DanteandMolly

Hi everyone, So we had the ranger come over yesterday to look at the fence (which he has given the tick of approval) and got the witness statement from the young woman that was on the oval at the time of the incident. The ranger told us he had spoken to the 'victim' and asked him to contact him if he wanted to pursue the matter further....... He has had no contact from him at all two weeks later regarding the so called 'attack'. So all in all a good outcome. The dogs aren't going to be able to jump the fence anymore and we even put concrete under the gap of the gate incase someone has their dog off leash and it wants to stick its head underneath. One thing we forgot to ask but someone might have an idea on here is that Dante will have 'attacked' on his 'record' but we were curious to find out if after a certain amount of time that gets erased from his 'record' or if he will love with that for the rest of his life. Again thanks for your tips and support. Have a great easter! (Will update further if there are any more updates) :)

Thanks :)

We have just recently opted to try making our dogs food rather than buying tinned dog food. We were noticing that they were having rather runny bowl movements after eating particular tinned brands. So far they are enjoying cooked dinners and are having more solid bowl movements that don't smell as much. We keep on a budget and were wondering what are some of the best things to include are, things to avoid, things that will benefit their health and coat and just stories from your experiences. I have been reading about raw diets but our two have been brought up on tinned food, the occasional cooked meal and the occasional chicken neck dinner, they also have a dry food breakfast and dry food mixed with whatever's for dinner. They enjoy everything..... So would love to hear some recipes, experiences and dos and don'ts. (They are big breeds and are between 18 months and 2 years) Thanks in advance! :)

Yeah totally, we even think that perhaps his claws could have scratched him as they were in need of a cut (which they were done later that night) but yeah it's all just hypotheses from us as we weren't there and yes a lot of different stories but I have full faith in the ranger to get the full story, he is going to follow up with the witness to ask questions to find any missing info or inconsistencies in stories so I guess it's a waiting game now. We are planning for the worst possible outcome and preparing for it so we don't get hit with a bus so to say. I was proud of us both in keeping our confidence and being pro active and mature, but after the ranger left it was like flood gates haha having to keep emotions from clouding facts and information. Its for sure a learning curve. Oh he is having fun being kept inside and in the pergola until everything is fixed up, they are not normally allowed/we don't let them in there. :)

The reserve is what we call an oval, it is used for athletics, cricket, baseball, soccer, etc and has 5 council signs prohibiting domestic pets, camping, glass, bikes, fires etc and the ranger expressed his frustration in that the locals feel they can have their pets run around on and off leash because they think council doesn't patrol it, they obviously do. Yes I know it's no excuse for Dante jumping the fence and that it's our responsibility to ensure this, but yes it is very frustrating. We are only renting too and didn't realise that backing onto an oval would have some many dogs near it and neighbours who don't own dogs have also expressed their concerns of dogs on the oval as they come up to fences where small children are. Our dogs have no problems when walkers or children are playing sport on there. It is 100% a dog free zone...... Or yet is supposed to be. We are ensuring this will NEVER happen again ever :) you really don't know if something will happen until it does so lesson learnt for sure! :)

