StaceyB

So sorry for your loss Teebs

There will be an ongoing investigation...there might be details we are unaware of. I agree with you, if all 6 dogs were involved in the attack, then all six really need to be PTS, but there must be a reason we don't know about...maybe the owners only surrendered three willingly, and are fighting for the others, and there might be red tape involved, or not enough proof of the others involvement...who knows? I read in one of the articles that the other 3 dogs had been removed from the property when the rangers arrived to seize them all. I think they are just delaying the inevitable though, if 3 dogs were put down over the attack it's very unlikely that 3 others involved in the same attack would be let off. I am a bit curious to know what the breed of the 6th dog is though, only because they listed the breeds of the other 5...

I doubt that saying anything in this situation would have made one bit of difference. Given the childs language I don't think they would care much for the moral high ground and would probably just tell you to F off and mind your own business; living in a low socio-economic area has taught me to be a bit cynical and just keep my mouth shut , last time we tried to do the right thing it ended up getting our dog baited (luckily they were your stereotypical white trash idiots and couldn't got it right so there was nothing more then a sore tummy and an arvo in the vets for observation). Hopefully the pups that went to the staff members will be well taken care of though, they may not know any better but it doesn't mean they will be bad owners. ETA - not purely based on the kids language btw, but on the overall info given about the family

I agree, if they were my dogs I wouldn't hesitate to have them PTS. It would rip my heart out to do it, but it would be done.

I would assume that the child and dogs were supervised, just on the grounds that 6 large dogs trained and used for hunting could very quickly and easily kill a child and the adults would have had to have been close by to shield the girl so quickly. Having said that though, they should have been locked away securely. Anything could have set them off and it's likely that we'll never know what happened in the moments leading up to the attack. My heart goes out to the girl and her family as well as the owners of these dogs. It's a terrible and traumatic even for everyone and I hope the girl recovers well.

IMO it's up to the owner to know the temprement of the breed and their individual dog and treat it accordingly. My dog is dog aggressive (breed trait) and an escape artist, it's my responsibility to ensure that she is contained at all times and not put in a situation where an attack it likely to occur. It's not my dogs fault that her breed was bred and used for dog fighting for 100's of generations, you can't do anything about natural instinct. It's just too easy to open the local paper and just buy a dog because it's the right price with no thought to the temperament and development of the breed so people end up with a dog they have no idea how to handle. Ultimately, regardless of whether the person is a responsible owner or not they are legally responsible for anything and everything that dog does. I have spend a lot of money on training and behaviourists over the years and my dog is contained as best I can but if she got out and caused a car accident or attacked another animal etc then I am responsible for that.

I actually think thats not a bad idea, kind of like a public liability policy.

A lot of folk freeze in situations like that.. especially situations they have not been trained for. These are cops though, not untrained men. Even if they haven't been trained to deal with a dog attack specifically they would surely have had training in dealing with crazies with lethal weapons. If you can sort out an idiot with a knife or gun dealing with a dog is not that much of a stretch.

Oh, that is just disgraceful! Poor dog, I feel so sorry for the owner. All over a damn clerical error At least they had the decency to offer a public apology though.

I hope she made a formal complaint to the council about it! What an absolute sh!t of thing to say to anyone, let alone a pregnant woman who'd just watched her puppy being attacked and killed. Some dog owners really need a good smack in the head! If they are going to own a dog that has attacked the very least they can do is step up and take responsibilty for it. RIP Sophie and all the others who have suffered such horrible ends.

In WA a pet bond is standard. I have always paid it and it's a normal part of the standard lease agreement, just doesnt get filled out if you don't have a pet. I have found that the area you look at is a big factor for how many pet friendly rentals there are too. I live in a low socio-economic area and it's probably about a 50/50 chance of getting somewhere pet friendly. I do hate the whole pets or kids arguement though, the most damage thats been caused to my current house is a few big chips in the walls from the vacuum cleaner banging into the corners/door frames. Yes, my dog digs the odd hole in the yard and yes, my 2 yr old has drawn on the walls a few times. And both are told off each time it happens and we clean it up. If the tennant is responsible and actually cares about the place they live pets and children wont be a problem. An irresponsible tennant is going to cause damage regardless of what 'dependants' they have.

Poor little thing. Very lucky the injuries werent worse with that many spines.

Thats exactly it Megan, you can supervise till the cows come home but if you dont know what warning behaviours to look for there's not much you can do to prevent a disaster - and even then accidents still happen. A dog can be totally fine, have the best training in the world and very tolerant 95% of the time, but just like us there will be some times when they are just not in the mood to tolerate being grabbed at, hugged or played with by a toddler because they are rough and full on and unfortunately at this age there's only so much you can do to explain or show them how to play with the dog.

I agree that it sounds like just 1 snap rather than an "attack" as such, but we don't know if they dog and child were unsupervised. It happens because toddlers are erratic and things can happen very quickly whether someone is watching or not. I always supervise my 2yr old playing with our dog and she has been given a few warnings when she's gotten too rough for Gypsy to tolerate, and they are very quickly separated. I do the best I can to teach my daughter how to interact properly with the dog, but she is 2 years old and doesn't have the understanding that an older child would. There are no details about the incident reported in any of the articles so there is no way to know what the circumstances are.

Regardless of who was caring for the girl at the time she should not have been outside unsupervised at that age let a lone at night. I hadn't heard about the chicken carcass, but I had heard the other details at the time (dogs were in an enclosure and the child scaled a fence 2 houses away to get to the dogs...) I dont blame the dogs in this situation at all. Put a motivator like a chicken carcass in with a pack of dogs and things will get ugly. The child can't be blamed either, she was 4 years old and had no concept that what she was doing was dangerous. The fault lies with whoever was caring for her at the time, either the parents or a babysitter, they had a duty of care towards the child and they failed in that responsibility. A dangerous dog declaration would have made bugger all of a difference really. The dog were already in a locked enclosure and I dont think a 4 year old is going to pay much attention to dangerous dog signs or high vis collars.