Kennel Club press release following recent death of Jade.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/4836/23/5/3

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Jade Anderson death highlights urgent need for change in Dangerous Dog law says Kennel Club

Following the tragic death of schoolgirl, Jade Anderson, the Kennel Club urges the government to change fatally flawed dangerous dogs legislation.

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, said: “We are truly saddened to hear about the death of Jade Anderson and our thoughts and deepest condolences go to her family.

“We do not know the specific circumstances surrounding this incident, but the fact that dog related incidents continue to occur highlights how ineffective the current dangerous dogs legislation is.

“We wonder how many more tragedies must take place before the government admits that the breed specific legislation in the Dangerous Dogs Act is fatally flawed, wasting limited police resources on seizing dogs of a particular breed, rather than focusing on dogs of any breed that are out of control. Recent incidents have involved many different breeds, showing that any dog can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

“Breed specific legislation is also having the unintended consequence of turning banned breeds into status symbols, so that they are taken on by the wrong people who train them for the purposes of fighting or aggression.

“We urgently need Dog Control Notices to be introduced, to deal with the owners of dogs that are out of control at the earliest signs of a problem. Recent government proposals to extend section three of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to apply to attacks that take place on private property, as appeared to happen in this case, are welcome, but we stress that children should never be left alone with any dog, regardless of its breed or previous behaviour.”

To find out about the Kennel Club’s dangerous dogs campaign, visit www.thekennelclub.org.uk/dangerousdogs.

I think that about sums it up - the current legislation has done nothing to reduce irresponsible owners.

Sounds right to me.

But what can WE do ? The poor girl, her family and the dogs that are destroyed all just break my heart. Surely the focus should be to regulate responsible ownership ? But how ? Yes, microchipping will identify the owner - thousands will not comply and only a few ill be caught - just like driving licences. Somehow, and I don't know how, all pups should be signed up for compulsory training. Any other ideas ? If we could agree a single action plan, we could all write to our MPs.

That was fantastically well put.

Great statement !!!

Thanks for that Jackieb. It's true

It's about how the dog is brought up and any breed has the potential. There is more to this story than meets the eye... What you don't know is the history of the dogs and how the incident started. More regulation should be put in place to ensure responsible dog ownership for sure; but the problem is how do you police it. It's such a shame and my deepest sympathy goes out to Jade's family it is extremely sad. I hope that an effective method can be put in place so these incidents can minimised if not totally prevented!

otisthestafford wrote:It's about how the dog is brought up and any breed has the potential. There is more to this story than meets the eye... What you don't know is the history of the dogs and how the incident started. More regulation should be put in place to ensure responsible dog ownership for sure; but the problem is how do you police it. It's such a shame and my deepest sympathy goes out to Jade's family it is extremely sad. I hope that an effective method can be put in place so these incidents can minimised if not totally prevented!

I agree that we don't know all the facts yet, but from what some of the neighbours/friends were saying on tv yesterday it seems like these dogs were kept outside and in cages - hence not your average family pet who live in the house. If this is the case it could explain a lot. Also as other people have said it's not the dog - it's the owners who don't know how to look after and train them.

Condolences to the poor girls family.

Here in Australia they are reporting two of the offending dogs to be Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

Personally, I can't imagine a pedigree staffy doing anything like that.

The media generally report dog attacks as being a staffy when in fact they are cross breeds.

Is the glass half full or half empty?

What annoys me is that the focus of attention is on Staffies when two of the dogs were not Staffies, but no mention is made of them. I can only surmise that the reason is that the other two dogs were not of such a popular breed and so less likely to set off a heated debate.

Massive condolences to the family, and think the owners of the dog should be charged with manslaughter.

janey wrote: the owners of the dog should be charged with manslaughter.

I think that this is more or less what the authorities (CPS?) would like to do, but the problem seems to be a gap in the law, and that although there are laws against having dangerously out of control animals in a public place, no such law exists for having them on private property. This is what the more enlightened of the media commentators have been concentrating on, but is also why the authorities have no choice at the moment than to concentrate on whether any of the dogs were of a banned breed - I understand that DNA tests are currently being carried out on the dogs to establish this.

oldsalt wrote:
Personally, I can't imagine a pedigree staffy doing anything like that.

The media generally report dog attacks as being a staffy when in fact they are cross breeds.

any dog is capable of an attack but I have to agree with you that a pure staff is less likley than most to attack a person, probably verging on <0.5%. practically every dog that is reported as a staffy attack is a cross and not a pure staff. and yes I own staffy crosses but I have brought my hounds up in a loving home knowing what is right from wrong, they dont know what violence is and the only raised voice they hear is when they are about to shoulder slam some form of crap in the woods.
Its down to the owners again, if i may be a little contoversal now... i suspect percentage wise more owners of crosses just dont give a rats * about there dogs behaviour than a pure staff owner as they have brought from a byb for a status dog tweaked to look more intimidating. another problem is that some poeple just dont understand dogs and never will do, they have a "fire and forget attitude" feed it twice a day if its lucky and let it take care of itself, a quick 5 min walk around the block and thats it.... shocking but true

Hmmm having read some of the later replies I look forward to the reports that come out about this... The DNA tests should prove interesting and the living arrangements of the dogs. I just feel so strongly that there is much more to this.

Thought on about the DNA testing - maybe so much thought should not be placed there and more about the latter I mentioned.

DNA tests on the dogs will prove nothing - they are useless at the best of times.

What people need to look at is the way the dogs were housed & cared for. From what I understand, they were breeding machines & kept outside most of the time with no training or socialisation. Recipe for disaster!

If that is the case - That is truly disgraceful!

I'm not saying it's 100% correct, but that's what I heard.

No no that's fair enough - Suppose we can't surmise too much at this point.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21954533

Interesting opinions, it is always about the owners.

Otherwise it is such a sad story that I do not know what to comment. Poor girl....