Hi again everybody. So we have an update......... The ranger came today, it ended up being the man we both know, he came around twice as my partner wasn't home when he first came (they are registered in his name) so he spoke to my partner when he got home from work. The victims partner (we assume) had reported incident to council this morning (Wednesday, incident occurred Monday evening). From what we were told it was a woman that was victim..... The report said that Dante had jumped the fence come running towards him and got a hold of his dog and bit the man on the hand. This upset me most as I know my dog and that is not his nature unless he would have been provoced and I know yes you can't predict how an animal will act in a situation but he is a 'marshmallow' is how I would describe it.... Anyways As we were very distraugt with this report from victim, georgeous gave us the advice as we didn't think of it to get proof (being it was more than 24hrs later. We called the police to see what statement was made...... There is NO report! Even when the ranger was around he called it in and patched it through and 100% nothing recorded on events, so 'obviously' victim has said nothing about a bite on the hand...... Our witness that rang my partner initially was great she called council yesterday and was able to write us a written report today for the ranger. (She does have to re write it with the time and descriptions of dogs) but her witness statement totally contradicts this victims statement. In a nutshell she has said the victim and partner were walking their two dogs about 10 or so meters away from our fence line when they stopped to watch Dante and Molly barking and jumping when Dante was able to hook his front paws over (he has never been able to do this before) the victims picked their own dogs up off the fortune as Dante came over to them and their dogs were barking at him and him back to them. Apparently the male victim got a hold of Dante's collar after giving the witness his dog to hold and afterwards the witness (who is a petite female) was easily able to calm him tell him to sit which he straight away and settle him down. When the police were called they put him back into our yard with Molly. The ranger was so great very helpful explained that Dante would now have a record and it will be written as attack. But like humans there are varying levels of attack such as grievous bodily harm etc. so his is 'minor offence'. He did say if Dante was to attack again he would be labeled dangerous dog. I still don't know what's worse dangerous dog label and at home imprisonment or ........ Worse.... I'm glad too the ranger had a good rant to me about how fed up he is with people walking their dogs on the oval on and off leads as little athletics is always having to pick up dog faeces so huge children don't step in it. There were actually dogs on the oval the second time he came around and he took some photos and after visiting us went onto the oval to issue several fines. (Hahahahaha hahahahaha) that to me is justice It made my day as people need to realise it's NOT a dog park. People are getting to confident. Also ranger did tell victim he shouldn't have been there and victim has said he never saw a sign.... There are at least 5 signs..... One of which is right infront of our fence!!!!! So this weekends job is to fix the fence increase height install rollers and we will put in an electric fence to keep them off fence line and stop dogs on other side from possibly sticking heads under. We need to wait for the ranger to let us know if victim wants to take further action but with the lack of evidence even the ranger is doubting what has happened. Dante (we) may be issued with a fine for a dog at large which is around $500 but we need to wait for ranger to ascertain if the victims we're standing near fence watching or in the middle of oval as their report said because if the were by our fence line they have provoked him. So sorry for the long comment but I know you have all be so helpful and curious as to the outcome. Will let you know the official ending outcome when we know.

Hi everybody! So the ranger never came today but we stayed in contact with the council and ranger following up if they were coming throughout the day, letting them know that we have already put in precautions such as keeping him in patio area (which is undercover and bottom to top fenced in) that we have already got the ball rolling on extending/fixing fence with rollers. The council was very helpful and impressed at our actions. Thanks to you guys on here for your advice! The owner has not contacted the council about the 'attack' and the council said the police never called it in but they can only take action if the victim reports it. If she follows up within the week and contacts the council about the incident in regards to injuries etc she needs to prove it was because of the incident. The witness that got a hold of our boy (Dante) rang up the council of her own will today to report she witnessed the incident yesterday. The council told us she reported that the SWF (trying my lingo lol) was held in the arms of the owner and Dante was trying to jump up to the dog. The story we had been told by the victim (I think) is that the SWF was on lead on the ground and Dante had it in his mouth and shook it but had no injuries. Because the victim hasn't reported it and it's been more that 24hrs the council was pretty forward in saying its probably not going to be followed through, especially with the witness coming forward to report what she saw but did advise that we still fix our fence line which yes oh yes we will do, we don't want him getting out again for his safety as well as others too. Trust me when I say he is excellently trained and awesome around toddlers. He responds to recall already when they are near the fence line and when out on dog beaches etc. But thankyou so much for everyone's advice and support, it gave us the confidence to handle the situation and know that we wouldn't have to say goodbye. And just a note for curiosity: we are in port stephens council area north of newcastle nsw. Yes there is a fine for not being life time registered but with de sexing there is just a discounted fee if the animal is de sexed. Hope that soothes some curiosity on that topic. If there are any other questions or curiosity I will keep updated on here as the week unfolds. Moral of the story: don't underestimate what your pet is capable of!!! And don't walk your pet where it's not allowed to! ☺️

