Thread: Trophy dogs, and feral owners

I recently read a story on the BBC news web site which had studied dog attacks and breeds involved. What they found was that some breeds were more likely to bite however it was the owner who was the biggest factor in the dogs character. The way they interacted with the dog would bring out traits in their make up for good or bad.

There was a story in Townsville this year of a pit bull that attacked a little girl. When the council caught the dog and traced it's microchip and contacted the owners, they said they had put the dog down a year ago. It turns out that they realised the dog was a problem and after much heartache they took it to the vet to have it put down. The vet never did. They rehomed it. I can't wait to see how this pans out in court.
I have a Beagle and a German Shepherd and a 1 year old daughter. It's funny as it is the Beagle I am most wary of with my daughter as he is a rescue dog. I would never leave them without supervision. Kids are kids and you never really know how they would react when a child pulls on their tail or pokes them in the eye. The shepherd just walks away and I would like to think I 100% trust her but you never really know. I have never even seen her growl at anyone. She has growled at other muts down the street which have been out of control and tried to attack the Beagle.
I think it is very important that you never make your dogs jealous and they are 100% part of the family. German Shepherds are considered to be a dangerous breed. With the right training and love I think they are the biggest socks ever. I know they can be trained to very dangerous having worked with military dogs. I would pity anyone who ever tried to hurt my wife or daughter when the Shepherd is on duty though.

Wow, shocking story.

I had a complete feral tool once sick his pitbull onto me after I told him where to go when he complained I was taking too long at an ATM. I received multiple bites to the back of my thighs and a big tear in my forearm. Luckily enough, I am 6"2, 100kg and the dog was wearing a collar or it could have been much much worse. Whilst the dog was hanging off my arm and making a mess, I managed to grab the collar and strangle the dog whilst smashing it against a fence. When it finally went limp, I threw it in the back of a car, and dealt with the owner.

As a big dog owner myself, I felt appalled that ANY animal should have to be "owned" by that sort of person.

What a horrific happening Dave, please accept our thoughts and good wishes for you and your family.

I was only terrified of a dog once thank goodness, a friends father was staying with them, and I as a visitor was helping wash up after dinner, when I reached across infront of the father to pick a wet plate out of the rack, his mongrel big dog (with bull terrier and ridgeback in him i think?) latched onto my forearm.

He had been sitting quietly watching us, and the moment I reached across WHAM, he was in there. As I looked in disbelief, the dog was growling every so quietly and staring menacingly at me, my arm firmly clenched in his jaws.

I have known the family for years, I was NOT a stranger, I firmly believe had I shown panic or tried to remove my arm it would've been all on.

The owner just had to shout at him and he let go, but what would happen if it were any 3 of the then small grandchildren that live there???


Many things go through your mind after, I only got some very minor puncture marks but the memory stays with you forever. My thoughts are with you and your wife I hope she makes a speedy recovery in all ways.

I will not waste words on the dogs owners.


JC

Originally Posted by RisingSun

Council officers usually derive their power of entry to a property via the local laws, which only allows access to the front door, and when asked to leave the have to go. In a dog attack they operate under Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) act 2008, which gives powers of seizure without the permission of the property owner.

Playing devils advocate and really not trying to offend but the issue of your wife entering the property without permission and the attack occurring on the animal owners property may come into play, just not sure how much.

I've only been able to go on what the Animal Control officers have been telling us, supplemented with what I have read of the various Acts. The council guys have been very good, but frustratingly impotent. Their available powers seem extraordinarily weak - the amount of "perform an action, leave suitable appeal period, perform second action, leave suitable appeal period" that went on was incredible.

As for my wife being on their property, no offence taken at all - it was a question we asked, and the legalese answer we got was that she was ok on 3 counts:

• she had implied permission to be there as it was an area accessible by the general public (front driveway gates open, no warning signs)
• she had explicit permission to be there from the property owner (had returned the dogs several times before, plus the property owner had said that she would testify that permission had been granted)
• the council determined that she was "performing a reasonable act as a reasonable person would", i.e. returning the dog to ensure no harm would come to it.

I've deliberately said property owner, as the house is in the name of the lady next door, however the dogs were 'owned' by the guy.

He of course has said that he never gave permission for my wife to be there, but considering he worked away for 2-3 weeks a month, and had been away filming the TV series he was on for 7 months immediately prior to this happening, I don't think the council took him that seriously.

Originally Posted by RisingSun

I used to live in Flagstone, and still have friends in Jimboomba. Are they still under Beaudesert Shire out there?

If I can be of any assistance with anything send me a PM, I can get you specific sections for powers of entry for authorized officers even just so you can read up.

We're Logan City Council () these days. Really quite unimpressive.

Will send a PM, looking to get all the information we can get.

I agree with the sentiment that some breeds are more prone to biting, but owner training and interaction, boredom play a bigger part.
It amazes me when you go to a dog attack and speak to the owner and they tell you that when ever their grandkids, neighbours etc come over they pack the dog away because it bites. why would you want an animal that bites other people and you are aware of the tendency .

Unfortunately it is always the animal that pays for the owners negligence, when considering re-homing an animal I make the consideration of the attitude shown when the animal is picked up, attitude when at the pound, when being handled by myself, do I think it has been flogged by the behavior it displays.
If I re-home an animal I want to be as sure as I can be about the temperament of the animal. I don't need a dog attack on my conscience from an animal I have re-homed.
Unfortunately this means not a lot of dogs make the cut, through no fault of the animal. This may put me across as a heartless, but this is just my approach to make sure I don't put an attacking dog into someone's home, just because it's cute, or from the pressure or animal lobby groups.

In regards to an animal attacking me, the advise is to feed it your non-dominant arm, don't struggle as it only incites the attack while reaching for your knife.
people are amazed when you let them know how under equipped we are when dealing with dogs that we have no experience dealing with, from all sorts of owners, all sorts of breeds just going on behavioral observations and luck.

And as a side note the best way to remove an attacking dog is either hosing it, or sticking your finger up its' bum. You can decide if you want to spit on your finger first .

Originally Posted by RisingSun

........And as a side note the best way to remove an attacking dog is either hosing it, or sticking your finger up its' bum. You can decide if you want to spit on your finger first .

As my wife had dropped her portable water cannon at the beginning of the attack, the second option was the only one left to her.

Unfortunately, her little stumpy arms (she's only 5' tall) meant she couldn't reach any doggie arseholes, and they weren't so keen on being helpful and turning around either.

Actually the dog that bits the most (RSPCA) is the Labrador, but the dog that inflicts the most damage is the Pitbull or variations of it.

The fact is, the owner is the main problem, not the dog, and reading that story reminds of that, the dogs are bored, have NO social skills or interaction with other dogs or people and are left to fend for themselves.

We have similar neighbors with their dogs, left at home all day, escape and terrorise the neighborhood, I've lost count of the times I've put them back into their yard, one of them has bitten our son, they bark everytime I walk up our drive, if I'm in the garage, in the back yard, windy days are terrible, they bark at everything, we also have a good relationship with the owners, we have tried to tell them, even passers by have lodged complaints with counsil, they have done small thing like raise the fence level, block the view of the street from their yard, but I don't think they understand that dogs hear and smell first, so it has done little, you just can't see them barking from the street

Anyway I hope your wife gets better and the scares aren't too bad, I'm sure the mental scares will take a lot longer to heal though, good luck.

Baz.