Local paper and dog attack and police :(

cheapscate

did the police say why they were unwilling to look into this? If you didn't have insurance you would be £450 out of pocket!!! Also I thought there were laws that they are supposed to enforce with regard to dangerous dogs. I'd consider making a complaint if they won't look into this. Quite a few years ago my dog was mauled by a rottweiller off of its lead and he died of his injuries so I know how traumatic this must be for you.

pug_in_a_bed

cheapscate thats really, really awful. Maisie was hurt but not life threatening but still in pain, and of course she's very sad as she cant go out at the moment.

The police logged the complaint but that was all as we cant identify the guy directly. It was the attitude as much as anything!

Dog warden is a good idea, we'll look into that.

Justicia

Swan wrote: »

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

OP - Is the owner walking the dog around the same/similar time(s) of day, that could help with a report?

mrcol1000

Your be better off on the Pets board. The reason the police aren't intrested is what exactly can they do? Its not a criminal offence for dogs to fight or attack each other unless the owners encourage it. Dogs do not have to be on leads unless there is a local by law they only have to be under control i.e. they come back when called. Even if a criminal offence had been commited you have no idea who the owner is. Do you honestly think the police are going to have 24hr stake out at the park to catch this owner? The Dog warden won't be intrested either unless you know who the person is. Even if you did have their address they would just send them a warning letter.
This is a private matter between you and the owner. If you knew who they were you could take private legal action to recoup the vet fees. I know its an awful thing to happen and its happened to me four times with the same dog who lived two doors down before we moved but outside of your world this is not news. The best thing to do is just put it down to experience and if it happens again give the dog a good boot. When the owner starts having a go at you for hurting their dog you can point out your just defending your dog with reasonable force. My neighbour reported me to the police for kicking her dog with steel toe capped boots after it attacked mine while she watched and they agreed in the circumstances that was about the only safe thing to do to stop my dog being hurt.

By the way the person who said next time it will be a child. Dogs attack children in very rare circumstances and even the most friendly dog can turn on a child if provoked or unsupervised. Just because a dog attacks another does not mean it will attack a child or human. Dogs show agression to each other for loads reasons not always because they are aggressive or bad dogs.

pitkin2020

just take a nice think stick with you next and if the dogs even attempts to attack give it a good crack across the head it wont come near you then, sometimes this is the only way you can deal with such people and there dogs, the worst you'll do is stun the dog at best your break a few bones......

mrcol1000

pitkin2020 wrote: »

just take a nice think stick with you next and if the dogs even attempts to attack give it a good crack across the head it wont come near you then, sometimes this is the only way you can deal with such people and there dogs, the worst you'll do is stun the dog at best your break a few bones......

Taking a stick to attack a dog I am sure it crossing a line. Unless its a walking stick of course! I wouldn't recommend hurting a dog unless you really had to.

pitkin2020

i dont recommend attcking a dog unprovoked but im sure your allowed to use reasonable force to protect yourself, you cant tell if the dog is going to attack you therefore using reasonable force to protect yourself would be deemed acceptable i would say.........

KaosLisa_2

We have a nervous border terrier and she goes mental everytime a dog comes bounding towards her because she frightened after her experience as a puppy when two huge alsation dogs were being really agressive behind a gate on a main road and ever since shes not been too keen on other dogs. So now we carry a pet corrector everytime we go out, not for her but for the other dogs that other owners let off the lead but cannot actually control. Its just compressed air which when you pressed the bottle lets out a high pitched noise which seems to frighten the dog away and they tend just to leg it back to their owners. Just an idea for you once your dog is better. I know your frustration though, it really annoys me that irresponsable owners just let their dogs off the lead when they have no control over them!

pitkin2020

KaosLisa wrote: »

We have a nervous border terrier and she goes mental everytime a dog comes bounding towards her because she frightened after her experience as a puppy when two huge alsation dogs were being really agressive behind a gate on a main road and ever since shes not been too keen on other dogs. So now we carry a pet corrector everytime we go out, not for her but for the other dogs that other owners let off the lead but cannot actually control. Its just compressed air which when you pressed the bottle lets out a high pitched noise which seems to frighten the dog away and they tend just to leg it back to their owners. Just an idea for you once your dog is better. I know your frustration though, it really annoys me that irresponsable owners just let their dogs off the lead when they have no control over them!

thats a really good and constructive idea, are these available in most pet shops??

KaosLisa_2

pitkin2020 wrote: »

thats a really good and constructive idea, are these available in most pet shops??

We got ours from pets at home, its in a red can was by all the mussels and training leads I think. It was suggested to us by a lady at the dog's trust where we take her for dog training. She deals with agressive dogs everyday and totally understood our frustration about people letting their dogs off leads when they had no control over them (especially when you have an agressive dog and your doing everything you can to control it yet the other owner seems to think its fine because their dogs never attacked anything!) and she said she's recently tried it and it had been a brilliant success so we tried it and its been brilliant. Had a few dirty looks from other dog owners but at the end of the day I'm protecting their dog as well because I know how mine reacts through no fault of her own and I dont feel like I should stop walking her because of some people not controlling their dogs or putting them on leads. Ours is never off a lead and we often put her on a long line (another brilliant suggesting from the wonderful lady at the dogs trust) so she has the freedom of being off a lead but we also have the control to pull her back if we spot another dog coming towards us which gives us time to settle her down and move her away.