Hunt for dog that mauled child (From Daily Echo)

The owner is clearly a brainless coward..to own that sort of dog in the first place and now to avoid detection.
Make the ownership of these dogs illegal.
Cue "ooooooh rottweillers and staffies are lovely pets...ooooo".
Heard it all before. Enough.

I know that a lot of people say that they look after their Staffies and they wouldn't hurt a fly if well trained, and well done to those owners who do take the time to bring their dogs up properly. However, if there was a national cull of the little dogs with big heads and lockable jaws I would be chuffed to bits.

Might have been a fighting dog, that would explain why the owner is reluctant to come forward.

Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive.
I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training.

I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive.
I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training.

I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Perhaps legislation to force dog owners to attend training classes with their animal is the way forward. In all aspects of life, it's the majority that pay for the sins of the errant few and without a level of compulsion, nothing will ever change.

I make my living by working with all breeds of dogs and I can assure you that Staffs are certainly capable of being aggressive, after all they are dogs and all dogs can be aggressive. It may interest the ban the staffy brigade that the worst case of aggression, to both other dogs and humans i have ever had to deal with was a border collie. Perhaps we should ban those as well. What would help is if all dogs not belonging to registered and regularly inspected licensed breeders had to be neutered. The license fee should be high enough to fund the inspections, the breeders would have to put the price of the pups up and the idiots who aren't capable of thinking before they take on a dog wont want to part with their beer money.

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive. I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training. I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Soooo not true! You can train and train and train and tell everyone your dog / your friends dog / your neighbours dog is a "big softie" all you like and it may be true most of the time but I am guessing that's what all the families of the kids murdered / maimed by these dogs thought too (unless they knowingly threw their kids into harms way!!??). Animals cannot be trusted 100% and the bigger / more powerful they are, the more dangerous this potentially is!

jojotgirl wrote:

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive. I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training. I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Soooo not true! You can train and train and train and tell everyone your dog / your friends dog / your neighbours dog is a "big softie" all you like and it may be true most of the time but I am guessing that's what all the families of the kids murdered / maimed by these dogs thought too (unless they knowingly threw their kids into harms way!!??). Animals cannot be trusted 100% and the bigger / more powerful they are, the more dangerous this potentially is!

You don't train a dog to not be aggressive. You train a dog to do tricks, sit and down in relation to a given signal. Aggression is best controlled by giving lots and lots and lots, and then a bit more socializing. This along with consistent rules would avoid many of these horror stories. It drives me mad how many people ignore their dog when it is doing nothing wrong, If you praise your dog for being calm, quiet and laid back surprise surprise you get a calm, quiet and laid back dog.

Stillness wrote:

jojotgirl wrote:

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive. I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training. I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Soooo not true! You can train and train and train and tell everyone your dog / your friends dog / your neighbours dog is a "big softie" all you like and it may be true most of the time but I am guessing that's what all the families of the kids murdered / maimed by these dogs thought too (unless they knowingly threw their kids into harms way!!??). Animals cannot be trusted 100% and the bigger / more powerful they are, the more dangerous this potentially is!

You don't train a dog to not be aggressive. You train a dog to do tricks, sit and down in relation to a given signal. Aggression is best controlled by giving lots and lots and lots, and then a bit more socializing. This along with consistent rules would avoid many of these horror stories. It drives me mad how many people ignore their dog when it is doing nothing wrong, If you praise your dog for being calm, quiet and laid back surprise surprise you get a calm, quiet and laid back dog.

I agree with you Stillness, however I do believe that being a forced breed and the strain of any dogs parents plays a part in the dogs behaviour, irresponsible owners are mainly to blame.

Stillness wrote:

jojotgirl wrote:

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive. I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training. I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Soooo not true! You can train and train and train and tell everyone your dog / your friends dog / your neighbours dog is a "big softie" all you like and it may be true most of the time but I am guessing that's what all the families of the kids murdered / maimed by these dogs thought too (unless they knowingly threw their kids into harms way!!??). Animals cannot be trusted 100% and the bigger / more powerful they are, the more dangerous this potentially is!

