a family friend's cat was killed the other day inher own house when two dogs came in, the cats head was crushed while my friend was trying to get them off, she used and iron which has now been destroyed, not only is the cat died but my friend has pucture wounds on her legs and hand.
it isnt the only cat that has died in teh mouths of these dogs two cats have been found in the drive way of where the dog lives.
the dogs also attacked my grandfathers dog my gandad hit teh dog so hard with a walking stick that it broke.

the police has said that they cant do anything and the wounds on my friend legs were provced, and they said that is was self defence, but what if it was a child

what do you think should the dogs be put down if i was teh owner i woud do for moral reasons.
it is going in the SUN and possible the EDP so we will see what happends

what a shame someone felt the need to contact the sun. more bad publicity for dogs, that the rest of us will have to deal with :( :(

The Police can do something about it if a human was bitten and that was intentional.
If it was the fact that the human was caught in the cross fire of these dogs going for the cats then its for the dog wardens to deal with.
Why were these dogs running loose, if they have jumped a fence and other people are in fear of the dog, as in humans for themselves then i would be contacting the local Police Officer in the dog unit, as this is something they would be interested in if people don't feel safe in their own gardens and fear that the dogs are likely to possibly attack a human.

I for one wouldn't of taken this to the Sun, this needs to be dealt with the correct way, not the country jumping onto this otherwise the wrong thing could happen.
What has the owner of these dogs said, any apologies, offer of compensation etc?

no its going in teh sun because they think there is a link to teh 30 cats gone missing in teh village and teh story has already been in teh sun.

if you read teh sun you may have seen that 30 cats have gone missing in teh village so they conntacted teh sun to say that they feel there is a connetion, and yes teh dogs are running loose all the time.
well i have heard that enough people have complained now and teh police are taking action, but it will be a week before any thing is done.

I find it strange that the police have said they cant do anything about he wounds to the owner. I used to wok with dogs awaiting court cases for biting and can remember quite a few who were there because they had bitten someone trying to split up a fight.

Something in this story is not ringing true if the police really have said there is nothing they can do.

They can, several laws are broken if everything is as it is laid out in the first post.. the dogs being on someone elses property, the dogs being dangerously out of control, the dogs attacking and killing the cat (criminal damage), and the dogs biting the person trying to help the cat..

There is just no way that there is 'nothing they can do'... unless they do not know whose dogs these are which doesnt seem to be teh case.

If this is what they have said then instead of going to the Sun or any other tabloid rag, the cats owners need to go to the police and show them (easy to print off the relevant points of law its all online!) which laws they think are broken, and bring charges against the dogs owners.

Going to the sun will do nothing for the owners, for the cats or any future cats.... merely mark, yet AGAIN, 'all dogs are evil' or 'all dogs of x breed are evil', which does absolutely nobody any good at all.

it was a cat that got killed the law is different dont ask its what they said.
i may not have it 100% my friend is really upset, how would you like having your cat ripped to peicesin your hand.
it was an english bull terrier, and i know of people at dog shows calling all bull dog/terriers pit bulls....

it is looking like it will be sorted, i think teh police just saw dog killed cat "so what" but now that its been pushed and they have listened it might start getting sorted out,
there is a mobile police van that goes through teh village so we will see what happends also there is also teh partniship(church/villige newsletter) that will surly inform everyone of teh dangerous dog.

one of my dogs in the past was bitten by a GSD, he had to have loads of stiches and even then it was just hushed up teh police did nothing, well now that norfolk has one of teh best police guys in the country it will change,"yeah right"

> it was an english bull terrier, and i know of people at dog shows calling all bull dog/terriers pit bulls....
>

ok, I'll bite (pardon the pun) - at what dog shows would that be?

> how would you like having your cat ripped to peicesin your hand.

