Local paper and dog attack and police :(

pug_in_a_bed

I havent posted for ages just lurking;)

However, Im interested in what people think about this.

Two weeks ago our dog was attacked, totally unprovoked in the local park, by an alsation.

She was nudging her ball along when the dog suddenly rushed over and basically took a chunk out of her leg. Shouted at the guy, your dogs just bit mine! No he didnt, he said, before legging it away. He had a pup with him aswell.

Anyway, dog had an op and her back leg is in a right state but she will be ok in a month or so - although this isn't the point. This is the second attack by an alsation in the same park, neighbour across the roads dog also had a bite from him, but not as bad although her dog had to attend the vets for stitching. Sounds a bit too much of a coincidence to be a different dog.

Anyway, we thought maybe we should go to the police - police not interested, I mean yawningly not interested, which is fair enough. Next we call the local little paper, not interested either. So we email again with pictures of poor old dogs leg, info from the neighbour etc. Still not interested!

This weeks paper is full of lovely stories about school fetes, elderly people haviong birthdays etc - apparently nothing bad ever happens here!

Im really a bit peeved,is this not news? The only reason we thought of the paper was to warn people. This guy has a pup too which is going to pick up on this behaviour. Also, who's to say the dog wont go for a child next time as this attack was totally unprovoked - our dog was sitting staring at her ball waiting for one of us to chuck it, the way they do, and then the alsation came from nowhere.

Hmm, interested to see if people think were overreacting:cool:

Idiophreak

As a non-pet person, I would be entirely dis-interested in this "news", I have to say...

pug_in_a_bed

The only reason we went to the paper was to provide a warning to other local people, particularly as the police cant really do anything - not so we can have the pics in the paper as it were!

It wasnt just a nip you see, dog has muscle damage and the whole cost was £450! Luckily she is insured

Idiophreak

Well I'm sure other pet people would appreciate the heads-up...and there's a lot of them about...but I guess it wasn't deemed newsworthy enough for the paper - wait til a couple more pets get attacked, then they might be interested

Claire_Bear

I bet the papers will be interested when the dog attacks a child, which sounds like it's not too unlikely. It sounds like the owner just doesn't give a toss and lets his dangerous dog run wild without taking any responsibility for it's behaviour. Maybe report him to the RSPCA, would they be able to do anything about it?

frivolous_fay

Hm... how about putting up some helpful signs in the park, warning of the dangerous alsatian?

No doubt that's littering....

Have you tried the council? Or dog warden? (I've heard such people exist)

Misty_Blue

If the local paper won't pick up the story, how about a letter to their letters page? My local often features letters of this type - dog attacks, people whose cars were damaged etc.

You could also contact any local animal charities and ask them to place a cautionary note on their web pages.

I know how furious you must be. There is a very nasty Border Terrier living locally here. Every time it lays eyes on another dog, it lunges, snarling at them. One day, I walked my dog around the corner almost straight into it and it pulled the lead from its owner's hand. Fortunately, my dog is long haired, because it was trying to grab him around the throat and just got mouthfuls of coat. The owner at least was apologetic, but I did give her a piece of my mind about walking a dog they KNOW is aggressive without having it muzzled. Especially if you can't even keep hold of the lead!

Best wishes to your dog.

merdoom

Do a google search to see if your local paper/school/road (anything local) has an online forum and post about it there,to see what the other locals think.
The same sort of thing has happened in a park near me where young children play and it led to dogs having to be on leads at all times. (not sure if its actually enforced though!)

pug_in_a_bed

Its actually the second one too - its a brilliant park too with a ranger, so think well drop a letter into him and see if anything happens.

I cant stand the local paper normally but I thought this might come in useful this time!

Swan_2

frivolous_fay wrote: »

Have you tried the council? Or dog warden? (I've heard such people exist)

yes, check with your council & see if they have a dog warden to report the incident to, ours takes such behaviour very seriously as our local by laws state that you must have your dog under control at all times when you're in a public place

unfortunately they probably won't be able to do much because you don't know where the owner lives, but they should log the incident for future reference & you should get your friend to make a complaint too

good luck

Volcano

If your park has a 'dog control order' on it then people are obliged to keep their dogs under control. If not, then (afaik) there's nothing to stop it happening again. Even worse, should the other dog go berserk and (god forbid) kill yours, then no offence has been committed!

Applying to your local council to bring a Dog Control Order for your park might be the answer, though it could be a case of getting others to write to them too.