Man dies from severe injuries caused by his pet dog

[Animal House]

 

Link - no pics

 

Originally thought to be a homicide. 

[asal]

this guy's horse was lucky, he managed to save her and wasnt attacked himself..oops forgot he was bitten on the foot.

 

seems to be a recurring theme here?

 

https://7news.com.au/news/animals/pit-bull-attack-dog-filmed-viciously-biting-horse-on-wollongong-beach-c-164825?fbclid=IwAR1bhQgj3Lk8poOYdULTBuha42eLA62RJ9Cxo4dAFsaM7ZgaBKLxnWUuDRY

Edited June 14, 2019 by asal

[persephone]

All terribly sad.

[sandgrubber]

On the secondary subject here...more dog attacks: I have always scratched my head about why Oz bans pit bulls, yet staffies are extremely common (#2 in litter registration with ANKC) and AmStafs (which are genetically indistinguishable from APBTs) are allowed. Both are subject to BSL in the US and parts of Europe.

There are bad apples in every breed, and people looking for a bad-ass dog will find those that fit their image of what is bad-ass...and breed from them.  Easy to see that happening with staffies and AmStafs... or crosses thereof. 

With so many dogs acquired from shelters and internet sales, indiscriminately bred dogs pups and dogs and pups bred to be mean will often end up in the hands of people who can't cope with them.  That cute wagging pup may not be so cute when mature. 

I don't see a good solution, but it's hard to see how the sorts of dog control measures becoming common in Oz are going to help.  Cracking down on small breeders is definitely going the wrong way. 

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by sandgrubber

[asal]

another woman in hospital this morning after two dogs attacked her... missed hearing the suburb.

 

anyone know if she is ok?

[Lhok]

whoa that dog attack on the rider was similar to the one I saw on my local beach not too long ago. It also had a unmuzzled greyhound too which unlike this attack was the primary instigator of the attack on the horse and rider at our beach.

We also have had a spate of dog attacks on our beaches here, one lady lost her dog after an unleashed german shep attacked it. Something is going on it seems and its wide scale too.

--Lhok

[moosmum]

I would not risk riding on a dog beach these days.

Not many dogs could be expected to be 'socialised' to horses, and prey drive/defence/pack drives could all easily come into play.

1st with a strange beast rushing towards  

then galloping away.

 

Prey drives, I believe, are much more utilised and accepted today than in the past as a training tool.

Not to excuse those attacks, but I do think high  drives in dogs intended as pets are  much more prevalent than say 50 years ago, when dogs were less confined and sociability/trustworthy was part of their 'environmental selection'.  A higher degree of selection for response to unpredictable environments and triggers was at play.

 

Even dogs used to horses will often want to run with those when they are having a good gallop, and take a mixed group of dogs unfamiliar with horses and throwing them together with horses at speed, IMO is not worth the risk.

 

I don't think many owners could say they would be  well prepared for that situation.

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by moosmum

[sandgrubber]

8 hours ago, moosmum said:

I would not risk riding on a dog beach these days.

Not many dogs could be expected to be 'socialised' to horses, and prey drive/defence/pack drives could all easily come into play.

1st with a strange beast rushing towards  

then galloping away.

 

Prey drives, I believe, are much more utilised and accepted today than in the past as a training tool.

Not to excuse those attacks, but I do think high  drives in dogs intended as pets are  much more prevalent than say 50 years ago, when dogs were less confined and sociability/trustworthy was part of their 'environmental selection'.  A higher degree of selection for response to unpredictable environments and triggers was at play.

 

Even dogs used to horses will often want to run with those when they are having a good gallop, and take a mixed group of dogs unfamiliar with horses and throwing them together with horses at speed, IMO is not worth the risk.

 

I don't think many owners could say they would be  well prepared for that situation.