I've had a cat ripped up badly by dogs (amazingly, despite the vet recomending us to have the cat PTS, she survived), there is no way I blamed the dogs for doing it, but I was mad with the owner for having the dogs loose in the street (they were lurchers, used for rabbiting, so it was pretty obvious they had a strong prey-drive). It is NOT the dogs fault.
Some canine breeds/individuals have a very strong prey-drive - they have an instict to chase, catch & kill - just like most cats have the instinct to chase catch & kill birds, rodents and other small animals. The only difference between the cats & dogs instincts to kill other animals is that cats, being smaller, generally do not kill peoples pets.

It's awful for the cat and its owner and should never have happened, but it's the dogs owner that is to blame, not the dogs.

Obviously people know where the owner of these dogs live (as a dead cat has been seen on thier driveway). Do the owners know what thier dogs have done? They may not know they escape, I'm not saying that is a good escuse for them allowing thier dogs to roam, but they may consider thier garden to be 100% secure and not actually know the dogs are getting out.

>it was an english bull terrier, and i know of people at dog shows calling all bull dog/terriers pit bulls

Are both the dogs, that killed the cat, EBTs?
An English Bull Terrier is not a Pit Bull. EBTs are legal in the UK, Pit Bulls are not - they also do not look the same so could not be mistaken - well, I can't imagine an EBT being mistaken for any other breed, they have a very distinct face.

>one of my dogs in the past was bitten by a GSD, he had to have loads of stiches and even then it was just hushed up teh police did nothing

I'm pretty sure that the police only deal with dog fights if they are started by people (ie, people pitting thier dogs agianst other dogs), or for very serious fights when there is worry the dog may pose a risk to people, not for a 'punch up' between dogs that has come about due to dogs being dogs. Humans don't get along will all other humnas 100% of the time, it's unfair to think that all dogs - that can't verablly communicate - will never get into a disagreement with another dog.

how sad that the police yet again dont want to bother with these issues its not the first time iv heard about things like this involving dogs attacking other animals i know of a pair of cross breeds in the estate across  the road from us whos dogs killed a womens cat outside her house on her landing and the police said their was nothing they could do, these 2 dogs had also bit a child and still nothing was done then a few months later the attacked my Rottie he was only a year old so still young and we never even see them coming they just ran across a huge green in the dark with owner in hot pursuit scream at me to grab my dog, well my dog was on his lead already and i had to drag my boy from under them both their were big dogs to,
then when owner got hold of their collars i tried to leave though the gate and the dogs dragged the owner across the floor and tore into my boy again with the owner still clinging to them they must have dragged him at least 5 feet to get back on my boy, again police did nothing wasent a police issue i was told to call dog warden who told me it wasnt an issue for them and to call the police :-(

it was an english bull terrier, and i know of people at dog shows calling all bull dog/terriers pit bulls....


I have 2 bullys and mine are great with cats but i to have had people say when passing me to look at my pit bulls, even got stopped by a plastic police man who insisted mine were pit bulls and wanted my name and address telling me it was illegal to own these dogs,
its a shame the sun will probebly blame the breed i hope they dont people will be even more worried when they see my dogs coming and thats not fair as my dogs are not killers their lovers not haters :-)

> the cats head was crushed while my friend was trying to get them off, she used and iron which has now been destroyed,

Did your friend hit the dogs with an iron and then destroy the iron? Why destroy the iron?

An English Bull Terrier is not a Pit Bull. EBTs are legal in the UK, Pit Bulls are not - they also do not look the same so could not be mistaken - well, I can't imagine an EBT being mistaken for any other breed, they have a very distinct face.


lol this is what i thought the first time i heard someone on passing us with our dogs they said "wow wow look at them pit bulls thought they were ilegal", i never really said anything i kind of just look around behind me wondered whos dogs for a second they were refuring to then i relized it was mine lol, i was stunned ,
then iv had people ask me straight out are them pit bulls?? i cant see how anyone with half a brain could confuse them a staff i can half understand but an english bull terrier , the last straw really was the plastic police man i just had to laugh at that point , my bullys are both white to with black ears even more commen in English bullys i mean didnt anyone watch oliver lol,
Why destroy the iron?

