Child Mauled In Wa Park

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

This is her website

has pictures of the dogs on it.

http://www.mgcelebrant.com/michele

I suspect she might not have much of a business after this.

[Roova]

"I am a light hearted, laid back lady with a passion for happiness & helping people"..unless it involves her dogs hurting someone, then not so much.

[Loving my Oldies]

I really hate terms like 'Stafford Cross'. It's very unnecessary to include the Stafford. They could, and should just go with mixed breed.

Drives me NUTS.

Why? The police needed help to find the dogs and the owner. “Mixed breed” could cover every size, colour, breed from the size of the Chihuahua up to the size of a Great Dane and the dogs were seen for more than a couple of seconds by several people.

[BullBreedBoy]

I really hate terms like 'Stafford Cross'. It's very unnecessary to include the Stafford. They could, and should just go with mixed breed.

Drives me NUTS.

Why? The police needed help to find the dogs and the owner. “Mixed breed” could cover every size, colour, breed from the size of the Chihuahua up to the size of a Great Dane and the dogs were seen for more than a couple of seconds by several people.

Well because the evidence is very strong that visual identification of breed genesis in mixed breed dogs is next to impossible. Even very experienced canine specialist vets struggle at this. With this being the case, putting terms on dogs that have attacked like 'stafford cross', when there is no way of really knowing what the breed mixture is adds to the general fear in society surrounding Stafford and other Bull Breeds. Every now and then we will do genetic testing of dogs that may have an appearance resembling a pit bull terrier. You'd be surprised how often the dogs turn with either no Stafford, or very little Stafford genealogy.

I walk my Bull Mastiff and my Bull Terriers every day, and take one or more of them out and about with me all the time. I can't count the amount of times I've had someone tell me that I'm a disgrace for owning such dangerous dogs. Recently in a Pet Shop I had one of my Bully girls with me (and she is the most chilled out dog I have ever seen). She was simply sitting at my feet whilst I talked to the owner and a lady walked up to us, told me that she was disgusting, that bull terriers should be banned and that she should be put to sleep. The fear in society is real, and it does get targeted at responsibly bred and raised dogs who pose no more threat to society than non bull breed dogs from similar beginnings.

That's why.

Edited September 14, 2016 by BullBreedBoy

[OSoSwift]

I see your point, however in this case they were looking for Stafford Cross looking dogs.

What they actually were doesn't matter.

If my shorthaired working Border Collie went missing I would say I was looking for a Cattle Dog Cross. He is a Tri coloured shorthair with heavy ticking and just about everyone asks if he is an ACD cross

[OSoSwift]

I see your point, however in this case they were looking for Stafford Cross looking dogs.

What they actually were doesn't matter.

If my shorthaired working Border Collie went missing I would say I was looking for a Cattle Dog Cross. He is a Tri coloured shorthair with heavy ticking and just about everyone asks if he is an ACD cross

[sparkycat]

I think it is important to describe any dog with a breed type - I am currently trying to get my council to change my Lappies rego from Rare Breed to Finnish Lapphund - Rare Breed could mean anything.

Unfortunately most people can picture a dog type if told it is a Staffie.

[BullBreedBoy]

See. Even smart people on a dog lovers forum don't really get it. What hope is there for average Joe.

[Tara and Sam]

How utterly horrific for the poor girl and her family

and the dogs have been put down

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/32596909/two-dogs-put-down-after-vicious-attack-on-girl-9/#page1

[Two Best Dogs!]

For the best for those dogs I reckon, having such an irresponsible owner it's probably happen again. Irresponsible doesn't even cover it. Grossly negligent? Intentionally irresponsible? Let her repeat offender dogs off lead in an on lead area then ran away and hid them?

That's beyond irresponsible. ????????????????

Have any articles mentioned the age of the child? Mentally I'm picturing under 5 for her brother to pick her up. He is an amazingly brave young boy.

[raffikki]

Hopefully the police will follow through, with charging her for criminal negligence as well

[sparkycat]

See. Even smart people on a dog lovers forum don't really get it. What hope is there for average Joe.

Hi - if that is directed at me then I didn't express myself well enough.

I do get it ! and I understand that there is a lot of bias against braccy faced dogs but what I was trying to say was that if you are going to describe a dog to "average Joe" Staffy is the term that most people will relate to any braccy faced dog.

If searching for a dog I think it is really important to have a good description - as you know dogs range from a 1kg Chi to a 90kg Wolfhound.

I describe my Lappie as a super hairy very chatty BC and my Borzois as giant hairy Greyhounds and I haven't come across anyone who doesn't understand these descriptions.

[_PL_]

That boy is amazing. Just leaping into saving his sister and taking the attack himself. Incredible.

And does anyone else get the feeling there might be something wrong with the owner? I mean .... taking off leash dogs, known biters, telling the kids to stand up then to stop screaming, not raising a hand to help, then pissing off into hiding while the kids are crying and bleeding. That goes waaaaaaay beyond 'irresponsible owner' and all the way into Crazy Town.

[Camel]

There are many people that shouldn't own certain breeds. They have no idea how to handle them. Even the most well intentioned people need to be educated how to handle their dogs.

