BlackJaq

So has there been a reason identified yet that might have caused this attack? I am very interested to know since this attack was obviously very sustained, not a quick bite hitting the perfect spot like what happened with Liam Perk..

Well, in the overall scheme of fatal dog attacks, four seems like a big enough number to me.. How many toddlers are killed by dogs each year? I did not think fatal dog attacks in general are all that common.

Wow this same thread in the training section barely got a full page of comments.. I'm pretty amazed at how many people are completely opposed to using them, although maybe it's a breed thing ;) I guess somebody with a pet dog is not going to see the need for 100% obedience compared to somebody with a working dog and somebody with a low drive dog or who does not put their dog in a highly arousing working situation is probably not going to see the need for using any aversives in training.

I agree I'd forgotten that dogs used to hunt large game are considered dangerous anyway. How is it the powers that be are forgetting their own legislation though? Obviously the owner is aware of this or he would not be emphasizing how this dog was "a family pet" when it clearly wasn't. I grew up with hunting dogs on chains, they were considered our pets as well. I don't believe that piggers cannot also be good family pets. My brother still has pigging dogs and children with no problems. My heart goes out to the the family. This is something no parent should have to go through, just so tragic I can't stop thinking about the horror that toddler went through, it's beyond words I guess I don't have any statistics to back up my opinion, but there seem to be an awful lot of fatal incidents with toddlers and working pig dogs in Australia. I would be very reluctant to have a working pig dog loose around children this young. I know that prey drive and human aggression are two very different things but in my experience, very young toddlers can often elicit a prey response from dogs, and not necessarily just pig dogs either. I would also be reluctant to let dog loose around a very young child like this if the dog was usually kept chained. Chained dogs also feature prominently in bite stats I have seen. Anyway, personally I don't keep my hunting dog, whom I also consider a pet, chained up out back (she only hunts rabbits and foxes btw) and if we ever end up having kids she will be crated inside.

I think usually when people bash something like this, it stems from a lack of knowledge and a tendency to humanize dogs.... DOL is usually pretty informed and reasonable, even on iffy topics (not that they should be, but the general public often gobble up the crap that the media feeds them without a second thought, which is how we ended up with most of our terrible legislation, like banned e-collars in NSW and BSL and why the RSPCA has as many powers as they do and now accountability and people continue to support them)

American Bulldogs again.........the Jogger now this one There is no place in the community for these stupid breeds for people wanting a protective type of dog. There is nothing wrong with having a dog that offers some protective quality in fact a dog can be very effective to keep potential thieves and unwanted visitors away and help people sleep at night, but a good GSD or Rotty will achieve that nicely who are genetically safe unless provoked with a high degree of trainability......bloody Bulldogs, Mastiff's and crap like that used as protection dogs are mauling's waiting to happen......when individual dogs in these breeds have a high degree of social aggression, they are extremely hard to train and direct aggression in the right areas for the right reason which is the reason why professional's don't use these breeds in formal protection roles. What a load of shit

I agree I'd forgotten that dogs used to hunt large game are considered dangerous anyway. How is it the powers that be are forgetting their own legislation though? Obviously the owner is aware of this or he would not be emphasizing how this dog was "a family pet" when it clearly wasn't.

Wow what paper is it? I think they need some letters to the editor to remind them to check the accuracy of their information....

Lol

Damn I shouldn't have looked. Two lovely Weimaraner prints are now on their way to my place :laugh:

I think e-collars are a great tool and I would love to use one to reinforce the recall when my dog is within a certain distance of roos and wallabies.... Banning them is ridiculous in my opinion, especially since you can still buy them legally and it is only illegal to use them. Any training tool (or even a boot, horse riding whip or a brick) can be used cruelly and inappropriately. You just cannot legislate against stupid and yet they keep trying and people who would use these things appropriately miss out.

I'm sorry, did you just call this dog, reportedly a 57 kg Mastiff x an American Pitbull? Where did that come from?

I find your experience with this and your observations, interesting, BlackJaq. As per above, I intend to look at hip/pelvis alignment. But he's also a dog who has trouble gaining and maintaining weight. Muscle tone is pretty good though (IMO). Do you know what the lack of fat/weight would have to do with anal gland problems? I was thinking about the positioning mostly. When Foxy was very lean, the anal area would be sort of sunken in just under her tail. She now has some fatty tissue in that area and the anal area is sort of even/flat instead of sunken in... Not sure if I'm describing that very well.....

