Jump to content

Fatal Dog Attack In Balga, Perth


Skye GSD
 Share

Recommended Posts

The poor woman. I couldn't even imagine what she must be going through now. It is quite amazing that she basically put her life on the line to try to save her beloved furbaby)considering her age and size.

I have a Mastiff and a Bullmastiff that I take for walks twice a day and although they are large dogs, I am still extremely wary about unleashed/uncontrolled dogs of ANY size. My two dogs are just big marshmallows and I honestly think that even if they were attacked by a roaming SWF, they'd probably lay there and get mauled rather than consider fighting back.

Thankfully i've only ever been accosted by roaming dogs a couple of times (one beagle, one cattle dog and a fox terrier) and I was able to read their posture/intent and get between them and my dogs and shoo them off. (I'm a reasonably large guy)

Any dog that is uncontrolled and roaming free is a problem, regardless of the size of the dog. It saddens me to see almost every dog attack story that appears in this forum end up turning into a pissing contest about big dogs vs little dogs :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 104
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I am very happy for my girls to meet and interact with big dogs, the photos are awesome! But I wouldn't let it happen unless i knew the dog in question was small dog safe. I certainly wouldn't carry my dog through the parks and streets though, that's devoiding the purpose of a walk :laugh:

This won't be you, then? :laugh:

p-33167-43142P_008-dog.jpg

(I know that these actually come in handy for people with dogs that can't walk much, etc. Still... hilarious).

for some people,like my mum, she needed the exercise more than the dogs. chi's do zoomies anyway.

thats just how she took her three.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very very sad to see what happened here. To lose your dog like that would be just horrific, not to mention what the poor dog went through.

Some interesting points being raised by all here.

I don't really think arguing about which breed or size of dog is most likely to initiate an attack is relevant - with the way things work in society, all anyone will care about is the aftermath.

Dogs are dogs, obviously some breeds have been developed with stronger focuses on particular traits but at the end of the day I have seen viciousness at all levels and sizes. Without training and proper socialisation you may see these traits exhibited in in dog when it is inappropriate and/or dangerous. The issue though for large dog owners (and I am one myself) is that our dogs can do so much more damage. When we decide to buy a large powerful breed, we need to accept the responsibility that comes with that. I think we can all agree that if you had to be attacked by a dog, given the choice, I'm sure chihuahua's would be chosen a lot more often than rottweilers.

RIP Lady and all the best to the poor owner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be stupid but I also step in front of my dog when an unknown loose dog approaches. I will then proceed to give the dog a vocal warning to "git" in a stern tone, then I proceed to charge the dog and will kick if necessary. Several semi-serious dogs have so far reconsidered once I started to advance toward them rather than wait for them to get to me and my dog. Obviously a genuinely aggressive dog might proceed to attack me if I advance on it but I have never considered just letting my dog go or not standing in front of my dog to protect her. Thankfully she generally accepts that I am dealing with the situation and stays behind me rather than reacting to the advancing dogs.

I really feel for this lady and her "Lady", it would be awful to go to this extent to try an save your dog and still be powerless to protect it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be stupid but I also step in front of my dog when an unknown loose dog approaches. I will then proceed to give the dog a vocal warning to "git" in a stern tone, then I proceed to charge the dog and will kick if necessary. Several semi-serious dogs have so far reconsidered once I started to advance toward them rather than wait for them to get to me and my dog. Obviously a genuinely aggressive dog might proceed to attack me if I advance on it but I have never considered just letting my dog go or not standing in front of my dog to protect her. Thankfully she generally accepts that I am dealing with the situation and stays behind me rather than reacting to the advancing dogs.

I really feel for this lady and her "Lady", it would be awful to go to this extent to try an save your dog and still be powerless to protect it.

Not silly at all.

I have always put myself between my dogs and oncoming dogs that I am concerned about.. I also use a loud and rough sounding no..

I once picked up my 20+ kg Stafford to protect him from a loose dog much bigger and running at us very fast... Turns out I was worried over nothi g he was just a big boof head but still scary when that much dog is running directly at you..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be stupid but I also step in front of my dog when an unknown loose dog approaches. I will then proceed to give the dog a vocal warning to "git" in a stern tone, then I proceed to charge the dog and will kick if necessary. Several semi-serious dogs have so far reconsidered once I started to advance toward them rather than wait for them to get to me and my dog. Obviously a genuinely aggressive dog might proceed to attack me if I advance on it but I have never considered just letting my dog go or not standing in front of my dog to protect her. Thankfully she generally accepts that I am dealing with the situation and stays behind me rather than reacting to the advancing dogs.

