Wide Bay

[Monah]

It seems that in Hervey Bay there have been 33 dog attacks (on dogs and also on humans who interfere) in 6 weeks! A work colleague of mine was just on with her mini poodle who had her stomach ripped out ;) by a roaming dog, the lady had to go to hospital as she was bitten saving her dog. The dog is stapled all around her middle, almost ripped in two.

Another person had their dog killed whilst it was in their arms! by another dog and animal control officers are pleading with the public to keep their dogs confined so this does not happen. How bloody awful! I feel sick about it and will be keeping to our usual walk near home :D

That's a hell of a lot of attacks for a small town. Anyone living around here, be careful :D None of the attacked dogs were roaming or off lead. Bloody irresponsible owners

[animalia]

POOR DOGS

I think your council needs to start educating some people on how to be a responsible dog owner

[Monah]

agree, but they are actually really good re animal stuff, advertise all the pets every week that are in the pound, have education pages in the papers, animal walks and days etc. I'm so surprised by this attack thing.

[dogbesotted]

holy shit there is something seriously wrong going on... irresponsible person plus something else.. dog fighting maybe ) i know that is out of left field.. but 33 serious attacks in 6 weeks is statistically a red flag for something less than straight forward)

H

[Crisovar]

roaming dog

Easy to see the problem me thinks.

Irresponsible owners of dogs at a large.

[Adnil444]

It seems that in Hervey Bay there have been 33 dog attacks (on dogs and also on humans who interfere) in 6 weeks! :rolleyes: ;) A work colleague of mine was just on with her mini poodle who had her stomach ripped out by a roaming dog, the lady had to go to hospital as she was bitten saving her dog. The dog is stapled all around her middle, almost ripped in two.

Another person had their dog killed whilst it was in their arms! by another dog and animal control officers are pleading with the public to keep their dogs confined so this does not happen. How bloody awful! I feel sick about it and will be keeping to our usual walk near home

That's a hell of a lot of attacks for a small town. Anyone living around here, be careful None of the attacked dogs were roaming or off lead. Bloody irresponsible owners

How awful - is it the same dog for each of these attacks? What is the council say they are going to do about it? Why should the responsible decent people of the community have to put up with this? The rangers and police should be out there, shoot the dog(s) if need be, fine the owners heavily, and let everyone live in peace. I'm over this type of behaviour from a small group of idiots in the community.

Keep on the council to do something about this - it must stop.

[Miss Squish]

:rolleyes: A really good friend of mine is moving from Adelaide to Hervey Bay on Monday with her 2 dogs. Will send her an email now so shes aware.

[Monah]

Update, it's in todays Fraser Coast Chronicle, I do not know how to get it on the net???

Anyway, 33 attacks on both humans and dogs!!!! in the last 6 weeks, different dogs did the attacks, some dogs scaled their own fences in order to attack :D

will see if I can upload the article somehow.

[Monah]

attacks in just six weeks

29th May 2010

Felicity and her beloved poodle Pipi are both recovering from a dog attack.

SHE HAD just suffered the loss of her husband so when an aggressive dog tried to take away her beloved family pet, Point Vernon's Felicity put herself in harm's way to save his life.

On Tuesday Felicity was walking her poodle Pipi home from the beach when a large mastiff-cross leapt over the two-metre fence surrounding its yard and attacked them.

The dog picked up the poodle and threw it twice before knocking Felicity to the ground and almost tearing her fingers off.

“I only lost my husband two weeks ago and I couldn't lose Pipi as well,” Felicity said.

“When he knocked me down he was looking straight into my eyes so I put my hands up to protect my face and that's how my hands got injured.

“It was terrifying.”

Both Felicity and her poodle had to have surgery and Pipi is still in a bad way.

“I really hope he gets better,” Felicity said.

“I don't know what I would do without him.”

Yesterday the Fraser Coast Regional Council's Gaye Ah Quay said compliance officers had dealt with 33 attacks – 24 in Hervey Bay and nine in Maryborough – on people and other animals in the past six weeks.

She said dogs were getting over and breaking through fences and could be dangerous if let out into an environment without their owners.

She also stressed that dogs should be exercised on leads and if let off, watched closely to make sure they did not get into fights.

“All dogs can be unpredictable and often these instances are as traumatic for the owner of the attacking dog as they are for the injured dog's owner,” Ms Ah Quay said.

“Many are shocked to realise that the dog they thought was gentle and harmless could turn into a killer.”

Two weeks ago Hervey Bay grandfather Tony Skehan could only watch in horror as a rottweiler mauled his pet poodle of 13 years, Lily.

Mr Skehan was walking Lily on the Esplanade when the rottweiler burst out of its enclosure from behind a building and grabbed the tiny poodle.

The rottweiler shook Lily repeatedly before finally letting go but it was too late.

“We took her to the vet but she was too far gone and she had to be put down,” Mr Skehan said.

“It was very sad.”

While losing the family pet was devastating, Mr Skehan said he was lucky his grand-daughter was not with him.

Three-year-old Maisie was at pre-school on the day of the attack but if he had gone for the walk a little later in the day, she would have been with him.

“It could have been her,” Mr Skehan said.

