ago I was cured of my fear by my friends gentle Rottweiler. I am still wary but no longer totally terrified.
We had a frightening experience with a Dog Walker a couple of years ago. She had 9 dogs running wild, my gcs were screaming with fear aS the dogs barked and jumped up at us all and the Walker stood by did nothing and a told us ‘they are just being friendly’. I was both furious and terrified all over again. There should be a limit to how many dogs are taken out together.

I think large dogs can obviously over power you but it's also about the nature of the actual dog and how well they are trained predominantly. My friend was attacked by her own dog who had, had 'issues' with its temperament before and she'd already spoken to the vet about having him pts if it happened again. At this point the dog was having mini type seizures, so something neurological was going on. Of course it did happen again and it was quite devastating for her and she had to have an operation and the dog was pts. I think mentioning the breed is sometimes counter productive (it was a small dog)

I just did. ‘Gentle nature’.

Here’s a photo of a Leonberger

I hadn't heard of them but they are big.

Loads of photos and information if you Google it

What’s a leonberger like? Never heard of it.

There are reports today that one of the dogs involved in this attack was a Leonberger. Two were dachshunds.
Many years ago a friend's baby was attacked by their family Labrador. She was scarred for life.

MerylStreep

I sometimes wonder what’s in their heads. I’ve been bitten by a Dachshund that knew me. My daughter still has a scar from her grandmothers rescue greyhound.
I was walking down the road one day when a Jack Russell run at me so fast he nearly fell over. Fortunately I had thick leather boots on otherwise I don’t know what would have happened to my foot. His owner had a job getting him to let go,

The worst attack I personally know of, was: my friend had a pet goat that she walked on a lead. 2 Labradors, off their leads attacked and killed the goat.

It’s very unusual for Labs to do that, but 2 or more dogs together can change their behavior dramatically, you can never tell.

Walking up through the woods from the bus stop I was once rather surprised to have my hand gently licked from behind! I'd smiled at a German Shepherd playing with a ball as I'd passed him/her and it must have decided it liked me. S/he was completely silent and I didn't hear it coming up behind me. It was a very nice dog and I stopped to pat it as it's owner caught up with us.
Could have been a shock but it was an unexpected surprise.

Lockdown dogs are definitely a problem. I see so many first time owners asking for advice and it's abundantly clear that they bought a pup on a whim during lockdown, didn't put in the work training or socialising it and now wonder why it's still toileting in the house, has no recall etc etc. Puppies are very hard work in those early weeks, and you have to put the work in - but oh, the rewards are so worthwhile. However, poorly trained dogs are a menace - and it's not their fault. Some owners appear totally clueless - you see photos on Facebook, for instance, of kids crawling all over the pups, pulling their ears and so on, and the owners think it's cute. Well it won't be so cute when the pup finally runs out of patience and snaps at the child. You need to train the pups - but if you have children, you also need to teach them how to behave around the dog and not to treat it as a toy or some kind of fashion accessory.

I didn't mean you MayBee. I've heard that expression so many times from people.

Awful Meryl 🥺 but most of us train our rescue dogs within their capabilities and make sure they never bite anyone

I sometimes wonder what’s in their heads. I’ve been bitten by a Dachshund that knew me. My daughter still has a scar from her grandmothers rescue greyhound.
I was walking down the road one day when a Jack Russell run at me so fast he nearly fell over. Fortunately I had thick leather boots on otherwise I don’t know what would have happened to my foot. His owner had a job getting him to let go,

The worst attack I personally know of, was: my friend had a pet goat that she walked on a lead. 2 Labradors, off their leads attacked and killed the goat.

I often get into arguments when people say on Facebook that their large dog ran up to a small dog and the owners of the small dog were angry/upset because ‘my dog was just being friendly’. Saying ‘well don’t let your dog run up to other dogs’ just doesn’t make sense to them. I don’t think my whippet would hurt another dog and she did have puppy play sessions with other dogs ( she just used to run round in a circle and showed no sign of aggression) but I can’t guarantee that she wouldn’t run up to a little dog at 35 mph and knock it over. So I don’t let it happen.

