poodlefan

Lions and bears have not been the subject of tens of thousands of years of domestication and selective breeding.. they are wild animals. I thank God that Australia does not allow the keeping of exotic cats as pets.. they kill quite a few folk every year in the USA. Millions of large dogs live among us and the overwhelming majority of them will never harm anyone. Sometimes it pays to bear that in mind. The dogs that do maim and kill have a profile .. focus on preventing those sorts of profiles developing and large dogs are as safe as any other.

Where's the evidence that she was frail Puggerup? No evidence, but I dare say the way her arm was severed almost off and she was dragged around her house all in 2 minutes, she wasn't staunch. I'd say you've underestimated the damage a dog attack can do to any person. Once you are on the ground, the advantage lies well and truly with the dog. All you can do for the most part is endure.. fighting back makes it worse. A motivated police dog can take down a grown man without trouble.

Where's the evidence that she was frail Puggerup? The dog was a crossbred.

Equipping yourself with knowledge of the research certainly helps take some of the heat out of these discussions. The fact that larger dogs can inflict more damage is a rather inconvenient truth to some anti-BSL campaigners but its a no brainer that needs to be acknowledged up front. Note also it discussed how victims can exacerbate an attack.. that's not a blame game, that's acknowledgement of how struggling triggers further aggression. Dog attack researchers commonly note two issues with breed ID: * It's notoriously unreliable * You need to factor in breed popularity before making conclusions about any breed's propensity for aggression. My personal view on the whole APBT thing is that people need to acknowledge: *It's a very powerful breed * It's commonly sought after by people keen to evoke a tough image (its the urban criminal's dog of choice) * There's a hell of a lot of ignorant and irresponsible folk involved in breeding and owning this dog * They are not being rigorously culled if they display aggression to people... The APBT is a victim of its image and there are many very poor examples of the breed. Driving it underground has compounded all the problems I've outlined above.

Another excellent paper on the subject of dog aggression to people and which includes some discussion of breed, can be found here Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers rate a mention. Bear in mind that breed popularity plays its part in how frequently such dogs rate in statistics.

Sandgrubber: Ask yourself if its just the breed or the types of people who buy them and how they are treated.. Karen Delise's book Fatal Dog Attacks concluded that the reasons a dog are acquired, such as image enhancement or 'protection' contribute to the liklihood of it being involved in such attacks. I cannot recommend that book too highly. Consider also that nearly all research on dog aggression concludes that breed identification is questionable in the data. Any breed CAN bite. However propensity to bite (bite threshold) and the amount of damage a bite can cause vary significantly between breeds. I've only ever been bitten by one dog - a Pekingese. I doubt anyone would compare a bite from that dog with one from a large powerful breed and conclude that the danger was the same. Another excellent paper on the subject of dog aggression to people and which includes some discussion of breed, can be found here Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers rate a mention. Bear in mind that breed popularity plays its part in how frequently such dogs rate in statistics.

How old is she and at what age was she desexed? I suggest a trip to the vet to check for any bladder infections and for hormonal incontinence. Shes' young for that but you never know. Have you ever thought about getting a dog door? Seems to me that she's fine IF she can get out of the crate on time.

Have there been any updates on how Mrs Bonic is doing?

Talk to your vet. Rumour has it most monthly heart worm preventions are good for 6 weeks. Unless you're in an active mozzie area, I'd just shift both heartworm tabs to the first of each month for convenience of memory. Mine get heartworm on the 1st of each month and an allwormer on the first of each month divisible by 3 (like yours)

If you have ever wasted years of your life living next to neighbours from hell, or neighbour's kids from hell, believe me it is not a silly suggestion. Life's too short to try and sort out crap like this. Sad, but in some cases true. If Mum can't control her kids now, what's the likely upshot of that in a few years time? You run the risk of getting the kids offside and its your dogs who can pay for that. I think moving the trampoline seems like a good opening suggestion. I'd be making it very clear to Mum AND kids next door if there's any more stuff found in the yard, you will reluctantly involve the police.

I must have confused Labs with GRs on the heart issue.

Is there a PRA test for Labs?

The link between Ivermectin (used in Revolution) and Collie deaths has been established for some years.

I see Dogs Vic Pres was quoted in one report.

Jodielass: If you want to be a Labrador breeder Jodielass, start calling them yellow, not Golden Labs. If you want to breed healthy pups, start by feeding a pregnant bitch food that she will thrive on, not merely survive. Last bit deleted. Dog has been scored. Has she had a heart test?

Padding the harness will lower its aversive effect - that's what's stopping the pulling.

We don't know if the dog WAS reacting defensively. We also don't know how this dog has been treated in the past. Its all speculation. The dog has paid with its life. Mrs B will bear the scars of this for the remainder of hers. More stupid laws will be introduced which will do nothing to prevent these sorts of attacks. And so it goes.

As predicted yesterday, it was bound to happen. ;) Won't work to prevent these sorts of tragedies though. Lets keep in mind that this attack happened in a family home by a dog with no history with council. WTF still more laws preventing dangerous dogs roaming will do to help is beyond me.

All of the above. And that's the point - you need a certain combination of factors for a deadly result.

Speculation time.. and this IS pure speculation Was Rocky an outside dog allowed inside when grandson was there and otherwise relegated to the backyard? Did he not want to go outside? Had he been kept on a chain? Chained dogs are massively over represented in serious attacks on people. Had he been grabbed by the collar and harshly disciplined before.. did Mrs B try to take his collar and he reacted defensively? Did she not read the body language or dismiss a growl as the dog being "silly'.. Was he sore? Was he a young entire dominant male that wasn't going to be pushed around by someone of lesser physicality than the grandson? Had Rocky been the subject of physical abuse? Wonder what grandson's "problems" were? We'll probably never know and God knows dog owners are rarely effusive on the subject how they might have contributed to the tragedy. But what happened is the product of both genetics, environment and trigger behaviour. What I do know is that the description "family pet" covers a whole range of circumstances, some of which are not what you're average DOLer would consider meet that description. Was this a dog that was socialised, trained and exercised regularly, encouraged to be affectionate and gentle with people and had a strong social bond with Mrs B.. we probably won't learn that either.

And now the facts start to emerge Wonder what that means. Trigger event.

Dont worry about the pasta.. he won't get any nutritional benefit from it. See if you can find chicken backs or frames. Way cheaper than necks and a better sized meal for a large breed.

Very hard to be objective when the breed you love is under the gun Chris.. but facts carry more weight than passion, regardless of how much you care.

And now that the dog is dead, any chance to evaluate it has gone.

Dogs "turning" is largely a myth. The fact that the victim cannot identify the trigger for the attack doesn't mean there wasn't one. :D Which, to me, is fairly alarming. If someone's lived with a dog for 3 years, and, apparently, they know each other reasonably well, why can't they identify the trigger? Is it due, then, to the very nature of the dog? I have no answers; I'm just wondering. Lally the number of folk who cannot read dog body language is legion. I can recall Jan Fennell talking of being called in by a couple to assess their dog.. she thought the only reason the dog hadn't bitten either of them was they'd never denied it anything it wanted. What we do know is that there was an entry to the house and the attack occured in a corridor. I really do wish someone knowledgeable about dog behaviour speaks to the lady and gets more information about what happened. I wonder how much time this lady has spent alone with the dog, whether it was normally kept inside, whether it had a bone or treat when she came in, whether she attempted to make it go out.. lots of questions. According to latest reports, she may lose her arm.