i took it that she destroyed the iron hitting the dog with it i could be wrong,

> a staff i can half understand

:D surely you mean a poorly bred or cross bred Stafford chelzeagirl.  ;-)

> i cant see how anyone with half a brain could confuse them a staff i can half understand but an english bull terrier , the last straw really was the plastic police man i just had to laugh at that point

That's suprising, I really would have thought anybody could see an EBT was not a pit bull. No offence to owners of well-bred staffies, but I can see how people could get a staffy & a pit bull mixed up, afterall most people have never seen a pit bull in the flesh, but have seen plenty of poorly-bred staffies, so could easily confuse the well muscled head & wide, powerfull, jaws of a staffie, for a pit bull - but an EBT? It's face is so...ummm.....EBT- like!!

well i just mean a person who is  not a doggie person could confuse a staff for a pit with the size of some of these so called staffs now days even i have trouble and their so many differant kinds some people say irish staff,  amstaff i only know of the shorter stocky ones myself from the 80's the proper old skool staffs id call them, you dont see many real good staffs around here no more maybe because of the trend in them and now we have all sorts plus so many cross breeds and the staff well yeah the badly bred staffs and the pit bull do have slightly similar head shape totaly unlike the pit bull and the english where the heads are so differant,

can you belive people mistake an English bully for a pit bull ? lol,
but they really do ,

That's suprising, I really would have thought anybody could see an EBT was not a pit bull. No offence to owners of well-bred staffies, but I can see how people could get a staffy & a pit bull mixed up, afterall most people have never seen a pit bull in the flesh, but have seen plenty of poorly-bred staffies, so could easily confuse the well muscled head & wide, powerfull, jaws of a staffie, for a pit bull - but an EBT? It's face is so...ummm.....EBT- like!!

thanks ml you put it so much better than me and some it up nicley xx

i mean look at my baby boys sweet face how can he be branded a pit bull :-), love this boy to bits i do his my main man lol and he knows it,

That's what I'm saying. 
I do agree to an extent - how anyone could confuse an EBT for a pitbull is beyond me, but then a cross bred EBT or cross bred Stafford could be.
A cross bred Stafford yes, could very well be confused for a pitbull.  A well bred within the KC standard Stafford, no. 
As far as I'm concerned there are no different kinds, irish, amstaff, or otherwise, because they aren't Staffords, they're crosses and variants thereof.
Even before I became interested in the breed I knew the difference between a pitbull (that could possibly be up to 25" at the shoulder) and a Stafford which (if going by the standard) should be between 14-16". 

But, I ramble yet again.. sorry.

i mean look at my baby boys sweet face how can he be branded a pit bull

Likewise!  (Have finally managed to add my avatar!)
Thankfully Alf has a head in proportion with the rest of his body, so no big muscly shovel head for him!

A cross bred Stafford yes, could very well be confused for a pitbull.  A well bred within the KC standard Stafford, no. 
As far as I'm concerned there are no different kinds, irish, amstaff, or otherwise, because they aren't Staffords, they're crosses and variants thereof.


so true when i was a kid their was only one kind of staff and sadly now their are so badly breed by byb's in council estates that the true staff is lost in such areas , its a shame iv seen youths with puppys say its a staff and sadly looks nothing like what i remember them being like back in the day when people first started geting them but i think the youths of today who get these dogs really dont have any idea what a true well bred staff should look like and you dont see that many good well bred ones where i live their all fake mixed breeds,

really thinking about it i cant remember when i last see a real nice staffy thats sad isn't it because true staffs and beautiful dogs ,

the girl along my streets boyfriend got this puppy few year ago clamed it was a staff x pitt bull i could see no resemblance of either breed, but im no expert,
the dogs now 2 years old is the size of a lab is a dark tan colour with a darker stripe down his back like a ridgback has, and hes got proper pointed up ears like a bully but face like a collie long nose, now how does this sound like staff x pit lol