Deeda- lockdown dogs are a big problem. It wasn’t easy for responsible owners like me to socialise them in the usual way. My pups have been trained to lie next to me in outdoor cafe for example. All o pubs and cafes closed. Few if any people in my house, very rare for me to visit anyone with my puppy
So a restricted early developmental stage
My two dogs rarely get free off lead other than in a secure field. This is to avoid them getting into higher with packs walked by dog walkers. Also to avoid the people who bought three in lockdown and never taught them to walk on a lead or come back when called
There’s this nonsense idea of fur babies / over indulged untrained pests

Kate1949

'The child must have done something to upset the dog' assumption annoys me.

I didn’t actually say that. I’m just trying to think why a dog that’s usually fine with people would suddenly turn and thought that it might be a food issue. And dogs can get jealous, too. I’m not making excuses for the dog, just trying to make some sort of sense of a distressing situation so that it doesn’t happen again. DH is still traumatised by an unprovoked attack on our dog so I understand how distressing these attacks are. But it doesn’t make me hate dogs just because they’re dogs.

Another thought has struck me. With the number of dogs that were bought during lockdown I wonder how many half trained ones are roaming around now that their owners are back at work? You've only got to look at the horrific attacks on sheep to see what a pack of dogs can do and if they are left to wander people are also at risk.

The big problem is that having large aggressive dogs has become so fashionable in many quarters. Take the Rottweiler, years ago this was considered a family dog which was safe with the children. Frank Windsor from Z Cars had a lovely one. Then it became seen as a big dog that could be used as a guard dog and then it became a dog that could be used as a weapon. The same thing happened with the Staffie. People who are cutting dogs' ears off and deliberately teaching them to attack are not going to worry about licences or microchips. Among the fighting dog fraternity there is also the horrible fate of the Bait Dogs who are literally kept for the fighting dogs to practice on. If they are lucky they will be dumped when they are too injured to carry on and may be rescued and rehomed. There seems to be quite a trade in stealing Staffie type dogs from homeless people on the streets and heaven knows what sort of fate awaits them.At the same time people are having their family pets removed and destroyed because of the way they look.

I've had a few frightening encounters with dogs. I mentioned it on a similar thread on here a while ago and someone implied that I was making them up. That it seemed far fetched that one person could have had so many negative encounters.

...And more recently my DIL and GS saw a Yorkshire terrier killed in front of them by another dog in a park where there are always a lot of dogs and owners. Not sure what type of dog who attacked, but know my DIL and GS were shaken up for a long time afterwards. It's the unpredictability which is concerning.

My thoughts go out to the lady who died and her family. Very sad.

I've seen and known a few stories/dogs in my time which means I am very aware a dog can be unpredictable. Myself I have been lunged at twice while passing a dog on a lead with it's owner on a pavement. One owner's dog [lurcher type] actually bit my leg as he was picking up the dog poo...he said he had only had the dog a fortnight but wasn't that bothered. The other owner was shaken and couldn't understand why her 'fur baby'...a solid bulldog...had leapt up at me. Nor did I.

A previous neighbours trained gun dog attacked it's owner one day out of the blue, but they had never trusted the dog from day one.
A friends pair of Jack Russell crosses got into a neighbours garden and tore the heads off 2 rabbits.
One of my dogs, such a quiet, loving small dog, went berserk once when we asked for directions from a stranger and it was scary to see. Never did it before or since.
My sis has an American Bulldog who she rescued. He's menacing, none of the family goes to her house.

I've been with a friend viewing pups in private households, and got fed up with dogs just jumping up at me and the owners just laughing...no control whatsoever. Very little training going on in many homes. They treat the dogs as if they are furry children.

I think a lot of dogs don't get enough exercise which leads to a pent up energy and frustration. Here I see a young GS who rarely goes out, only across the road and back for 5 minutes twice a day if that. When I've merely said Hi to the owner out of politeness the dog snarls and growls.

I don't like to see gatherings outsides schools here where American bulldog types strain at the leash to 'meet' each other. The mums can hardly control them and small kids are running in and out and around.