With regard to all the news concerning "devil dogs" etc - why isnt the owner held responsible instead of condemning the whole breed ??? :(
New owners should have to demonstrate their commitment, their knowledge of being an owner ( whatever the breed ) and therefore should be responsible for their dogs actions should they be "anti social etc".
Maybe this would get rid of the idiots who choose dogs to enhance their image ?
What do you think ?
Lel

Hi Lel,
I completely agree with you, while I'm not saying everyone who owns a dog that fits into this 'devil dog'
category are irresponsible, a vast majority of them are. As you say they are being used purely to promote a 'hard man' image and its even more ludicrous that all these dogs now come under this stupid banner of 'devil dogs' anyway!! :(
I'm sure that there are many responsible owners of these dogs that are as hacked off at this situation as well, but I do think a certain portion of the blame has to be put down to unscrupulous breeders who are breeding these animals and selling them onto anyone, immaterial of whether or not, they are capable of looking after them, purely to line their own purses.
I'd be interested to know what others think.
Sharon
X

It would be great if it did but highly unlikely :-(

Who would be responsible for checking that owners are suitable? Responsible breeders no doubt already do as much as they can to check out new owners but there are far more irresponsible breeders out there. And lets face it - if an image-concious idiot wanted a dog and offered to pay enough that type of breeder would leap at the chance.

And as for organisations that are supposed to look after us or our animals (RSPCA/Police) what good do they do at the moment. The RSPCA won't come out to animals that are distressed/neglected and the police don't do anything about crimes even when it's known who the culprit is, I doubt they'd want to go to the effort of regulating owners.

Someone I know once told me that dog fighting is very common in her area but that the police/rspca won't do a thing about it. It's disgusting that this kind of thing still goes on but even more sickening that no one is prepared to stop it.

As for responsibility these owners don't take responsibilty. You hear it all the time when people want rid of a dog or when it bites.

I've never heard anyone say "oh yes, it's because the kids were poking him in the eyes all the time" or "well we never bothered to socialise him, we didn't have the time" or "we teased him with his food a lot when he was smaller so it's no wonder he's defensive now he's bigger".

They always shove the responsibility onto the dog. The dog just turned on them for no reason or the dog knows it's was doing wrong, and the best one - the dog has no right to bite or growl (by this I don't mean that the dog should be allowed to attack people but that it's not his responsibility, it's the owners for ensuring that the dog is well prepared for a sociable life and is never put into a situation where it feels it necessary to bite).

I can get very annoyed with some people I know and do a fair amount of grumbling (just read this post, you can see that yourselves) and if I had sharp teeth I'd quite enjoy giving some of these people a sharp nip when they are particularly irritating. The point is if anyone ever complains about me I can tell them that I'm feeling upset because they said something hurtful, or behaved badly, or that I just don't feel well and want leaving alone.

If I were a dog, especially something like a staffie and did exactly the same thing I'd be blamed entirely, put down and printed in the papers as a "devil dog"!

Dogs are expected to behave perfectly no matter what torment they suffer, or how badly their minds have been screwed up by their owners. Why don't they just go out and get a cuddly toy instead. :-(

Well said :(
But it won't make any difference, will it?
Some people just never learn - "Oh it didn't work out the first time but we've learned now - it'll be different this time"
I recently heard this from someone, and to my horror they are repeating history all over again with another rottie pup. These people can't look after themselves, far less a defenceless animal who is going to need everything from them! (Fat Chance!)
It is so infuriating that people like this are allowed to keep animals :( I bet by the time summer comes, this pup will be gone down the same road as their last one - it makes me SOOO mad!!!
Sharon

It does make you mad - the fact that ANY idiot who has never owned a dog before , has done no research into the breed characteristics , has no intention of spending any money on training and will probably not even bother with the dog once its past puppy stage or who thinks its clever to teach their dog to act aggresive.... oooo it makes me MAD!!!!! :( :( :(
Dont know who would be responsible for checking the owners beforehand unfortunately as even with creditable breeders who perform checks there are those who slip through the net .

hi all
i feel the same i get so up set by it all, i have bull terriers and it's breeds like this that get the bad name it's so upsetting it make me mad my dogs are well looked after and well trained and i would not have it any other way.
to see these young kids walk down the road without a care in the world dog in hand and they cannot controll it makes me mad. people like this should get put down not the dogs. i had better stop it really upsets me

lorraine1000

Lorraine -
glad its not just me then !!!
I bought a Staffy because I know and love the breed -not because I thought I looked hard and certainly not becase I wanted him to attack other people or dogs as someof the tabloids would have us believe!
Dont you just get sick of constantly having to defend your breed to the more ignoramus ( Is that right?) of society
Lel

Same here, they are fantastic little dogs and I'd do anything to protect them.

