I have stayed in touch with one of my puppy buyers and we are now really good friends so we are often on the phone to each other. Well the other day she called to ask some advice regarding a local dog in her area.
This dog is the same age as my pup which she bought from me so is 16 months old now , at the time when they were both younger the lady told my puppy buyer it was a pitbull cross mastiff and it would take her dogue de bordeaux out when they were fully grown.
I remember her telling me this at the time and I told her to ignore this awful woman and just walk the other way. Well 2 month ago the other dog did attack my owners dog leaving him with bites down one leg and requiring vet treatment. The big softie didn't fight back , he is so big and soft just like the rest of the litter and his parents. So ever since she has been worried about bumping into them on their daily walks so have changed where they go.
The last phone call I've had from her was awful , it was again about this pitbull cross who has killed the lady up her streets cairn terrier. She said the pitbullx was off the lead and ran over and attacked her dog ripping it to pieces. She took the dead dog to the vets so everything was noted down correctly then went to the police who told her they don't get involved in dog fights but took a statement and took details she gave about the fight it had with my owners dog.
They told her to get in touch with the dog warden who says all he can do is ask her to muzzle this dog , and this afternoon the dog warden visited my puppy owners house to supposedly reassure her that this dog would not hurt hers , he said " Do not worry  this pit bull cross will never do any serious damage to your dog , your dog can not be beaten by any other breed they will finish any fight , even take a rottweiler out!"
Well I cannot believe my ears , my dogues will not fight back they are so soft and I know that he won't fight back , he didn't when it attacked him a couple of month back.

My question is , can anything be done about this pit bull cross breed ? , I think I have read somewhere before that trading standards can order blood tests and take the dog from the owners . I don't know if I've just dreamed it though and am being daft.
I am concerned that if this dog is not being controlled and can rip apart another dog it may be a child next.

Idiots! Terrible to think that these sort of people still exist in 2010. That aside, I would contact the dog warden and tell them in no uncertain terms that they MUST act and TELL the police the same - "we don't get involved" is not good enough. I realise that as it was not your dog killed the lady in question may have to do this but the police need to take this seriously.

Jeff.

If this dog really is of pitbull mix and not them saying that for a status reason then this needs to be looked at under the DDA section 1 Dangerous breeds, which means that the Police need to deal. They, your puppy owners need to contact their local force and ask to speak to an officer in the dog unit only. They will get the most sense out of them as they would be dealing with these dogs.
The fact that this dog is attacking and has killed a dog is of a great concern, on its own the Police wouldn't deal with it but because of the breed mentioned they should do.
They need to gather all the people who've had a problem with this dog, write down what has happened, dates, times, witnesses to anything, this will all need to be passed on.

Is the owner of said dog allowing it to run off lead in a public place? How did they manage to get the dog off  the DDB? Did they get any injuries from doing it? As in did the dog turn on them?

> I am concerned that if this dog is not being controlled and can rip apart another dog it may be a child next.

Just because a dog is dog aggressive doesn't have any relation in being directly aggressive towards humans, you know that Cani1.:-)

I  know suejaw you are right  that dogs can be dog aggresive and not aggresive to humans. It is my mistake I have not given the full story , I was also told that it has tried to bite a child but the owner  controlled it because it was a child and not a dog which she thinks is quite good that her dog is the " hardest dog in the area!!"

My owner and her teenage son pulled the dog off the ddb and she ran home with him the time her son held the other dog to give them a chance to get away. It didn't turn on them though it was only after their dog.

I agree with Jeff on this one.  The person involved needs to get back in touch with the police, stating that under the DDA, ANY dog that is dangerously out of control (such as the incident you have described) in a public place is breaking the law, and the owner of the dog should be prosecuted.

As the dog is a banned type (as is reported), so the police must take action under the DDA if the incident is reported.

Thankyou I will pass on this info , I know the lady who's dog was killed doesn't want to let this drop so I'll tell them to go back to the police and insist on action being taken.

Much as I despise the current DDA, if this was happened to one of my dogues, in this instance I would report the dog's owner to the police under section 1 simply to protect mine and other peoples' dogs. The other route would be civil litigation under the Dogs Act 1871.

Get them to tell the Police if this dog bits a child they will inform the press that they were told about the dog and did nothing about it they do not like bad publicity. We have a similar problem where we live and that is one way of tackling it.

I agree, it must be reported. It is possible as has been said, to also do something under the 1871 Act. In fact from various reports, of dog/dog attacks, you may read that this is the first Act that the owners are liable under, and that later the liability under the DDA Act comes into play instead. This happened in a case down South, where a small dog was killed by a larger dog. I do agree though that as that dog was out of control, it could surely come under the DDA.

But if not,check out Briscoe v. Shattock in relation to the 1871 Act. The police often don't seem to realise that they CAN do something when it is dog v. dog,  but I am sure if pushed, they should do something.

I wonder actually, if it was not the actual dog's breeding necessarily as the owner's attitude - saying that her dog would "take a dog out" rather suggests their attitude would be to encourage their dog to be "hard" and to show aggression to other dogs.

If their dog has to pay the price though, so be it - because otherwise many other dogs will suffer and even die. I have to say, the Dog Warden's comments are just atrocious, ill informed and stupid. Of course your dog could be hurt by this other dog!! A dog who is excited by fighting other dogs can do a lot of damage to any size dog.

In case it ever helps, if you or anyone gets into a situation where you cannot get a dog off your dog, you can use a lighter under the attacking dog's nose. It should let go then :(

I'm so sorry to read about all this, it's awful.

Lindsay
x

> But if not,check out Briscoe v. Shattock in relation to the 1871 Act.

Very interesting to read! http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/1998/929.html