thankfully the lad has kept his dog and trained it well,
good on him as sadly most of the foolish youths who get this dogs once they dont grow up to be quite what they wanted they ditch the dog, i resuced a rottie bitch from a youth and rehomed her with a friend some years ago because the youth said she was to soft, he liked the look of my bully and wanted one of these instead i told him he would not be getting a tough hard dog if he got my as mine was as soft as they come and loved people and most that i have meet are the same, he ended up going and buying a so called x pit , idiot,

and your babys are very sweet btw xx

a family friend's cat was killed the other day inher own house when two dogs came in, the cats head was crushed while my friend was trying to get them off, she used and iron which has now been destroyed, not only is the cat died but my friend has pucture wounds on her legs and hand.
it isnt the only cat that has died in teh mouths of these dogs two cats have been found in the drive way of where the dog lives.
the dogs also attacked my grandfathers dog my gandad hit teh dog so hard with a walking stick that it broke.

the police has said that they cant do anything and the wounds on my friend legs were provced, and they said that is was self defence, but what if it was a child

what do you think should the dogs be put down if i was teh owner i woud do for moral reasons.
it is going in the SUN and possible the EDP so we will see what happends

Firstly I'm so sad to read this, because it must be extremely traumatic to lose a pet in this way, especially in one's own home where the pet should be safe.

As I understand it, there is no specific law relating to dogs killing cats, but I do believe there is something relating to dogs dangerously out of control - however I am not sure where this applies. It may be the DDA or or it may be the 1871 Dogs Act.
It may be though that there will be more luck regarding the dogs attacking your grandfather's dog. According to my understanding, with a dog-dog attack the police if reluctant should be reminded of the 1871 Dog Act. The case of Briscoe versus Shattock QBD 12 October, 1998..... a dog was held to be "not kept under proper control" and "dangerous" relating to section 2 of this particular Act even if the attack was to other dogs and not humans.

The behaviour of these dogs is clearly a menace, but it is the owner who should be punished not the dogs :(

I don't think the dogs should be put to sleep, because they are not moral animals and will chase just as someone mentioned, cats will kill -   but I do think the owner needs a shock and to be made to take far more care of their dogs, keep them under control, etc.

Lindsay
x

>it was a cat that got killed the law is different dont ask its what they said

It is indeed different. Some years ago the owner of a dog which chased and killed a cat was prosecuted, but the judge ruled that the dog was only doing 'what dogs do' and that no offence had been committed. It's tragic for the owner of the cat though.

> he dogs attacking and killing the cat (criminal damage)

This isn't the case as a cat isn't seen as property in the eyes of the law and therefore can't be seen as criminal damage. The DDA for a dog being out of control as it stands right now is in a public place, so if on private property this wouldn't come into effect. If a dog is fighting with another dog and people step in to try and break it up and get bitten in the process then very little can be done as its something that can happen and not a direct attack on a human.
If the dog is jumping between gardens through private property and people are in fear that they will get bitten/injured then that can be looked at, but if this dog is not causing a direct threat to humans and they are no in fear for their own safety then its a job for the dog warden at this time. The laws are going through a change which if they come into play can cover a dog being out of control on private property too.

If i was given this case, yes it would be handed over to the dog warden but i would still be in contact with the owner of the dog to see what provisions they have in place to keep the dog under control, as in secure gardens as where the dog is allowed to run, supervised or not.

almost every open show you hear it

the thourght is now that the cats are gtting taken home and being buried by the owner, the owner wont talk so he cant deffend his dogs, but it also means that he cant be asked to muzzle the dogs. you can easily see that teh dogs can come and leave as they like.
both teh dogs were EGTs, i think people call them pitbulls becuase in there eyes they are. i dont think that, i know loads of EBTs that are just lovely

we just wont the dogs muzzled, and made so that they cant get out. if there is a connection with the cats going missing then we may get it taken further.

its not the breed that will get blamed and i hope it doesnt get twisted that way, it is just following up on a privioue artical of teh cats going missing and blaming these dogs not the breed and i hope it doesnt thow the nation in to a PDE insdent.

the iron got smashed to peices.

