Mother Mauled by Dogs Walking Baby in Melbourne

[Deeds]

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/mum-mauled-by-dogs-walking-baby-in-melbourne/news-story/cd0dbe6528241ebc437a0b8344ed549f

[tdierikx]

The fact that the same dogs had put an elderly lady in hospital only the day before beggars belief... failure by the authorities to act then makes them just as culpable as the idiot owners who let them roam the streets. Hopefully the owners AND the council are held accountable, and this doesn't just end with the dogs being destroyed.

 

T.

[DogsAndTheMob]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, tdierikx said:

The fact that the same dogs had put an elderly lady in hospital only the day before beggars belief... failure by the authorities to act then makes them just as culpable as the idiot owners who let them roam the streets. Hopefully the owners AND the council are held accountable, and this doesn't just end with the dogs being destroyed.

 

T.

I agree, although I wonder whether the control of dangerous and potentially dangerous dogs should fall under the aegis of police rather than council. In the news story I’ve linked, a council representative is quoted as saying that they couldn’t impound the dogs without a court order, even after the attack on an elderly woman. I see a parallel to people carrying knives… police routinely confiscate knives without court orders. Another parallel… Service NSW is responsible for routine administration such as car registration and drivers’ licenses but the police can impound cars with dangerous defects. (I’m not sure about the division of responsibilities in other states). In my opinion, three large, free-roaming dogs are as dangerous as a car with bald tires.

 

https://7news.com.au/news/woman-71-seriously-injured-in-horrific-dog-attack-in-sunbury-victoria--c-15884170

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31 by DogsAndTheMob

[Mairead]

I see the limiting factor here being the number of trained people available. 

Often the service you get seems more to do with the personal qualities of the person than any policies they are supposed to follow. 

Edited August 31 by Mairead
auto complete fail

[DogsAndTheMob]

12 minutes ago, Mairead said:

I see the limiting factor here being the number of trained people available. 

Often the service you get seems more to do with the personal qualities of the person than any policies they are supposed to follow. 

I agree. I wonder if the council’s ranger was worried by the risks involved in catching three large dogs with a severe bite history, and couldn’t easily call on anyone else to assist. In fact, it might have gone against the council’s occupational health and safety guidelines. That’s why I think dangerous dog management might be better managed by the police. They have training and practice in reacting to dangerous situations and at least some of them are experienced in handling big, powerful dogs.

Edited August 31 by DogsAndTheMob

[Mairead]

Two rangers arrived promptly when I phoned on a Sunday about a Boer goat. I told one of them the goat wasn't tame. The other one, in my opinion, didn't assess the situation first but approached the goat with a catchpole. I was trying to herd next door's kids (pun intended, they are just as undomesticated as the goat was) away from the area but the goat ran up the driveway straight over the smallest kid who fell onto the concrete.

No health and safety in evidence for that event.

[Little Gifts]

Even though they had attacked an elderly person the day before it doesn't say when council found out about it. It may not have been reported till the following day (date of second incident) and exact location of the dogs may not have yet been known. Otherwise dogs would have already been seized. Even the owners may not have been aware of it had they gotten  home from  work that night and their dogs were back in their yard. Horrible circumstances but I'm thinking  council  may not have dragged the chain on this, otherwise the article would have clearly thrown some blame their way.

[Mairead]

Would whoever wrote that headline bother to find out some facts?

Edited September 1 by Mairead

[tdierikx]

19 hours ago, DogsAndTheMob said:

I agree. I wonder if the council’s ranger was worried by the risks involved in catching three large dogs with a severe bite history, and couldn’t easily call on anyone else to assist. In fact, it might have gone against the council’s occupational health and safety guidelines.

 

Surely the catching of roaming dogs with unsavoury temperament should be part of the job description? All of the job ads I've seen for council rangers mention this particular aspect in the job description, yet the reality is that when you call council about a roaming dog, they want you to catch and contain the offending animal for them to collect at their leisure.

 

21 hours ago, DogsAndTheMob said:

In the news story I’ve linked, a council representative is quoted as saying that they couldn’t impound the dogs without a court order, even after the attack on an elderly woman.

 

What bollocks! If the dogs are roaming at large, every council is empowered to catch and impound them. A court order might only be needed if the dogs are back inside their own property by the time the rangers arrive, and one of those is easily (and can be quickly) achieved in those circumstances where the dogs have seriously harmed someone already.

 

18 hours ago, Little Gifts said:

Even the owners may not have been aware of it had they gotten  home from  work that night and their dogs were back in their yard.

 

Other residents say in the article that these dogs have a history of being at large and menacing passers by. I'm confident that the owners knew their dogs were getting out regularly, and had not done enough to keep them contained regardless whether they had injured anyone up to this point. 2 serious attacks in 2 days by the same dogs indicates that these particular dogs had temperament traits that should surely have been known to the owners, and to not exercise due diligence by keeping them contained should be followed up to the fullest extent of the law.