I really feel for this lady and her "Lady", it would be awful to go to this extent to try an save your dog and still be powerless to protect it.

Not silly at all.

I have always put myself between my dogs and oncoming dogs that I am concerned about.. I also use a loud and rough sounding no..

I once picked up my 20+ kg Stafford to protect him from a loose dog much bigger and running at us very fast... Turns out I was worried over nothi g he was just a big boof head but still scary when that much dog is running directly at you..

We do the same. Have had a few dogs charging over to us and every time we have stomped in their direction and yelled at them, they've turned and run away. If they hadn't they would have got a kick. I would pick up my dog if I had to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We do the same. Have had a few dogs charging over to us and every time we have stomped in their direction and yelled at them, they've turned and run away. If they hadn't they would have got a kick. I would pick up my dog if I had to.

I am just trying to visualize you holding an Anatolian Shepherd up above your head :p LOL!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the talk about big dogs, small dogs, socialisation, obedience etc. reminds me of the time I was growing up and dogs were around loose with their owners and there weren't these terrible attacks. Any dog, big or small, young or old, which looked sideways at another got a swift kick in the backside. Never saw any cowered dogs with this treatment just a heap of friendly guys who knew their place. Ok now I'll duck for cover lol. (Sometimes the old methods were best.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say that I don't hear much about any kind of violent dog attack in my town so I presume that even if things were happening "back then" only the locals would have known since there was no world wide web and even the national media would have been a lot more limited. I often wonder if nowadays, we hear about these things more because they happen more often or just because we have things like the internet on every phone, computer, at home, int he workplace, even at school. Pretty much ANYBODY has access to it and anybody can talk about their experiences when "back in the day" if your dog got killed by the neighbours dog then you and your neighbour would know. And maybe the local authorities, if you made a stink about it. I doubt it would have even been as big an issue as it is now. Dogs fight, oh well, that sort of thing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the talk about big dogs, small dogs, socialisation, obedience etc. reminds me of the time I was growing up and dogs were around loose with their owners and there weren't these terrible attacks. Any dog, big or small, young or old, which looked sideways at another got a swift kick in the backside. Never saw any cowered dogs with this treatment just a heap of friendly guys who knew their place. Ok now I'll duck for cover lol. (Sometimes the old methods were best.)

I dunno, pebbles. But I must say when we were kids, the family pet dogs did wander around a lot more (less traffic, for starters). And people could be a bit more tolerant of what was thought typical dog behaviours.

Our border collie, Peter, was the deadly rival of Pat, the border collie down the road. Whenever either trotted by the other's house.... it was full on. But it wasn't savagely vicious, they never really hurt each other. We also had a mad Maltese called Pauline who'd run out screaming as if she'd been attacked whenever some poor innocent dog was trotting by. And Peter would flash out to 'save' her. The poor dog would get barrelled over.... once again, no one got hurt. After a while all the neighbourhood dogs figured out it was best to cross to the other footpath before they got to our place.... so mad Pauline wouldn't see them.

Couldn't have that these days. But back then Peter and Pat's rivalry was part of the neigbourhood 'colour'. And mad Pauline was known as the Blonde Bombshell. It'd sound like a pack of irresponsible hillbillies today!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think "back in the days" the dogs were more socialised, no one seemed to want, or to make, a dog savage. Our mums and dads had a lot of dog knowledge, so they chose "easy" dogs for our pets, and most of them ensured the dog had some obedience. If we brought home a dog to make savage, they would have flogged us and sent the dog to " a farm" .

If we got bitten by a dog, it was our fault, because we did something to the dog, so we probably got flogged. Some dogs were known to be a problem and we knew to steer clear of them.

Our dogs came from a litter someone someone we knew had, or were purebred registered dogs. Most dogs seemed to have sound minds and good intentions

If we went out with our dog off lead, someone elses dog would probably challenge it - and there would be some bum sniffing and stiff tailed circling, but nothing much happened. And if we didn't like the look of an approaching dog, we would shout at it, or give it a few hard kicks to deter it.