Have you personally had any anti-dog hype since the "attacks"? I was worried that I'd have problems when out with him but so far haven't even heard any comments about the articles in the papers. I just wondered if it's the people I know/work with/meet or if it's not concerning the general public as much as I'd thought it could.

I havent actually but then he is still a pup which may be why . I do still have comments about "what a lovely pup he is - what breed is he ?" ;)
During the 90s with the pit bull hysteria we had LOTS of stupid comments made when we took our Staffy (Sam) on his walks . :(
Lets hope it all blows over quickly then nd the papers lose interest.
Lel

Owners ARE increasingly being held accountable for their dogs actions. If not by the authorities then by suing individuals who are on the receiving end of the dogs behaviour.
Another good reason to make sure you are covered by a suitable insurance. With all the best will in the world 'accidents' can happen.
Lara x

We are frequently called to disputes over dog bites or dogs not in control & we certainly put in our fair share of prosecution files.

What makes me angry is when people call us then decide they can't be bothered to wait the 20 minutes it takes for us to drive across town & disappear before we get there. This is the case with 60% of the 'dog jobs' I respond to. It exasperates the problem when we've been called away from another job & have had to apologise profusely to whoever else needed our attention. In the cases where the complainant has waited for us, we usually find that the dog owner has left & no one bothered to ask for his/her name/address. It's very hard to track down a white male, 5'10" with a black dog in a town populated by hundreds of thousands of people, especially when the radio is constantly calling you away to the next urgent job.

We are a small rural force which is considered the third safest place to live in the UK due to our 'low crime rates'. And yet we simply cannot cope with the volume of crime reported to us. Jobs are graded in urgency when they come in & we are very lucky if we have enough staff on to deal with urgent 'Response 1' jobs.

When I'm solo crewed, I am expected to turn out to suspicious deaths, reports of assaults, indecency, rape, violent domestics and groups of people fighting on my own. I consider myself extremely lucky if there is anyone else available to assist me. And that's a quiet Monday afternoon in the third safest place to live in the UK. What would you do when confronted with 6 males fighting with baseball bats & you've got no back up? Well the public will certainly expect you to do something about it. Their taxes pay your wages, they expect results or they'll go the press, so don't you forget it you "filth/pig/arrogant upstart/racist b**tch/stupid cow".

So you do everything humanly possible trying to avoid being punched/kicked/abused & then whilst you're driving at high speed to the next domestic, avoiding all the dozy drivers who won't move out of your way, you can have a think about all the complaints that are rolling in cos whilst you've been out fighting/chasing/arresting you haven't been investigating Mr Smith's theft of pedal cycle & the 40 other ongoing enquiries you've got in your tray.

In the last six months I have been assaulted four times through lack of staff. Numbers are dropping all the time and two WHOLE police officers covering three large towns towns plus all the rural villages in between is quite normal. What then happens when you arrest someone? You are taken off the street for the next 3-23 hours collecting statements, seizing evidence, fighting to get social workers & solicitors present for interviewing & putting the prosecution file together. You eventually finish having done copious hours of overtime (which hasn't been authorised so you won't get paid for it) to learn that there are urgent jobs stacked up and the next shift can't deal because they arrested three burglars earlier. Traffic are dealing with a fatal on the motorway & everyone else is dealing with the major incident that kicked off whilst you were in custody.

Just because we cannot respond immediately does not mean that we deem your crime unimportant or we're not interested.

The End

Ain't that the truth :rolleyes: ?
You're on a lose-lose situation.
We moan, and you take the stick, when it's not your fault.
My sympathies.

I'll never forget the day that the neighbours chickens escaped, one flew into our garden & Hugo decided it would be a good idea to eat it. I got home to find the neighbour threatening US with prosecution for his chicken's poor choice of landing area! Tell me again about owner's not being held responsible for dogs actions?!

Nice to know there's still some support for us out there. Thanks Jean.

He'd probably have won ;) - and don't forget the payout for the stress of seeing his chickens feathers fluttering about on your lawn :D
Lara x

I remember my mother smuggling an 'oven-ready' live chicken back to the farm after our dog brought it back to play with...

Oven ready was the name of a Bantam a friend of mine had, after it had survived flying into her main dog enclosure with around a dozen Finnish Spitz in it. We are talking barking bird dogs here, and it was very lucky to escape alive. It was a cockerel and it took ages for his tail to regrow!! :D

It's not a matter of waiting 20 minutes or expecting an immediate response. It's expecting a response AT ALL.

Perhaps it's a bit different where you are to where I am. Do you fancy moving? ;-)

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