 

I have a small breed dog across the road who is regularly out chasing people, bikes, and the postie with menacing intent. I have reported it to our council on numerous occasions after seeing her nearly causing accidents with the bike riders, bailing up walkers in my front yard, etc. Council came and spoke with the owners in January after my first call, but despite the fact that the dog is not chipped ore registered, and their advice to the owners to get both done and to keep her contained, there has been absolutely no follow up - even after further calls about her continuing to be a menace in the months since then. 100% certain that if she was a larger breed displaying those tendencies there may have been much stronger action/follow-up, but until this small menace actually bites someone or causes an accident with a biker, I doubt anything is going to happen here. Meanwhile I can't leave the house with my dog reactive foster dog to work on her anxiety issues with other dogs (lack of socialisation as a pup during Covid, but not aggressive, just anxious about proximity of unknown dogs) for fear this small turd of a dog will try to bail her up in my front yard and undo all of the work we've been doing to make her more relaxed around other dogs. As it stands, I have to put my dog in the car and drive her up the road to start any walks we need to have, which is ridiculous, don't you think? Note that the only person this wee menace doesn't try to bail up is me, as I've challenged her on many occasions and she knows I don't take any crap from her, but I just herd her home as best I can. All that goes out the window though when she sees my foster dog, and she comes charging out barking and circling, which sets off my girl's anxiety and stresses her greatly. Neighbours have seen this menace as far up the road as a good 10 houses, so her "territory" is getting larger by the month... grrr!

 

T.

[Rebanne]

p!sses me off when little dogs get a pass. I saw a kid run onto the road to get away from an aggressive chihuahua cross. He was lucky no cars were coming. Same dog tried to eat my GSD. But my girl had better manners and just ignored it even when it was hanging off her back leg. Reported both times.

[Mairead]

And some rescue dogs get a pass too.

Also not helped by all those clips where people laugh and think it is "so cute" when a dog (especially a small dog) feels so threatened it growls and snaps. As T would say, Grrr.

[DogsAndTheMob]

1 hour ago, Rebanne said:

p!sses me off when little dogs get a pass. I saw a kid run onto the road to get away from an aggressive chihuahua cross. He was lucky no cars were coming. Same dog tried to eat my GSD. But my girl had better manners and just ignored it even when it was hanging off her back leg. Reported both times.

I agree. Owners of all dogs need to take responsibility and I have no respect for anyone who lets their dog - big or little - annoy other people and dogs. However, as a lifelong owner of large dogs, I’m aware that they could easily cause severe injury, even by a friendly and overly exuberant greeting. I’d rather have a neighbour with a roaming dog that weighed 5 kg than one with a roaming dog that weighed 30kg. 
 

 

[tdierikx]

17 hours ago, DogsAndTheMob said:

I’d rather have a neighbour with a roaming dog that weighed 5 kg than one with a roaming dog that weighed 30kg. 

 

And I'd rather that owners with ANY roaming dog take all care to contain them once they have been made fully aware of their dogs' aggressive tendencies.

 

Why does it tend take an actual injury to someone for action to be taken by the authorities - usually to the dog's detriment - when all of that could have been prevented in the first place when complaints have been made to said authorities?

 

18 hours ago, Mairead said:

And some rescue dogs get a pass too.

Also not helped by all those clips where people laugh and think it is "so cute" when a dog (especially a small dog) feels so threatened it growls and snaps. As T would say, Grrr.

 

Don't get me started on people excusing bad behaviour "because he/she is a rescue". I used to be with a rescue that specialised in taking in dogs with special needs, dogs who had been poorly socialised, dogs that had definitely been abused (with actual proof of that abuse), and we worked bloody hard to ensure that any behavioural issues were well and truly sorted before rehoming any dog in our care. I have personally been party to decisions to euthanaise dogs who just couldn't be rehabilitated enough to ensure that they were safe to be in the community. I have held "broken" dogs as they dropped into that final big sleep with dignity and love... more often than I care to count, but safe in the knowledge that it was the best decision for their circumstance. Any rescue that rehomes a dog with behavioural issues and spins some back story to "justify" that behaviour needs a good kick in the arse IMHO.

 

My current foster dog is getting a lot of professional help to deal with her anxiety around other dogs. She has never displayed actual aggressive behaviours as a result of her anxiety, and we have been making great progress so far. Last weekend we had her walking in a public park on a loose lead about 5 feet away from the trainer's 2 dogs, and even though there were a couple of offlead dogs chasing balls on the other side of the park, she ignored them nicely and looked to me for any reassurance she needed at any point. Her behaviours are most likely due to lack of socialisation during Covid, so she just needs to learn at this point that other dogs aren't any real threat if she just ignores them and looks to her handler for any help she might need. So far she's going great guns on that front... good girl Alice.

 

That said, Alice was completely in her element while all the activity was happening due to getting a new roof here, and a tree falling down requiring emergency services workers to attend. Her "toll" for the workers needing to use the bathroom was cuddles and pats... she is such a trollope with people... lol! All the roofers had to cuddle her before they left when the job was finished also... they actually asked to do so... nawww...

 

T.

[persephone]

2 hours ago, tdierikx said:

Alice was completely in her element while all the activity was happening due to getting a new roof here, and a tree falling down requiring emergency services workers to attend. Her "toll" for the workers needing to use the bathroom was cuddles and pats...

That sounds perfect - people dogs are wonderful . I am also glad to hear of her progress around other dogs - well done ! 

[asal]

When ever I've reported a dumped dog, invariably asked to catch it first.

[tdierikx]

15 hours ago, asal said:

When ever I've reported a dumped dog, invariably asked to catch it first.

 

Yep... me too...

 

Then when you have contained it, they take their own sweet time coming to pick it up... grrr! I just take them to the local vet clinic, which is a holding place for strays anyways.

 

T.

[asal]

4 hours ago, tdierikx said:

 

Yep... me too...

 

Then when you have contained it, they take their own sweet time coming to pick it up... grrr! I just take them to the local vet clinic, which is a holding place for strays anyways.

 

T.

 

 

thanks, didnt know that