>the iron got smashed to peices.

I don't understand. Surely the dogs would have been badly injured if she's been hitting them with an iron so hard that the iron broke?

> you can easily see that teh dogs can come and leave as they like.

:(

>we just wont the dogs muzzled, and made so that they cant get out.

i can aunderstand that. The dogs should not be permitted to roam anyway, but for the owner to allow them to roam, while knowing they kill cats it awfull. Can't the dog warden do anything?

Surely the dogs would have been badly injured if she's been hitting them with an iron so hard that the iron broke?

They dont make these things like they used to JG ,

i want to know wheres the owner of these dogs have they had nothing to say about whats happened,
for 2 dogs to stray into someone elses house and tear the cat appart i find that really bad and totally wrong,

edit to say that on the other hand the women with the gsd 2 doors from me who never takes it out was doing her garden the other day and she just left her dog to go wondering off doing what it liked it came to my door and i had my door open with a gate across so my dogs dont get out to the street but her dogs got some kind of mange and i really dont want it anywhere near mine so had to shut my door, then half hour later i was going out and the dog follows me to my car into the road while the owners just sitting on her wall unable to see her dog due to high hedges,
i had to call to the owner to watch her dog as cars were coming past i was worried the dog would get hit,
the women just sat their and said nothing,
so their are strange people out their i just dont understand why you'd have a dog if your just going to leave it to get on with it alone!! as i pulled away the dog stood right in front of me in middle of the road sniffing the floor i had to beep it out of the way and still the owner never raised her head over the hedge,

to allow it to have mange i would get it taken away from her, sh eis obviously uncapable of looking after it.

> almost every open show you hear it

Really?  Well I must have been temporarily deaf at all the open, limit and champ breed shows I've attended then.  **shakes head**

the police has said that they cant do anything and the wounds on my friend legs were provced, and they said that is was self defence, but what if it was a child


What are the police talking about???????????

When a dog bites a human it is the one time that the police as the law stands now can get involved, yes the friend tried to get the dogs off her cat but she still has a law suite here, the dogs came into her home attacked her cat and she was bitten in the process, tell your friend to get back on the phone to the police of course they can prosecute and do something about it. The DDA will certainly be interested to, it has nothing to do with what if it were a child, a human has been bitten in her own home by two dogs.

She most certainly can take the owners to court for the death of her cat too, if the cats were killed on the dogs property that would be more difficult, but they entered her home and killed the cat, she can have the owners in court for this too.

If she can afford a solicitor she needs one pronto.  The CAB may also help aswell as the dog warden re: the DDA and certainly the police should be involved for your friends injuries.

to allow it to have mange i would get it taken away from her, sh eis obviously uncapable of looking after it.

trust me iv tried and people in the flats behind have also tried cos she leave the dog alone alot , its a very long story rspca came once and tapped her door cos she left dog alone for a week but they still left the dog with her,
everyones just about given up hope now of getting anyhelp,
the next plan was to kidnap the dog as soon as it does a  runner as it escapes sometimes , and rehome it the owner dont give a dam i spoke to her again yesterday morning cos she went away leaving the dog alone for 3 days and it barks at everything,
OH is trying to sort some time off work now so we can all get aways from here its driving us all insane and i already droped my son to my mum yesterday as he has not been able to sleep at night with the barking,
i called noise people they told me if the dogs alone call rspca, and they already have the womens number she just spins them a load of rubbish and nothing gets done,

iv been onto my housing now to try to get an exchange from here as its got that bad

hear the biggest joke now the womens daughter who dont live with her she around 20 years old is training to be a vet nurse lol dont that just kill you , i could hear her out side the other week giving the women the otherside of her advice on the welfare of her animals its a blooming joke really it is she ought to be getting off her fat behind and walking her mums dog but somehow she thinks its fine to leave the thing locked up 24-7 the girls got the cheak to give me dirty looks because shes guessed it was me who called the rspca on her mum before so now im the bad guy/girl, no matter what they doing to the poor animal,

ARE cats definately not property?... Even if you can prove that you own the cat (microchip, reciept for purchase of cat, cat registered at a vets as yours..)..