 

Not sure about prey drive being widely used as a training tool... I suspect many of the problem dogs had no training at all.  But I think you hit the mark about failure to select against unpredictable, high drive, and unsocial temperament.  The belittling of back yard breeders hasn't helped... I mean the old fashioned kind of BYB, selecting for the 'family dog' rather than breed, price, or show conformation: Where a family decides to breed a much loved pet because they would like to have a pup from her and at the same time teach the kids a bit about the facts of life...and have some pups to place with the neighbors. Not the money driven BYBs who sell litter after litter of the breed and color that's in vogue. 

Edited June 22, 2019 by sandgrubber
Improve wording

[moosmum]

Agreed.  I wouldn't say prey drive is widely used as a training tool, but much more accepted for the purpose in many breeds and sports for the very sharp and showy response that drive can give and the greater availability of people/video able to teach how to make use of it. 

 

especially in its more extreme forms, I do believe it was much more quickly 'culled' from dogs in the past, with sociability and impulse control expected more often as individual traits rather than specific to handler control. And strong prey being a drive I expect is quick to resurface without being actively selected against.

 

No training at all....quite likely. Dog parks have their problems and I don't see that a dog beach would be much different.

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by moosmum

[tdierikx]

With the limited number of public areas dogs are allowed to venture out to nowadays, is it any wonder that so many of them are not as well socialised as we'd like?

 

Just saying...

 

T.

[Little Gifts]

I grew up in that era when there were no fences and dogs (and cats) could come and go as they pleased. I think one of our donkeys wandered more than any of our dogs though. Except for actual animal pens for certain animals and birds our property fences were decorative and even gates were left open. That's right up until my 20s really. One area I lived in in my 20s I never even carried leashes when I walked my dogs and neighbours dogs would come and join us then peel off back to their own houses for the return trip home. One place we flatted across from the Broadwater and the cat would follow my partner across the busy main road to the beach every afternoon to fish. No leash or harness and no guidance to do it safely. Dogs would come and go from the beach without owners too. Then things seemed to quickly change.

 

Now I hate seeing loose animals (cats included) and I sure as hell hate seeing loose animals when I am out and about with my leashed dogs because it usually spells trouble. I will never go into a dog park unless it is empty either. I'm sure others are like me. And in all the years we've had dogs as a family and I've had dogs of my own I've now had 2 dogs with high prey drive. It's manageable but can be stressful (like when a random cat decides to sleep on your verandah).

 

I don't have the answer but things have definately changed. Perhaps part of the problem is how our puppies of today are being raised? Masses of puppies being bred in farm environments and by bad BYBers in confined spaces, with minimal human and other animal interaction AND being taken from their mothers early is very different to how most puppies used to be raised. Perhaps the majority of the adult dogs out there today started life without the relevant doggy skills, socialisation and exposure to other animals they really need to get by safely in today's busy suburbs and shared spaces? Perhaps puppy school and obedience training can't quite cover for the lack of puppy skills they are no longer getting in mass produced environments?

[Lhok]

The attack on horse and rider at our local beach happened on one of the only off lead beaches we have, but it is also the only beach you can ride a horse on or go 4wdriving on so its no wonder an attack happened as it was only when not if it would occur. Both events of horses and 4wdrivers on the beach is a regular thing so no reason the owners couldn't have kept the dogs away from the horse. I don't know about wollongong beaches though.

Having said that if you have your dog off lead you are required to have it under effective control.

--Lhok

[Little Gifts]

Actually you know one thing that always shocks me in off leash areas (parks and beaches) is how few owners actually have leashes on their person at all times. I always have one looped around me somehow and have never even thought not to. That lady screaming to her dog would never have been able to get it under control without injury (either by the dog or the horse) but even if she had grabbed her dog how would she have restrained it when it was so hyper? At least with a leash you could loop it around it's mouth or if around it's neck or if you managed to clip it to its collar you could at least hang on while the other animal under attack got far enough away.

 

I hate that councils have to instruct people on how to behave but maybe they need a sign to remind people that off leash doesn't mean no leash?