Poor little Maltese would have been fine if it's owner was obeying the rules. I hope everything works out for you and your dog DanteandMolly. TBH I'm struggling to understand how a large Bull Mastiff cross can 'attack' a Maltese and not do any damage?? If would have been fine if the OP's friends dog hadn't jumped the fence. Lets not turn this into yet another "big dog v SWF advocate" thread. It won't help anyone. The fact that the other dog is one piece is a GOOD thing for everyone! I'm new to the dog forum thing.... What does OP stand for and SWF?? :)

Poor little Maltese would have been fine if it's owner was obeying the rules. I hope everything works out for you and your dog DanteandMolly. TBH I'm struggling to understand how a large Bull Mastiff cross can 'attack' a Maltese and not do any damage?? I am too, he is in no way an aggressive natured dog, I'm really struggling to understand why he would jump the fence this time and our other dog who is the great jumper didn't follow.......Dogs are always along the back of our fence. Just wish I or someone was home at the time.... ????

Thank you very helpful got my note pad and pen out already! :)

I myself am glad it wasn't seriously injured or killed. Being a big breed if he were honestly aggressive he probably would have which is why I'm shocked to why he wanted to even scale the fence to the other side. I have come from the other side- I used to be deathly scared of dogs so I can sympathise with what the owner of the Maltese is probably feeling or thinking. But yes so glad it wasn't seriously harmed!! P.s. No sign of ranger yet.

If the ranger does come - make sure the dog is secured in the house. don't let the dog out to meet the ranger and don't let the ranger in the house. NSW is not as bad as Victoria was for seizing dogs but different rangers do different things and they can't go into the "residence" without the owner's permission. Do discuss what all your options are and make sure you get any notice of intention or anything like that "in writing". Afterwards (or during) - make notes of what you said and what the ranger said - just in case the lawyers need it. Don't blame the other dog or owner. Owners of small white dogs tend to think of the dogs as harmless... so they think they can do whatever they like. The ranger should know about the reserve being "no dogs"... it's not your job to say how he deals with the other dog owner. Maybe ask how the other dog is doing - but I guess you know that already. Do discuss what you need to do to make your yard secure, and see if that will be enough to satisfy the ranger that nothing else needs to be done. I'm guessing it could have been any sort of critter on the other side of the fence - the key thing is your fence is improved so your dogs cannot get over it or under it, or otherwise escape. Check your entire fenceline for signs of digging too. Before the ranger shows up. Thanks :)

Thankyou everybody for your advice, It truly is appreciated. After lots of tears, worried hypothesis of what might happen and absolute shock, having this information with us can help us get the best possible outcome for our boy. This is totally out of character for him and as a witness stated, the owner of the Maltese saw the dogs barking and saw our two jump up in the air to 'have a look' at who was there and they stayed there until he managed to scale our 6ft fence. I'm completed gobsmacked he did as he is not a strong jumper and can't even jump to get into the car some days lol Please keep the advice and information coming as I want to be as best informed as I can. I have recently been converted from a cat lover to a dog lover thanks to georgeous! Please note I have emailed k9pro and will ring in the morning. Also we have been informed that the ranger is coming around tomorrow to 'look at the yard' there is a possibility also as our town is small that if they send the ranger I think they will, we do know him well. Wether that will play in our favour and the fact that the Maltese wasn't hurt and witnesses who are strangers to our boy were easily able to pull him away and put him back in the yard we will find out tomorrow. Like I said this is VERY out of character for him. Neither me or my fiancé nor our housemate was home at the time of the incident but this happened all in the space of an hour between people leaving home and coming home. I will keep you informed and thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!