The question I am always asked when such a tragedy happens is: why would a dog attack a human? My answer is that we are all guilty of sentimentalising our dogs.'We' are? A bit of a sweeping statement there? I mean, 'we all' would include working dog owners like farmers and the police, would it not?
And when my family owned dogs, we were always aware they were dogs - animals - and not small four-legged humans. In those days, we weren't unusual in that regard, either.
But our Guy is prone, it seems, to a bit of embellishment:
I encountered one pitbull that spun around on me in an instant, its eyes flashing red and froth spilling from its mouth as it tried to overpower me.
A police dog handler's lot is not a happy one
Yeeeees....
And I can’t help but groan when I see a sign hanging on a gate — such as the one outside the house where Jade died — saying: ‘Beware of the dog . . . enter at your own risk.’Which he then contradicts immediately:
The police can’t spot every unstable animal unaided.Oh, come on, Guy! Some people, it appears, put up warning signs for you! What more do you need?
Guy is, it seems, almost as great an armchair quarterback as the average blogger is said to be. He's certain this tragedy wouldn't have happened if only...
If someone had flagged up those dogs in Atherton to the police earlier, perhaps the town wouldn't be grieving for a teenage girl today.
If neighbours see a dog barking madly at a window in a house or running up and down on the other side of a garden fence snapping at those who pass by, they shouldn't just shudder silently and hurry on.Bzzzzt! Wrong! On two accounts.
Firstly, having a dog that barks or runs up and down isn't a crime. Nor - unbelievably - is it a crime to have five dogs in the shit-strewn concrete 'garden' of a council semi. If they are well-fed (preferably on Pedigree Chum & not teenagers) and not lacking veterinary treatment, even the RSPCA won't want to know.
What the hell are the police supposed to do about it?
And secondly, and perhaps most importantly; many a tale I've recounted here has owners bitten while wrestling their (often dead) pets from the jaws of these type of dogs only for the police to shrug and proclaim it none of their affair.
Most owners don’t realise that if their dog bites someone, it’s an offence of ‘strict liability’ — that is, the owner is responsible and could go to prison.Ah. The weasel word there, 'could'.
Yes, they could. But for that to happen the police would have to take action (and they often don't, that lack of foresight sometimes coming back to literally bite them or their hapless colleagues in the arse).
And the magistrates would have to do their job, and we all know how unlikely an occurrence that is, don't we?
So maybe, Guy, there's your answer to your pontification about why the neighbours didn't report the dogs. They know that, unlike them, the State has no teeth or simply often refuses to use them...
"I encountered one pitbull that spun around on me in an instant, its eyes flashing red and froth spilling from its mouth as it tried to overpower me."
ReplyDeleteThat happened to me in a nightclub once, but I managed to flee her.
If neighbours see a dog barking madly at a window in a house
My neighbour up the road has two Sydney Silkies - the breed we had at home. They know me because I've patted them whilst chatting with their owner.
They yap at me through the window when I walk past. I had best report this.
At school, we had to take an alleyway to our sports fields. There was a dog behind a wooden fence whose palings had seen better days. It would bark and paw at the gaps in the paling very aggressively at us until an American friend of mine spat in its face.
Never heard a peep after that.
"Isn't it common sense that if you feel your dog is dangerous enough to warrant a warning sign, then it’s not safe to keep it in a domestic environment" I could be wrong about this but aren't police dogs allowed to be kept at their handler's home both during service and/or after retirement? But then it's not as if police dogs are often large strong human aggressive breeds that could potentially be a danger to the public http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/tyler-smith-18-went-to-the-aid-1303352
ReplyDeleteArdaric
I remember a big Alsatian in Wales that was safely contained behind a high gate, but it used to hide behind a wall next to the gate.
ReplyDeleteWhen someone passed it would jump out and bark at them through the gate.
We never thought of it as threatening. We thought it was just having a laugh. It probably was.
What's interesting about that teenager story is where the Mail keeps going on about 'the owner won't be prosecuted because it happened on private property'. Okay, maybe she should have been prosecuted for keeping a dangerous animal but if she was, the campaign wouldn't end where they Mail thinks it would.
What they are calling for, although they don't see it, is a law to protect burglars from dogs.
@Ardaric.
ReplyDeleteI know of some people (friends) that have a 'beware of the dog' sign on their gate and if you go up the path it sounds very angry - the only problem is, they don't have a dog! It is, in fact a composite recording activated by motion sensors but it does its job of keeping the yobs out of the property. It also helps that I take my Newfoundland round there to play in the yard - the thing is the worst he would do is lick you to death or sit on you.
"That happened to me in a nightclub once, but I managed to flee her."
ReplyDeleteSNORK!
"But then it's not as if police dogs are often large strong human aggressive breeds that could potentially be a danger to the public"
Oh, quite!
"...but if she was, the campaign wouldn't end where they Mail thinks it would."
Do they ever? I see the inevitable FaceAche bandwagon is rolling, though. This is becoming a hallmark of these sort of stories.
" It is, in fact a composite recording activated by motion sensors but it does its job of keeping the yobs out of the property."
Heh! Maybe Guy'd be happy to chase down all these false reports? ;)
XX My answer is that we are all guilty of sentimentalising our dogs. XX
ReplyDeleteAye, I know what he means. I could KILL for a traditional "outside the football stadium" Hot dog.
Damn, the tears are in my eyes RIGHT now!