I know the laws surrounding a cat owners responsibility are very different from those regarding a dog owners responsibility, in that you cannot be held liable for something your cat does, because it is not deemed reasonable that a cat could be restrained or trained the way a dog can.. but im not so sure that a cat isnt your property..

In any case in this instance its one in a list of several areas where the law has potentially been broken - a dog being dangerously out of control in a place it has no right to be, and i would think you could then reasonably claim under the DDA that the humans involved felt in danger from that particular dog, so thats two pretty clear laws broken there.

Cats ARE the property of the owner in the eyes of the law, read here:
http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets/EG10-Catsandthelaw.pdf

Plus a human was injured by dog teeth - the Police are legally bound to get involved.  And as the dogs were clearly out of control, they can be classed as dangerous dogs.  The owner of the cat should most certainly push to get to criminal court, and without a doubt take the owners of the dogs to civil court for substantial damages.

new info, another cat was found this morning in the drive way, with a crushed head.

the police has come out with info mation that cats are not allowed tpo be rehomed to the village becuase of all the cats gone missing.

its now being tacken to the MP and they are going to see if they can change the law to make a 'cat dog' equal to a 'dog dog' fight equating in death.
the village DR. and other parish councle members are all up. and even more people have come forwad with complaints.
the people with the dogs have only lived there for the last year, the same time the cats started disappering, it is all over teh village i feel sorry for teh person who owns teh dogs.

well i hope the law does get passed, our MP has passed alot of laws so i hope the is stuff added to the dangerous dog act, the law bassically says a cat is a cat, nothing like apart of the family or pet.   

Sounds like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The owner simply needs to keep their dogs under control and contained and there are laws that apply which can be brought to bear.

i dont think you understand, it came into her home and killed the cat in her home, the law sys that the fact it was a cat it doesnt matter, the dog was bitting her but because she was hitting it with an iron it was provoced.

so they now want the law changed so if a cat is killed by a dog again the law can do something. im not saying that it should be put down, but it should be muzzled,
oh and this dog is a bitch by the way.

and now that it has bitten someone whats stopping it bitting a child walking it's pet dog. it village is in upraw.

> and now that it has bitten someone whats stopping it bitting a child walking it's pet dog.

What i want to know is the person who was bitten were they trying to get the dog off and caught caught by teeth in the process or was the dog making a deliberate attack on the human? A dog attacking another dog or cat is very different to it going for a human of any kind.
Lots of people get bitten in the process of trying to split a dog fight up and i guess the same would go for a dog on cat and someone who has no idea what they are doing trying to get a dog off, people do and will get bitten - thats nature and something a dog shouldn't be punished for.
If she went straight for the iron onto the dog and then it went for her, then i don't blame it tbh, it would imo be merely trying to defend itself, some dogs would run away and others won't back down depending on temperament. Some may not agree with me on this but i think striking a dog with an iron due to it going for your cat is over the top, for a human who was in trouble yes maybe, but not a cat, even if its a well loved pet.

I am getting really confused here..

Firstly you state the police say it doesnt matter that the dog killed a cat - it DOES matter, as MarianneB's link clearly shows a cat IS the owners property and so the killing or even injuring of this cat falls under 'criminal damage'.

So there is no need to change the law there already IS a law (Several) which cover this case.

But then you state that the police have somehow told people they are not ALLOWED to have cats? Sorry but there is no law covering that, and the police are not in a position to bring one in either.

They may be advising that people do not get cats or do not let existing cats out.. but they cannot legally stop people from doing so (and the very idea that they could is ridiculous).

As for attacking the dog with an iron - I personally think if you step in between animals fighting and you end up injured then this is your own risk. It is avoided by choosing not to own animals. Personally - it is a risk I am willing to take, but I will not then complain that I have been bitten when it was a risk I was well aware of.

