Kids and dogs attacking whos to blame etc

Anyway, main point. I'm reading about the new laws proposed n stuff. There is the one saying that owner responsibly must be extended to private property and that the dog will not be deemed to be protecting his territory unless he bites someone who is either attacking him on his own property or is committing a criminal offence (like breaking in)

Then it says whether or not this should be extended to if a child gets into a well signed, well closed off garden.

What do you think? If you have an aggressive dog, keep it well contained and gated and have signs but a child walks into the pen and gets attacked...should the dog suffer and the owner be punished or the parents / carer of the child for letting it wander into a dangerous situation?

Hmm, tricky one.

At the end of the day, they should be consulting qualified animal behaviourists before making up such laws.

Dogs aren't human, they are animals. They don't think, they react.

very hard to say... any dog that shows aggression towards humans, is a massive no no.....

and personally if that dog had attacked my child, i would like to think that the dog would be dealt with in the appropriate manner....

I've been a bit uneasy with this part of the law for some time.

A policeman friend of mine says that each case would be taken individually, and the circumstances examined. In your example I think a lot would depend on how easy it was for a child to get into a shut pen/garden where the dog is kept. If there is no lock on a pen or if the garden fence is low, then the fault would be with the owner of the dog. If the pen was securely locked, or the garden fence was sufficiently high to be obvious that you don't want anyone coming in, then the fault would lie with the child/parents. Mind you, if the dog is child aggressive, then maybe it shouldn't be in the garden or an outside pen on its own?

Also, you need to be careful about any signs you display. You can put up a sign that says "I live here" with a pic of a cheerful staff on it, or a sign that says "Staffordshire Bull Terriers Running Free" with the same sort of pic, but you can't put up a sign that says "Beware of Satffordshire Bull Terrier", especially if it has a snarling dog pic on it. Even those funny ones that say "Not only can I reach the gate in 3 seconds, I can clear it" are no-go!

This is because, under the new law, a person can report you if they 'feel threatened or intimidated' by your dog or by the idea of you having such a dog!

Ridiculous.

I was thinking about this at the weekend because the sprogs next door are constantly launching balls over the fence (one day I had to throw back SEVEN balls). My worry isn't that Violet would attack them, but she is boisterous and would possibly get too excited and knock them over.

To be honest, I don't leave Violet unattended, and I don't think the kids next door would jump the fence as they seem pretty well behaved, but if they did come into the enclosed garden, where they know we have a dog, and they got hurt, I don't really think that is our fault.

I think it would be the same as if the dog escaped the garden, and ran into another garden full of children and the parent kicked the dog - i would be furious at my dog getting kicked, but I could only really blame myself for not looking after the dog, not the parent trying to 'protect' their children.

I think if a child, teenager or whomever goes into private propery and is injured it is not the home owners fault. This is like saying it is the fault of the homeowner if someone falls into their pool and drowns.

jstaff wrote:I think if a child, teenager or whomever goes into private propery and is injured it is not the home owners fault. This is like saying it is the fault of the homeowner if someone falls into their pool and drowns.

within reason it would fall under the home owners responsilbility to secure the area, so an accident like this is prevented...

marble wrote:very hard to say... any dog that shows aggression towards humans, is a massive no no.....

and personally if that dog had attacked my child, i would like to think that the dog would be dealt with in the appropriate manner....

Yes but some people have dogs for a reason such as police. My neighbour has five GSD that if provoked WOULD attack you and if a child walked into their pens that are very secure they would absolutely rip it apart, its what they are trained for it is their job. The owner is under no pretence that his dogs are agressive and would never let a child in his yard but if one came in on its own it cant fall to the dog to not do what it is trained for.

Im talking about very well secured pens, like my neighbours are all metal mesh bolted to the floor with roofs on and the pens are actually inside another metal pen just incase one gets free, so TWO pens and if a kid walked in it would still be the dogs owners fault cause they aren't padlocked? I thought padlocking would be a big no no cause of fire hazzard or any other safety thing of the dog

And on the pool thing, if someone is trespassing on your property you should not be responsible for their actions. Thats like saying a robber that breaks into your upstairs window and falls down its your fault cause you should have had a ladder up to your window..