Urgent help please re dangerous dogs act

Chesnut1

I own a bouncy but reasonably well trained 2yr old Lab cross. My OH had him down at our local country bar were he is well liked by the adults and young children. However there is one couple we try to avoid as she owns a barking/snappy small breed dog. It always barks at adults/ children and dogs walking past. It has always disliked my boy since he came to us as a rescue puppy. When he was young it bit him on a couple of occasions so we avoid it at all costs. His owners are adament it is my dog that has the problem ( but there dog has already been banned from one establishment for attacking the owners dogs) mine has not. Anyway tonight my OH walked passed the table they were seated out with our boy on a very short lead he did not realise there dog was on a long loose lead so it darted under the table to the side of the the owners leg barking and growling. Our boy is finaly at the point were he will bark back and approached it he shot under this womans chair for a couple of seconds so both dogs we think were nose to nose ( I will point out our boy had the classic bum in the air and tail wagging) but there was alot of paw scrabbling going on. Anyway this only lasted for a couple of seconds then my OH pulled our boy away across the room and commanded him to sit while the small dog kept acting aggresively. Now this is my great concern and sorry this is so long but she then piped up that our dog had bitten her on the leg. There was no witnesses to her getting bitten but she did appear to have a possible scratch mark which could have been from either dog as they were absorbed in each other not her. My OH left later on with her claiming to be in agony while continuing to have her drink while her husband made insulting comments. If she phoned the police what can I expect? either dog could have nipped her if that was the case? but more likely to be a claw. Can they confiscate my boy on her say so? I am very worried as I am not in the habit of owning out of control animals and my boy will certainly not be going there anymore for fear of his safety. Any help greatly appreaciated.

JennyW_2

Post your question on dogpages, you'll get some helpful and experienced advise there.

http://www.dogpages.org.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=1

Penny_Watcher

Blimey - sorry for your troubles

The only advice I have is to phone the police yourself and ask for some advice. Explain what has happened from your point of view. You have a 2 year old lab pup who was taken by surprise by a smaller aggressive dog, that even though both dogs were on leads (yours shorter than theirs) they managed to have a bit of a 'kerfuffle' out of sight under the table.

The 'lady' claims to have been bitten by your dog but she couldn't have seen who scratched/nipped her because the rumpus was happening out of her eye line. Explain that the other dog has a history of aggression (been banned from at least one other place that you know of).

I don't think (but I couldn't possible say for sure) that the police will be interested, but if they are then at least you've taken the wind out of the other owners sails by contacting the police first and giving them your view of events. It'll also give you some peace of mind.

Let us know how you get on.

Raksha

Sorry but the police are useless when it comes to the DDA - they don't seem to know any more than the rest of us. Dogpages really is your best bet, as a lot of people there have been involved with the Deed Not Breed campaign which came about as a result of the DDA.

elsien

I'm sure that to take any further action, the woman would need to show she'd been bitten. Given that your dog was on the lead, was probably provoked , and shes been scratched not bitten, I can't really see anyone taking it seriously even if she does complain.
Other than getting any evidence you can from anyone else who was their in case you need it, if it were me, I'd just try to forget about it - she sounds all mouth and trousers.

Keldin

A dog should normally only be declared a dangerous dog if it attacks a person.
If it attacks another dog and even if it bites a person in the process of that attack (such as someone trying to separate them) it should not be declared a dangerous dog.
I say should as the DDA is not well understood by the police and a lort of them have the same misunderstanding s and prejudices around dogs that certain people have.

I would suggest you document every case of this other dogs bad behaviour. Make contemporaneous notes every time you encounter it.
Complain to the owner/landlord of the pub that their dog is aggressive. If they take no notice and it bites someone they could be held responsible so they should act on that.
It sounds like your dog was attacked and defended itself which is perfectly justified and not a DDA issue. If it were me I would tell the police that my dog was defending me as I was attacked by another dog and I could have been seriously injured if it were not for my dogs quick reactions - but that's just me :-)

K

orlao

Keldin wrote: »

A dog should normally only be declared a dangerous dog if it attacks a person.
If it attacks another dog and even if it bites a person in the process of that attack (such as someone trying to separate them) it should not be declared a dangerous dog.


K

Unfortunately I don't think that's true as a friend of mine ended up in court after her dog had a vicious fight with a dog that got into their garden, she got bitten and the other dogs owner and a child I think, but not sure about that as it was some years ago......but her vet was really helpful and her insurance company fought the court case.I can't remember if it was civil or criminal but I know the police were involved at least at the start.
BTW, have you contacted your local dog warden? Mine says we should report any "problem dogs"because they can often deal with it before it it becomes a matter of law or serious fallings out between people!!!:rolleyes:

Good Luck, hopefully it was only drink talking with these people:rotfl:

Raksha

A person only has to be in fear of being injured, which is the stupid part about this legislation - that level of fear varies from person to person - I will happily wade into my two having a squabble to seperate them with no fear of being injured, but somebody with a life long fear of dogs would be terrified by the noise they were making.

Even worse, a dog in a car in a public place 'protecting' it's property can just as easily be a victim of this crazy law........