“That's what scares me the most.”

He's also concerned that some elderly pet owners who don't want to let go of their big dogs are putting others at risk.

“Older people can't control big dogs,” he said.

“They shouldn't be allowed to have them.”

Both attacks are still being investigated by council officers.

[GeckoTree]

Something in the water? Thats a lot for just HB, I wonder what the total for the whole council area is? I know someones dog was ripped up in Tinana last sunday by a roaming dog :D

Edited May 29, 2010 by GeckoTree

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

What is the matter with people? They want these big macho dogs well that is fine but they have to protect the rest of society from them. Not good enough at all. I'd sue their backsides off and I'd want to see the attacking dog euthanased without question.

Edited May 29, 2010 by dogmad

[geo]

What is the matter with people? They want these big macho dogs well that is fine but they have to protect the rest of society from them. Not good enough at all. I'd sue their backsides off and I'd want to see the attacking dog euthanased without question.

Euth'd without a quetsion...? It's not about "big macho dogs"..., it's about lazy irresponsible owners, i get harrassed everyday by SWF chasing my dogs as they're not kep contained, same lazy irresponsoble owners. all the "big macho dogs" in my area are well contained, and just as you may make the correlation between having a big dog and someones persona doesn't make all the dogs bad.

though i do see where you're coming from.

[Trisven13]

What is the matter with people? They want these big macho dogs well that is fine but they have to protect the rest of society from them. Not good enough at all. I'd sue their backsides off and I'd want to see the attacking dog euthanased without question.

Forget it being big macho dogs. I know you have a "thing" about them but its dangerous dogs of ALL sizes who are the problem. You should see my friend's daughter's face after her misadventure with a Maltese X - scars she'll carry for the rest of her life.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

If a dog is savage enough to break through a fence to attack another dog and/or a person, then society does need to be protected. It isn't about it being a large sized dog, some of them would be fine behind a small fence. It is about moronic owners.

I do have a "thing" about nasty dogs and moronic owners, that won't ever change and my phobia, if you want to call it that, fear whatever, only becomes reinforced by all I hear, see and I read.

If I wasn't in my current circumstances, believe me, I would be more than happy to own a large breed dog - but they would have to be bullet proof with regards to other dogs. I'm simply not interested in nasty dogs and when they are large sized, they do a hell of a lot more damage than a small dog.

I worked at the Welfare League for 3 years, probably only had about 5 small dogs that I saw in the whole of the 3 yrs there. I much preferred larger dogs but did I like the Dobermann that ripped another dog's ear off for no reason? Not all all.

Perhaps if you google how many people have been killed by a maltese, I think you'll find it would be zero.

[Trisven13]

But that is not the point. This is the first time I've commented but I've read SO MANY posts by you ripping into the owners of big dogs for not keeping small dogs safe, well at least that is how it reads. I HATE aggressive dogs, I can't personally see why anyone would want to own an aggressive dog regardless of its size. I don't see any pleasure in owning a dog that can't be trusted around people or dogs but the size of that dog doesn't come into the equation.

If your posts about aggressive dogs concentrated on the actual fact of the aggression I wouldn't have picked up on it but it is always about the SIZE of the dog. We need to be addressing the fact of aggressive dogs not the size of those dogs. In my experience, rescuing dogs in Albury/Wodonga for over 5 years, I've seen aggressive dogs in all shapes and sizes. Its their aggression that means I reject them for rehoming, not their size.

ETA - my JRT broke through a fence many years ago before I knew about responsible dog ownership to attack someone's dog. Again I stress - its not the size of the dog but the aggression it displays that we should be addressing.

Edited May 30, 2010 by Trisven13

[mita]

It sure is about the owners. I agree....focus on the cause. Out of control owners!

I was at a council dog activities progam this afternoon. And there were piles of dogs of all shapes & sizes squeezed into a dog park. The dogs, on the whole, were remarkable. A real credit to the heap of dog owners there. They really were in control of their dogs. There were far more bigger dogs than small dogs. Yet my 2 small dogs were perfectly at ease & had a great day.

One staffy was very other-dog twitchy & aggressive... on lead, but wanting to start really bad stuff....owned by a young woman. An animal trainer gave brilliant advice over the microphone & I saw her take the young woman aside to talk to her about the necessity for some serious training. I heard the owner say she'd got the staffy age 2 years & no, she hadn't taken him to training. Good, tho', to see her accepting this was a problem & appreciating the intervention of the trainer.

In less than 5 minutes (over the microphone), the trainer nailed the basics of what an owner must do to train, control & socialise their dogs. And she was firm....this wasn't an option, it was what they HAD to do.

Edited May 30, 2010 by mita

[nellbell]

attacks in just six weeks

29th May 2010

He's also concerned that some elderly pet owners who don't want to let go of their big dogs are putting others at risk.

“Older people can't control big dogs,” he said.

“They shouldn't be allowed to have them.”

Both attacks are still being investigated by council officers.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!!!! Thats a bit rich, older people shouldn't be allowed to own big dogs. Oh, lets just ban dogs above knee height - after all they are all potentially dangerous. Thats what he may as well say, the mans a moron.