You don't train a dog to not be aggressive. You train a dog to do tricks, sit and down in relation to a given signal. Aggression is best controlled by giving lots and lots and lots, and then a bit more socializing. This along with consistent rules would avoid many of these horror stories. It drives me mad how many people ignore their dog when it is doing nothing wrong, If you praise your dog for being calm, quiet and laid back surprise surprise you get a calm, quiet and laid back dog.

I agree with you Stillness, however I do believe that being a forced breed and the strain of any dogs parents plays a part in the dogs behaviour, irresponsible owners are mainly to blame.

Brite Spark wrote:
I know that a lot of people say that they look after their Staffies and they wouldn't hurt a fly if well trained, and well done to those owners who do take the time to bring their dogs up properly. However, if there was a national cull of the little dogs with big heads and lockable jaws I would be chuffed to bits.

"However, if there was a national cull of the little dogs with big heads and lockable jaws I would be chuffed to bits".

When BriteSpark wrote this, I wasn't sure if he was talking about a cull of the dogs or the moronic knuckle-dragging owners. Although, frankly, I think that the owners are the bigger danger to the community.

Just A Voice wrote:

Stillness wrote:

jojotgirl wrote:

Dwella wrote:
Dogs are only agressive when they are brought up by people who cant control them, or worse, train them to attack and be aggressive. Rottweillers and staffies have reputations due to reckless owners. They take a lot of controlling and dedicated owners. Put any type of dog into the wrong persons hands and it will be aggressive. I know Rotty owners, my in-laws dog is one huge rotty but as soft as a baby. She is only this way after the hours of training, and dedication teaching her not to be aggressive. Another owner I know never made it clear she was the pack owner and now cant get near her dog when its eating as it will bite! It's all about how you train the dog. Fact. I have seen it in hundreds of dogs... the owner moulds the dog through training. I just hope the boy is recovering well and that this dog is found. If its attacked once already, it will probably do it again.

Soooo not true! You can train and train and train and tell everyone your dog / your friends dog / your neighbours dog is a "big softie" all you like and it may be true most of the time but I am guessing that's what all the families of the kids murdered / maimed by these dogs thought too (unless they knowingly threw their kids into harms way!!??). Animals cannot be trusted 100% and the bigger / more powerful they are, the more dangerous this potentially is!

You don't train a dog to not be aggressive. You train a dog to do tricks, sit and down in relation to a given signal. Aggression is best controlled by giving lots and lots and lots, and then a bit more socializing. This along with consistent rules would avoid many of these horror stories. It drives me mad how many people ignore their dog when it is doing nothing wrong, If you praise your dog for being calm, quiet and laid back surprise surprise you get a calm, quiet and laid back dog.

I agree with you Stillness, however I do believe that being a forced breed and the strain of any dogs parents plays a part in the dogs behaviour, irresponsible owners are mainly to blame.

I have a Malinois here with working parents and grand parents on both sides who begs to differ with you lol. He would type this himself but that would mean him moving from laying in the sunshine so he has asked me to post it.

its not the breed its the owners, my dog is not to be trusted with young kids and so i make sure it does not have the opportunity to be free with toddlers around. As skint as i am i believe that all dogs should be tagged and you should have to pay a licence to breed and own them, that will stop the issue, its a no brainer, get two staffies for next to northing, mate them and then sell cute puppies for £50 a pop, easy money for some people. Charge us dog owners and take the dogs off the ones who dont pay, maybe that will stop joe bloggs down the road getting a dog when he does not have a job and then raising it as a wild beast not a trained companion

A Staffordshire bull terrier! Oh how so predictable! I frequently see very dodgey looking, aggressive talking types walking dogs like these around the Streets and down at the beach at weekends. It's a kind of status symbol, attempting to show how tough these characters (think they) are. Take the dog away and you take away their prop. Let's have licensing for dog ownership reintroduced.