The male GSD would strut up the street from time to time, and our l.h dacs would challenge him through the fence, so the GSD would pee on the fence, to the fury of the dacs. Once the dacs got out, and chased the GSD to hell and gone!!

More dog sense, more common sense, more obedient dogs. And everyone accepted dogs like mad Pauline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think "back in the days" the dogs were more socialised, no one seemed to want, or to make, a dog savage.

If we got bitten by a dog, it was our fault, because we did something to the dog, so we probably got flogged. Some dogs were known to be a problem and we knew to steer clear of them....

More dog sense, more common sense, more obedient dogs. And everyone accepted dogs like mad Pauline.

Funny you should say that. I remember our parents ticking us off, if we did something that was annoying or maybe hurtful to our dogs or cats. They'd say. 'Don't do that. You'll make him/her bad-tempered.' There was a kind of respect for a dog being a dog and a cat being a cat. And you tuned into that.

OK the pets were very much part of the family but there was commonsense & toleration in understanding them. And the dogs seem to respond. As kids, when we'd ask could be go explore in the nearby bushland, my parents would say, 'Yes, so long as Peter (the border collie) goes with you,' It was taken for granted that dogs were protective of their families. Except for the mad Paulines, though, they supplied entertainment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember as kids we would run around the streets everyday after school with a few dogs. If we got bitten we were belted when we got home for annoying the dog and making it bite. But this was very rare as dogs could escape if they didn't like a kid. My cousin was a dog-bite magnet. We would all be patting a dog and he would walk up, put his hand out and wammo he was bitten and crying. Never once did we blame the dog. Dogs fights did happen sometimes but they generally were pretty much ignored and we let them fight it out. But, in general, there were less dogs around, they knew how to be dogs as they ran in packs as well, less cars so fewer accidents, they knew kids so less scared of kids, not locked up so more entertained and stable mentally, if we knew there was an aggressive dog at a house we just didn't walk past, smaller dogs in general (mainly terriers, blueys and kelpies), parents letting kids be kids, councils not tracking down wandering dogs, no dogs on leads so no lead aggression. All things that make for less serious attacks. I remember seeing my first afhgan and was facinated by it. It chased me indoors and threw itself at the door to get to me. The owners of the house told me not to go near it as it hated kids. But it still wandered around the streets. We just avoided it. Just a different life when people took responsibility for their own actions - even kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I am glad everything was perfect back in the day and I would like a set of those rose tinted glasses, please :)

So what do you think happened to make dogs "bad"? Was it Pitbulls arriving in Oz? *pats on back* :p

People were describing attitudes, environments and lifestyles that were different back then. Which means the social contexts dogs lived in were different. So they were socialised differently.

Note that I put at the end of my post, that transplanting that same context into today's world, would look like irresponsible hillbillies. Cultures change.

People now socialize their dogs differently in a far less laissez-faire modern world. Dogs that once freely trotted around the streets.... are now dogs trotting freely around enclosed dog parks. Dogs getting used to children just as fellow wanderers around the neighbourhood... now have breeders/owners who will deliberately set up situations where they can interact. Those factors were simply more embedded in everyday life in times past when circumstances were different.

I have no idea what pitbulls have to do with this. Except they're just dogs, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No-one said things were perfect just a more laid back life style, things happened naturally and got sorted, kick on the bum when necessary for dogs (and kids) seemed to work lol. Too much PC hasn't done either much good IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no idea what pitbulls have to do with this. Except they're just dogs, too.

I am just having a crack at whoever said, on the same topic, different thread, that the arrival of pitbulls is what changed the way it used to be. Apparently their arrival on Australian shores turned all dogs into bloodthirsty monsters who want to eat your children. You know, it was probably m-sass. That is why it made so much sense :D

On a different note though, how does lifestock death by dog back then compare to now? We shoot dogs that harass our lifestock. Is that what happened back then? Because otherwise, how did all those dogs wandering about not end up forming packs and killing buttloads of sheep? Or were they just so well socialized they didn't do that stuff back then? I am honestly wondering because dog packs do A LOT of damage to lifestock these days and not just sheep either, chickens and any kind of poultry really incredibly easy prey

Edited by BlackJaq
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...