The dog illegally being on my property, killing my cat and being dangerously out of control I *would* make a case of though.

(Different matter if you step in to stop an animal injuring a child, or vice versa! of course).

> The owner simply needs to keep their dogs under control and contained and there are laws that apply which can be brought to bear.

I agree, the law is there, as a dog owner you have to keep your dog under control, no need to change any laws. Changing laws take years anyway so rightly or wrongly I get the impression that the police can't be bothered enforcing the law.

so rightly or wrongly I get the impression that the police can't be bothered enforcing the law.

My exact thoughts on this too, it seems the police are being extremely inefficient in this case. It's not the first time I've read reports where they don't follow the legal route that they should be doing and would rather not get fully involved.

If anyones dog or cat is attacked and killed on their own property and they have proof of the perp they can certainly take the owners to court for this. No-ones animals are allowed to be killed just because they are animals, we all have the choice to prosecute an owner if this happens, no one prosecutes the dog acting on instinct, the owner is responsible to control such animals.

To be honest I don't understand why the village do not seek the advice from a solicitor to back up all the laws broken here that you have read on this thread already, the dogs should not be loose, the owners should pay for the dead cat and the cat owner should claim for her injuries, do something about this, if the village all bands together they can sort this out much quicker than the route you are taking, a solicitor will force the police here to do their job properly. How on earth can these officers advise cat rescues not to send cats to the village yet not deal with the perps, it is understandable if there was no proof as to who was killing the cats but now there is, and they are not acting on it, unbelievable!!!!  They may not be able to do anything about the other cats with no witnesses but they have a witness now, what is going on? They should be coming down with every legal clause they can lay their hands on.

It sounds like a complete farce, get a solicitor to deal with this problem as the police are not doing their job............YET!

unless of course the owner of the dog is the village bobby!

Lol RJS, true!  The Government is so intent on increasing Police numbers that any Tom, Dick or Harry can get in.  What is a problem though is that the Police will arrest and charge someone, then the Court (PF or CPS) throws the case out for really pathetic reasons.  It's a very sad and frustrating case, if the village can't go the legal route then they should certainly go the civil one.

As for attacking the dog with an iron - I personally think if you step in between animals fighting and you end up injured then this is your own risk. It is avoided by choosing not to own animals

So anyone who owns a cat or small dog should just shrug their shoulders and say "oh well my fault for having a vulnerable animal?"

I don't think that is a human response at all, if two dogs came charging into my home trying to kill my cat I would grab anything to hand to try and protect it, if they had my cat in their mouth I would do my utmost to help, it is a maternal instinct to protect the animals and 'family' that we love, you would need a heart of stone to just stand there and watch it happening, as long as the cat was alive the owner did what her instincts told her to do, it does not come down to being at her own risk, she was in her own property, protecting her own pet and no law in the land would agree being bitten was her own fault, we are allowed to use force for personal protection and that protection includes defending anyone or anything in our homes, the lady used force to protect her property 'her cat' that is allowed and she does not need to swallow the fact she was bitten in the process, her injures are liable for compensation and someone needs to take these dog owners to court to make them responsible for not keeping their animals under control.

unless of course the owner of the dog is the village bobby!

:-D :-D :-D Um.............. I wonder

> The Government is so intent on increasing Police numbers that any Tom, Dick or Harry can get in.  What is a problem though is that the Police will arrest and charge someone, then the Court (PF or CPS) throws the case out for really pathetic reasons. 

Tell me about it! lol

From what has been posted it sounds as if the police haven't even investigated fully or tried to charge the dog owner so it's yet to reach the courts. It just doesn't make sense which is why I came up with the village bobby being the dog owner! lol

To be honest, I think if any dog or animal tried to attack and kill any of my animals in my home - from guineapigs upwards - I'd do anything to stop it, even if it did mean whopping it with an iron. I'm normally totally utterly against anything like that, but as I think it was Carrington said, your instinct comes in and you'd do anything to protect those you love.

Lindsay
x