Do You Get Told If A Dog Is Dangerous!

[DAVERI]

I live in a normally quiet street. Small acreage lots of an acre to two acre lots. Last week there was an incident that shocked me. The 4th house from the corner has 4 dogs (2 male and 2 female all desexed and all brindle bull breed mixed), all council registered and they have a permit to keep all 4 (I was told they had to jump through hoops to get a permit, it wasn’t easy). The 5th house from the corner have two small to medium sized dogs and a pony. Well the other night the two male dogs from the 4th property got into the yard of the 5th property and killed the pony. I noticed inspectors at both the 4th property, the 5th property and 6th property (with two old labs) two days in a row and we also noticed that the dogs from the 4th property couldn’t be seen. We assume collected by council. Today my daughter told me that dogs are back home at property 4. My question is should anyone in the street be notified about this attack (other than talking to each other). The people in property 3 also right next door had no idea that anything had happened. They only reason they know was because my partner had a beer with the guy over the weekend and he asked if he knew if the dogs had been destroyed or not. Now his wife is freaking because they have had a few issues with the dogs and their own dogs fighting (mostly just up close and personal barking) through the fence and they have 2 small children. Has anyone any idea of the procedure once this kind of thing happens. Is that it now that the dogs are back home or can council still take the dogs again etc. do the neighbours have any say or a right to be notified that these dogs killed a pony (stock) or if they have been declared dangerous or not. Just about every house in this street has a dog or two dogs. We only know because a friend of my partner had been to the house to visit the day after all this happened. Usually three of the dogs are put away at night and the forth one is left out on the veranda but this night the owner only put the two females away. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but if three dogs get lock up at night and the trouble they had to go through to get a permit, I wonder if the dogs have done this type of thing before.

[nawnim]

The thought of dogs killing a pony is horrific, The poor pony. If the story can be verified I would be very concerned for the safety of my children and animals. I believe neighbours have a right to know what really happened.

[DAVERI]

im sure its true. i haven't seen the pony which is normally grazing the front of the property and it was strange that council inspectors would go to the houses etc. and not the whole street. and the dogs not being at the property too. there are a lot of kids in this street and the owners have kids too. i feel sorry for all parties as a horse and pony owner myself and as a dog owner and wish i never be in either ones shoes. but personally im not sure i could go on keeping my dog knowing what it had done.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

You could ring the council and ask them. They might not know the dogs are back home when maybe they shouldn't be.

Dogs that have killed stock - end up under very strict conditions (in secure run, muzzled and on lead if out of the run etc) if they get declared. Unless the pony owner doesn't want them to be - which would be odd.

[baykinz]

I think this must be the same incident as I read about in the paper this week. That said, as I recall, two specific dogs were being investigated/believed to be responsible but no action had been taken against the dogs. Did anybody actually see those two dogs kill the pony? Is there much they can do without proof if the owners say "no, no, couldn't possibly be our dogs they were locked up as always"?

If it happened at night and nobody saw, there may be trouble proving it was those specific dogs in order to get them declared, even if everybody's absolutely sure it was them.

Edited April 26, 2012 by baykinz

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I don't think that "innocent until proven guilty" applies to dogs. Council can declare them as long as someone is willing to point the finger and say "those dogs did it", and then it's up to the owners to prove their dogs were interstate at a show at the time or something.

[baykinz]

"Innocent until proven guilty" isn't quite what I meant, but in any case if they had to jump through that many hoops to get their 4 dog permit), the enclosures on their property may already sufficiently comply with dangerous dog requirements (I don't know where the OP meant they get locked up at night, in runs or in the house). In which case the dogs could have been declared and be back home (but in their enclosures) and the only notice would probably be when the required signs went up on their property.

[m-sass]

I don't think that "innocent until proven guilty" applies to dogs. Council can declare them as long as someone is willing to point the finger and say "those dogs did it", and then it's up to the owners to prove their dogs were interstate at a show at the time or something.

Council will conduct an enquiry from result of a complaint and act on the basis of the evidence presented. The owner of the dog alledged to have committed an offence will be the first person interviewed after the complaint is received. Council don't just declare dogs on someone's say so without an investigation into the matter.

[nawnim]

I have been thinking about this situation overnight and if it was me I would be very disturbed. I would be asking the people who owned the pony what happened. I would be talking as a fellow horse owner and saying that I had not seen their pony recently; I had heard rumours; I hoped everything was okay; and I would be asking if there was anything I could do. It is always better to find out the truth than listening to rumours which can get nastier with each telling. The pony may have been bitten by a snake or something similar. I hope this helps.

PD

[Steve]

But unless there is evidence to prove it was these particular dogs how can anything be done?