There is no such thing as a bad dog, only a bad owner.
It is the mindless chavs with the knuckles dragging on the floor with their obligatory Staffie with studded harness, that use their dog as an extension to their inadequate sexual equipment, that have given this breed their unfortunate reputation.
Any Dog badly trained and controlled can become dangerous, unfortunately no amount of legislation will change this except banning the owners from keeping dogs, which like most laws they will ignore.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that it's those that live by live off the back of the nanny state feel the need to own what was once known as the nanny dog.

A dog is a wild animal... not unreasonable for it to be found on Southampton Common. Best way to avoid this sort of situation is to ban children from the common.

if you wanted a dog and you had to pay a one of fee of £250 surely that would weed out the get one on the wim crowd.

furthermore there should be area's on the common that are fenced off for dogs like there is for kids bits, i don't take my mutt there anymore as it is not great with young kids, and its not good to keep the dog on the lead all the time, they need a run around, maybe a fenced off path all the way around for those who wanna let there dogs run free. ???

jimmy.little wrote:
if you wanted a dog and you had to pay a one of fee of £250 surely that would weed out the get one on the wim crowd. furthermore there should be area's on the common that are fenced off for dogs like there is for kids bits, i don't take my mutt there anymore as it is not great with young kids, and its not good to keep the dog on the lead all the time, they need a run around, maybe a fenced off path all the way around for those who wanna let there dogs run free. ???

At last, someone else talking some sense regarding fencing off areas for dogs. What a good idea about a fenced off path too. So easy to do and would sort much of the dog fouling problems at the same time (or at least keep most of it confined to the fenced-off areas). Why on earth don't our local councils sort this and how many children need to be attacked before they do (let alone adults who probably don't report the attacks on them if they're not too bad)? There used to be a fenced-off area for dogs to run around in on Valley Park; not sure if it's still there but I felt so much safer walking around Valley Park on my own as a result.

Not for the faint hearted, but if you search on the internet for staffordshire pit bull terrier attacks, there are some heart rending photos and reports out there that show how bad some of these attacks against kids have been. I just cannot see the attraction in owning this kind of dog.

Brite Spark wrote:
Not for the faint hearted, but if you search on the internet for staffordshire pit bull terrier attacks, there are some heart rending photos and reports out there that show how bad some of these attacks against kids have been. I just cannot see the attraction in owning this kind of dog.

It would be interesting to be able to see some figures showing how many attacks per every hundred animals of all breeds. As the forth most popular dog in the country the chances of a Staffy being involved in an attack are obviously higher than that of many other breeds and could go part way to explaining why they are in the news as often as they are. Please note I said part way.

As the attack happened on the common and with the fun fair there at present; my line of investigation would have been the fun fair people. if the owner was not present or seen near the dog at the time then it is most likely that the owner was someone from the fair as they do keep dogs. Many years ago my friend and I were walking behind the fair rides where the caravans are stationed towards the duck pond and had a German Shepherd barking at us and trying to break off the leash which was luckily tied up very well.

I remember a poor lady in France had to have a face transplant after being mauled by one of the most aggressive breeds known to man...the labrador.

All breeds are capable of being aggressive and it is the responsibility of the owner to make sure their dogs are trained and socialised and if their is an issue keep the dog on a lead.

It's no different to bringing up children. We all know that there are many people who shouldn't be allowed to have them, perhaps there should be a licence for that as well.

charliecat1 wrote:
I remember a poor lady in France had to have a face transplant after being mauled by one of the most aggressive breeds known to man...the labrador.

All breeds are capable of being aggressive and it is the responsibility of the owner to make sure their dogs are trained and socialised and if their is an issue keep the dog on a lead.

It's no different to bringing up children. We all know that there are many people who shouldn't be allowed to have them, perhaps there should be a licence for that as well.

I so wish.

I so wish.