Agree!

This is a nice turn of events but I probably still won't fly Qantas... For starters their prices are ridiculous and I'd also be worried about the plane falling apart with me on it, judging by their recent headlines... (Sorry Qantas fans)

Ok well I guess the story has become a little clearer now and in my opinion, a dog like this (not talking about breed here, but rather the violence the dog was ready to commit off its own turf) doesn't belong into suburbia where yards are packed next to each other and share fences. You'd have to think the owners knew that the dog would make it over the fence eventually and also what it might be capable of, going by the sign they had up... In this case, I think the owners could have predicted this turn of events and should thus be viewed as intentionally harming another by not taking steps to avoid this happening. I don't know why grievous bodily charges cannot be laid against owners like this but would like to see this rectified, rather than adding more "vicious breeds" to the list

No I was just mentioning it because this is what the article said: I assume whoever wrote it is not familiar with rabies protocols or they would not find it unusual...

I don't think expensive houses mean that people have dog sense necessarily... My partner's aunt is quite well (read: very well) off and her and her husband bought a "breeding pair" of blue Amstaffs who ended up being destroyed after getting out repeatedly and killing neighbourhood cats.. Of course they first produced and sold one or two litters They now bought a Pugalier........................................................... Anyway, I don't think you can say whether the owners should or shouldn't be liable without more details. If the dog has escaped previously or had reports made against it then I think they should be punished severely. If there has never been any cause of concern, then I don't think they could have expected the dog to scale a fence like that. However, dogs capable of getting over fences this size usually have a history of doing so.

Of course they only sent the head, that is all they need for rabies testing and quite common practice in countries where they have rabies

Wow well if I ever make it to showing Foxy it will be easy enough to pick me.. I'll be the crazy lady making the dog do all the work lol!

Looking at that I would be tempted to harness the dog to it and just lead the dog but that might not work out too well once you start crossing lawn and dodging other people with show gear and dogs :laugh:

I am not really looking at breeding my breed of choice at the moment, but I just wanted to point out that showing is not necessarily the only thing that matters in determining breeding quality. If I were to breed, my choice would be to concentrate on working my dogs rather than the show ring and as such, I would want to own and successfully work several dogs before attempting to choose a set of suitable dogs to mate. I don't know if BB have any dog sports or other jobs that they are likely to be good at (I don't know that much about the breed, sorry ) but just thought this would be worthy of consideration. What wins in the show ring is not always the best quality dog around, particularly from a health and longevity point of view. Some champion dogs make me wonder if they could run half a kilometre without passing out and even though the owners might not find this to be an important thing for their dog to be able to do, I would think that at some point the quality of life starts to deteriorate..

I do believe muscle tone and fat in that region may have an impact, along with hip/pelvis alignment. When Foxy was younger, probably up until about 18 months or so, I used to have some trouble getting a good weight on her and during the "skinny" stages she would have anal gland trouble. I spayed her and around that age they often just "grow out of it" apparently, and she stopped having trouble (while she did have trouble I also fed psyllium husks, sardines and lots of chicken wings and bones and such, sometimes even rice to help bulk up poos). Eventually she ate some cabbage soup and got the runs pretty badly and had to stay at the vet's on the drip over night for dehydration. This then prompted an anal gland episode much worse than what she had previously and with the extreme swelling and such we were afraid one gland was going to have to come out (the vet says one of hers is positioned a bit funny and it's usually first to play up, we think the bad positioning may make it a little more difficult for her to express when conditions aren't ideal). We also went with oral ABs and thankfully the swelling went down quickly (the vet had tried to express but none came out). I fed her all the same stuff as before for that time (was only a few days). My bad, I forgot all a bout the cabbage soup incident, I think it must have been infected that time actually, but completely resolved itself with just ABs.... I would definitely give them a go again next time (with a Weimaraner I just know that there will be another time when she eats something she shouldn't.....)

What is his diet like? My dog also has trouble expressing them herself sometimes but they never got bad enough to get infected so far, we always caught it early. I would also try a chiro, as per HW post

Hmmm I agree with this. This. No pity from me, except for his animals