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Dangerous Dogs - baby killed
blueblade
Posts: 88,859 Forum Member
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Two rottweilers have been put down after attacking and killing an 18 month old girl in the livig quarters of a pub in Leicester.
Is it really necessary in this day and age to keep such obviously dangerous animals. Is another change i the law necessary ? Or should householders be allowed to keep them as guard dogs ?
I can see both sides of the argument.
My condolences and deepest sympathy to the family concerned.
Full story here
Is it really necessary in this day and age to keep such obviously dangerous animals. Is another change i the law necessary ? Or should householders be allowed to keep them as guard dogs ?
I can see both sides of the argument.
My condolences and deepest sympathy to the family concerned.
Full story here
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Comments
As with all 'dog bites child' stories, there's bound to be a lot more to this than meets the eye.
Lame words in such circumstances I know.
If the dogs were guard dogs, trained to attack intruders, and not used/didn't like children, then was this known? (It was by the neighbours, apparently)
And why take a child to a place where there are vicious dogs in the first place?
One has to question the parents wisdom in placing a baby in close proximity to these animals.
The more I re-read this story the more it stinks, imo of course.
What a terribly sad story.
The dogs were 'family pets' :eek: who were also used as guard dogs so the baby was at home when the incident happened.
Apparently the parents were looking after the pub while the owners were on holiday. I can't see the point of keeping dogs that have been bred for their aggression, they should be banned outright.
It doesn't state that the child lived there, it does imply that they moved in to look after the place. And it doesn't state the dogs were 'family pets', either in print or on the video.
EDIT @ 0845. Another take on the story from Sky News .
It would seem the the baby was the grand-daughter of the landlord who was away, so presumably the parents would have known the nature and useage of the dogs.
When my daughter was a baby we had two dogs here, border collie crosses, so not vicious dogs as a breed, although not particularly good with young children either, but there is no way on earth I would have left her alone in a room with the dogs, you just never know what can make them snap.
It is a very sad story.
I believe the only dog that is truely a vicious breed is the pit bull.
Rottweilers, although they have a name for themselves, are generally beautiful creatures. I wonder how they were brought up? Violent surroundings and keeping them as guard dogs would indeed make them vicious, but all dogs are normally placid if brought up by their owners properly.
I feel sorry for the owners of the dogs as they must be sad at losing them, not to mention overcome with guilt over what happened. However, what they feel must only be a fraction of what the baby's parents must be feeling. Terribly sad.
Fair enough. I've only seen the news reports on the story and they have not provided the details that you've read.
You cant have dogs as guards AND family pets. Its one or the other IMHO. So sad to hear about this
I have a pet Rottweiler. Even though he is very gentle and well trained, I still wouldn't leave him with a child because of the 'what ifs?' involved.
A dog that is trained to guard has a different set of priorities to a family pet. Mixing up a working dog and a family pet in the same animal does seem a little unwise to me.
I blame whoever left these rotties with a 5 month old baby in the first place.as much as im a huge dog lover id NEVER leave a young child alone with ANY dog.
What i can imagine is this poor little girl started crying and this alerted the dogs who then set on her.
In general most rotties are quite gentle(ive known numerous) but a small % of owners encourage them to be vicious.rotties are natural protectors and should NEVER be encouraged to be aggressive.
Also these were pub guard dogs and even as a dog lover id never approach a publicans dog.they tend to be over alert as it is and over protective in many cases.Surely they shouldnt have left a baby with guard dogs.
Having said that id still pat a Rottie after first asking the owner if it was safe
I don't know how and why these dogs were in a place where they could get hold of the baby and drag her out like this. We don't know the full circumstances, but the baby should have been safely out of the way in another room. The dogs should have been on a lead if there was nobody around to keep an eye on things.
In general I think dog owners can be sometimes ignorant of those who don't like dogs. They may well know their pet and its temperament, but other people will not and therefore the dogs should remain on a lead in public.
Having been bitten a few times, I would disagree with that. I was bitten by two large dogs, both of which had a previous good record.
I did nothing more than walk up the garden path towards the front door.
I'm an animal lover, with a distrust of dogs, and I would never leave a baby near any dog.
poor kid
i wonder what goes through the minds of people who want to own such dogs ban them like pit bulls useless things used to intimidate and scare only
However, I have to also say that as an owner of three dogs of different breeds I would never leave my dogs alone with a child even if the child knew the dogs well. My dogs are real softies but I still would not take any risks.
If that is the case, then why the hell were they anywhere near where this baby was left? You cannot take any chances, no matter how trusting you are of an animal.
I read the BBC report and felt sickened, I felt this even more after reading the Sky report which was a bit more descriptive.
I believe the majority of dog's are by nature placid, but some people train their dog's to be vicious.
I wouldn't leave a cat alone with a baby, let alone a dog.
As Lindylupin as said it must be very frustrating for the good owners who are responsible, and the sort of reaction they're likely to get from some people in light of this tragic event.
I remember the reactions to dog attacks (Pit Bulls) in the late 80's, if a dog was off it's lead in the park, most parents took their children out, I was one, I didn't want my daughter to be around any dog that wasn't on a lead.
Rest in Peace baby.