Five Queenslanders Have Been Injured in Dog Attacks This Week. How do Councils Manage Dangerous Animals? ABC News

[Deeds]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-14/what-makes-dogs-dangerous-dog-attacks-queensland/102217624

[Kazm]

Definitely been a bad week for it. Not happy hearing of all these attacks. I was just talking to a friend today who spent time on the weekend at a Gold Coast beach with her 5 year old son. She told me there were several large dogs running about off leash in an on leash area. She was most unsettled about it. Neither of us can understand what makes these people think that the rules do not apply to them. 

[tdierikx]

Considering my call to Gold Coast Council regarding the Rotti that "trainer" guy was trying to rehome - a declared dangerous dog, that had also recently bitten the owner's child - council basically don't check that the conditions of the order are actually upheld... and were reluctant to do so even when alerted to the fact this declared dog was regularly being removed from the owner's property without the required collar/tag, and allowed to participate in a doggy daycare situation. I finally may have managed to impart the seriousness of the situation, and they said they would go check, but I'm not holding my breath... *sigh*

 

What's the point of more legislation when the current bloody laws aren't being enforced? Stupid politicians will claim that adding more legislation is "proof" they are "doing something", but in reality nothing will really change, except that maybe more animals will get a destruction order rather than a dangerous or menacing declaration. And even if there are more destruction orders, those will be circumvented by owners going to QCAT over and over until they get things their way... as happened recently according to a spot on The Project last night (funnily enough it was Moreton Bay Council area, who have featured in numerous stories of this type of late, and again specifically mentioned in this article).

 

T.

[Loving my Oldies]

4 minutes ago, tdierikx said:

What's the point of more legislation when the current bloody laws aren't being enforced?

You could say this about just about any policy passed by any level of government.  The only policy that is enforced with alacrity is locking up children.  

 

I became involved in the dog world in 1999 when I became a volunteer at a pound and around the time The Companion Animals Act was being legislated.  Silly me, I thought the numbers of dogs in pound would fall away to just about nothing.  24 years later and the situation is worse than ever, absolutely catastrophic.  There is more than the one factor that laws aren't being enforced, of course, but that is the one where countless hours spent on paperwork, red tape, wording of legislation, etc etc and then what happens?  Nothing.  Thousands of policies put in place across the country without the proper back up of support or trained people who actually take a pride in their work.   

 

How many times have people just on this forum alone tried to call rangers only to be told they don't work on weekends, there is no one available and any other excuse under the sun so they don't have to do their jobs?  

 

 

[Adrienne]

18 hours ago, tdierikx said:

I finally may have managed to impart the seriousness of the situation, and they said they would go check, but I'm not holding my breath... *sigh*

Well, now they know, they'll really will be in the sh*t themselves if something happens with that dog outside it's own home now! Prior to knowing about the situation they are only able to punish once something has happened, now however they have an opportunity to take preventative measures.

 

I found that video very disturbing, that dog was not relaxed, was tail high, head high, shoulders squared and pushing the other dog, walking in tight circles around it and making the other dog very uncomfortable. The ignorance of the humans in the situation is the most frightening thing thing - with dog owners thinking their dogs are in good and knowledgable hands.

[sandgrubber]

The USA tradition of lawsuits has its drawbacks,  but in such situations it might have  merit.

[tdierikx]

22 hours ago, Adrienne said:

Well, now they know, they'll really will be in the sh*t themselves if something happens with that dog outside it's own home now! Prior to knowing about the situation they are only able to punish once something has happened, now however they have an opportunity to take preventative measures.

 

The 2 people that I spoke to in Gold Coast Council weren't in the least bit worried about the fact that the declared dog was being offered up for rehoming... even when I said that if it were rehomed over the border (from Qld into NSW), and the declared status of the dog wasn't disclosed, that it could be weeks before that little piece of info would be realised during the microchip change of owner process - meanwhile the new owners could be out and about in the community and the dog could do something to another dog or human before anyone was even aware that it was declared dangerous.

 

What eventually did get their attention was when I repeated that the dog was regularly being removed from the owner's property in the hands of a third party, and that it was being allowed to participate in a doggy daycare environment without the required collar, etc... and that the "trainer" had advised that recently the dog had bitten the owner's child... since the declaration... which meant that the owners were definitely NOT abiding by the declaration order at all. I read them the info from the post here, and also gave them the "trainer's" name and phone number, and the address of his pet shop/daycare facility. They were miffed that I didn't have the dog's owner's name and address, but I told them it shouldn't be too hard to work out where a recently declared dog lived... surely the ranger that issued the declaration would remember doing so?

 

The fact that I was calling from Sydney because I was seriously concerned about the situation was also impressed upon them... I also mentioned that I've owned and bred Rottweilers, and that the video that the "trainer" posted raised some very serious concerns by myself and others who are well acquainted with the breed.

 

Hopefully they will follow up, and two problems will be dealt with... the owner of the dog not abiding by the terms of the declaration, and the dodgy "trainer's" operations will be investigated too... fingers crossed!

 

T.

[persephone]

Well Done, T .  

[grumpette]

Hopefully the council does something to protect the daycare dogs. They and their owners don't deserve the possible drama the idiot trainer can cause. 

[Redsonic]

Could someone please post a link to the video of the Rotty posturing, and the thread about it? I'm interested to see.

[tdierikx]

11 minutes ago, Redsonic said:

Could someone please post a link to the video of the Rotty posturing, and the thread about it? I'm interested to see.

 

The video has been removed, as the OP got some unwanted comments on it... let's just say that the posturing/circling/nudging from the Rotti was enough to have a reasonable sized AmStaff looking terrified and indicating to the person taking the video that it required some assistance.

 

the thread is here...

T.