For example, (story time) I had a Bull Terrier latch onto my leg a few months ago, and the owner did nothing but stand there out of shock. My boyfriend had to grab the dog and bash it's head in before the owner finally snapped out of it and decided to pitch in to help. After the incident he stood next to me with the dog with the dog trying to jump over my injured leg to play with a puppy on my other side.

Months after the stiches have come out, my leg still throbs daily. What makes me angry is (other than the fact that he did not even apologise or leave his details with me) this whole situation could have been avoided if he had the knowledge on how to read and manage his dog.

*Sorry, my point is that it's not necessary a terrible thing that certain breeds perpetuate fear to the general public as it keeps the less researched public from getting them. I do also acknowledge that this can have the opposite effect too with people buying them because they're "tough" or whatever...

Edited September 15, 2016 by Camel

[Simply Grand]

For the best for those dogs I reckon, having such an irresponsible owner it's probably happen again. Irresponsible doesn't even cover it. Grossly negligent? Intentionally irresponsible? Let her repeat offender dogs off lead in an on lead area then ran away and hid them?

That's beyond irresponsible. ????????????????

Have any articles mentioned the age of the child? Mentally I'm picturing under 5 for her brother to pick her up. He is an amazingly brave young boy.

She's 9 Thistle! Which makes it even more amazing that her brother could lift her above his head.

Also makes me think it's lucky they didn't go for a younger child where they could more easily have reached the neck and head.

[Maddy]

See. Even smart people on a dog lovers forum don't really get it. What hope is there for average Joe.

Perhaps you would prefer for them to be referred to by obvious breed type- which would be bull breed?

As an aside, I can recall a thread on here about how three dogs, who appeared to be greyhounds, attacked a person. They were named by breed and nobody batted an eyelid. Nobody heehawed over whether or not they were definitely purebred greyhounds or if they were maybe actually whippets. But if a bull breed is responsible, suddenly we have to call them "mixed breed" or "unknown breed", even though we can clearly see that they are a particular type of dog?

In my opinion, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck, regardless of what a dodgy DIY DNA test kit says.

Story above said it was an on lead area where the girl was attacked but I must say, I get a bit worried when I see prams and toddlers in big dog park. While peoples' own dogs might be fine, it doesn't mean all dogs are.....

The reserve was an on-leash area, that doesn't make it a dog park. If your dog is a risk for running up to and severely mauling small children, maybe it doesn't belong out in public.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Maddy

[BullBreedBoy]

Perhaps you would prefer for them to be referred to by obvious breed type- which would be bull breed?

As an aside, I can recall a thread on here about how three dogs, who appeared to be greyhounds, attacked a person. They were named by breed and nobody batted an eyelid. Nobody heehawed over whether or not they were definitely purebred greyhounds or if they were maybe actually whippets. But if a bull breed is responsible, suddenly we have to call them "mixed breed" or "unknown breed", even though we can clearly see that they are a particular type of dog?

In my opinion, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck, regardless of what a dodgy DIY DNA test kit says.

Yeah that's a fair enough point of view, and I do understand it. I don't think we should only use the term mixed breed etc with bull breeds at all. I'm saying if it is clearly a mixed breed, which the photos of those dogs show they are (were) then we should say that. Linking them to a breed (any breed) cause that's what we think they look like is in my mind a problem, and the media doing so even more of a problem.

My point was that you can't 'clearly see' that despite what you may think. We don't do dodgy DIY DNA tests, we have it done by a vet at a cost of $600 per animal. The results are often surprising, sometimes shocking. If it was cheaper we would have it done more often, as knowing the actual genetics of dogs find easier to fine homes for them...

Edited September 15, 2016 by BullBreedBoy

[The Spotted Devil]

Definitely see your point BBB but they were looking for this owner and the dogs so anything that can POSSIBLY identify them is probably fair game. Different scenario for general reporting would be preferable, I agree.

[BarbedWire]

I sympathize with BBB's attitude. It is a bit like racism in the dog world. The police are careful how they describe 'the wanted' and in the same way we should be careful how we describe dogs wanted for a crime. Perhaps the papers should just say they were medium sized brindle dogs of chunky build.

[Maddy]

I sympathize with BBB's attitude. It is a bit like racism in the dog world. The police are careful how they describe 'the wanted' and in the same way we should be careful how we describe dogs wanted for a crime. Perhaps the papers should just say they were medium sized brindle dogs of chunky build.

Oh, please.

Naming a breed for the closest possible match that people would be familiar with is nothing at all like racism. Nobody is calling a staffy, a staffy, because they hate staffies. It looks to someone like a staffy so that's what they call it.

My point was that you can't 'clearly see' that despite what you may think. We don't do dodgy DIY DNA tests, we have it done by a vet at a cost of $600 per animal.

What a mind-bloggling and pointless waste of money for a rescue. "Waa, don't discriminate against our breeds. Our dog isn't an X, it's a Y, and we have the dodgy vet DNA test to prove it!"

I'm surprised that you can't see the issue with the DNA testing you do- given it's encouraging the same breed discrimination that you're claiming to be against.