Calls to Ban Rottweiler Dogs After 2 People Mauled in 1 Week

[Deeds]

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/calls-to-ban-rottweiler-dogs-after-two-people-mauled-in-one-week/news-story/645af7f926ff625f3be356f5629f5f11

 

Already predicted this would happen by some Dolers.   I've never met a nasty one yet but I've met some nasty JRTs .

[Purdie]

 

[Tempus Fugit]

10 hours ago, Deeds said:

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/calls-to-ban-rottweiler-dogs-after-two-people-mauled-in-one-week/news-story/645af7f926ff625f3be356f5629f5f11

 

Already predicted this would happen by some Dolers.   I've never met a nasty one yet but I've met some nasty JRTs .

Rotties are already a restricted breed in Ireland and a category 2 restricted breed in France. At least they're not banned totally.

[tdierikx]

The video that @Purdie posted makes some very good points about identifying dogs in order to impose restrictions on them. To date, this has been done here in Australia based on mostly physical characteristics - ie. pretty much any bull breed type dog with a red/pink nose will get identified as a "pitbull" or cross thereof. Not to mention that those doing the identifying are not always qualified sufficiently to do so.

 

The problem faced by politicians is that the only thing they can do is make legislation - often as a kneejerk reaction to increased media reporting of a "problem". The media have a lot to answer for in this regard, as most incidents of dog on human attack are actually pretty rare, and also there is usually some trigger that leads to same - unfortunately reporting what led up to an attack is rarely reported, and some victims aren't willing to admit they may have done something that led to the dog(s) reacting badly. "Brain snaps" are even more rare in any breed - yes, they do very occasionally happen, but nowhere near as often as some (esp the media) will have you believe.

 

Obviously banning and/or restricting certain breeds has not been an effective "solution" to the problem of dog-human attacks, as so many of the reports about such attacks invariably identify the attacking dog as being of some banned/restricted breed - bans and restrictions that have been in place for decades may I add...

 

My personal feeling about certain dogs (of any breed) being more prone to dog-human aggression lies squarely on those who breed for a certain "market" - those people who want a dog because it "looks tough", with little regard for making sure that the animals produced are of sound temperament and safe to be out in the community. It's very rare to find that a dog that has attacked a human as having been bred by a reputable registered breeder... a statistic that is being conveniently overlooked as the media looks for the next "shocking" story to report and cause public outrage.

 

There have been calls to ban Rottweilers more than once in the past, that hasn't eventuated yet, and the rate of Rotti attacks on humans over the years has statistically been very low (or non-existent). It also is interesting to note that Queensland are looking to ban a whole raft of dog breeds right now, and since the announcement of same, media reports of dog attacks nationwide has jumped dramatically. Coincidence? Maybe not.

 

Obviously the solution to the problem of dog-human aggression is not as simple as just banning dogs that look to be a certain type... it's going to take a a much more multi-faceted approach to addressing what is required from the dog-owning public, so that every pet owner understands their obligations to the rest of society and to their pet. There also needs to be some effective solution to curtailing the indiscriminate breeding (which is NOT something reputable registered breeders are doing) of dogs willy-nilly in order to satisfy the market demand for pets. Pet ownership should not be seen as a "right", but as a "priviledge", and the onus should be squarely on pet owners to take responsibility for sourcing and raising socially acceptable animal citizens.

 

T.

[sandgrubber]

I agree, but, sadly, don't think the political reality is up to doing a good job