5 dogs STILL detained after dog walker's death 6 months ago

[reynold]

There were 8 dogs detained after the dog walker's death 6 months ago.

Her own bully XL dog was found to be responsible for her death and has been PTS. Two dachshunds have already been released back to their owners.

However the remaining 5 dogs remain in detention. According to papers this weekend these dogs have no end in sight to their detention and it's dependent on scheduling of magistrates court in regard to whether 'dog control' orders will be imposed on any/all of them.

Dogs 'still being kept in private kennels' after walker, 28, mauled to death

Tragic Natasha Johnston, 28, died after being bitten in her neck a number of times during an attack as she walked eight dogs in Caterham, Surrey, back in January

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[splashgirl45]

How awful for the dogs and their owners , I can’t imagine how stressed they must be

 

[JBM]

What is the point of keeping them in kennels for 6 months?? With no end in sight? A dogs life isn’t that long it’s extremely unfair to be keeping them like this while the two small breeds got to go home
Made a decision for 3 of them and left the others in limbo

 

[BallyJ]

How awful for the poor dogs, if I were in that position I think I would be asking for my dog to be PTS, I understand easy for me to say! But the thought of the poor dogs kennelled for that amount of time is heart breaking.

 

[Squeak]

I feel so sorry for the owners and dogs. Even if they do get to go home, you do wonder if they'll have changed for having been kennelled for that long. If one of those was my dog I would be absolutely heartbroken. I really hope they make a decision soon.

Is there still a chance that they think any of the dogs may need to be put down? If not then surely they could be released back to their owners with strict rules such as muzzled and on lead in public or whatever would be the normal/ strictest punishment? And then after they've had the hearing this could be reduced as appropriate.

 

[chaps89]

It doesn’t say why those two were released and what needs to be established before deciding on the fate of the others, presumably confidential. Wonder who is covering the kennel costs? Really feel for the dogs and owners.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Someone i know of had a large mastiff type who killed a smaller dog on a walk. The dog was seized and kept at kennels for around 6 months or maybe slightly longer. They did eventually give the dog back on the condition it had to be muzzled.
It did take a very long time for a result to be made and this was a dog on dog not human.

 

[twiggy2]

How awful for the poor dogs, if I were in that position I think I would be asking for my dog to be PTS, I understand easy for me to say! But the thought of the poor dogs kennelled for that amount of time is heart breaking.

I feel so sorry for the owners and dogs. Even if they do get to go home, you do wonder if they'll have changed for having been kennelled for that long. If one of those was my dog I would be absolutely heartbroken. I really hope they make a decision soon.

Is there still a chance that they think any of the dogs may need to be put down? If not then surely they could be released back to their owners with strict rules such as muzzled and on lead in public or whatever would be the normal/ strictest punishment? And then after they've had the hearing this could be reduced as appropriate.

I said this in the thread at the time of the attack and it wasn't a popular opinion.
I wonder if there was evidence of bites from the dogs that are still being held but they were not the bites that killed her, that may be why it has to go to court?
To my knowledge dogs held under these conditions are not allowed to be socialised and are kept under very tight restrictions so the owners are unlikely to get the dogs back in the same mental state as they went away. Very sad

 

[Bearsmum]

The owners must be going through hell, not knowing how their dogs are coping or what their fate may be, however I do remember as a child, my uncles terrier going into kennels for six months when they moved from Germany back to the UK - airforce family - I asked my mum if we could visit, but she thought the dog would think we'd come to take him home and be upset when we left, I seem to remember 'Perry' as a happy well adjusted dog who lived a very long and happy life

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If one of those dogs were mine, I would be talking to a solicitor now.

 

[maya2008]

I said this in the thread at the time of the attack and it wasn't a popular opinion.
I wonder if there was evidence of bites from the dogs that are still being held but they were not the bites that killed her, that may be why it has to go to court?

I would suggest it might well be this - bites to her or dog on dog. Not fatal, but in need of a decision by the courts, hence the limbo. I presume the dachshunds were cleared - none of the bites were theirs.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I suppose they must be concerned about clearing a dog which has been involved in a fatal attack (even if they didn’t deliver the fatal bites) and then the dog being involved in a subsequent attack. I guess you would need all sorts of behavior tests and experts to sign the dogs off, and that is probably a drawn out process with experts also being cautious about their liability. Compounded by the fact that it may well be a fairly inefficient process if it’s all publicly funded.

I can see why they’d be cautious. But goodness, what a position to be in as owners and for the dogs.

 

[windswoo]

Poor owners and poor dogs, hope it does get resolved soon.

 

[Birker2020]

It doesn't surprise me at all. I know some dogs have been kept in police kennels for up to four years whilst the legal process to determine whether they fall under the Dangerous Dogs Act rumbles on. There are kennels all over the country that house these dogs waiting to hear their fate through the Courts. Its cruel and horrific to put them through it. A lot of them never leave their cages as they are deemed to dangerous. One dog Stella was kept in a 1m x 3m cage and wasn't walked for two years. Barbaric. Couldn't do it to one of mine.

I first heard about this in 1992 when the DDA had been in existence for a year. They wrote about it in Dogs Today magazine. I thought then how inhumane it was then. Sad we've not moved on during all this time.

It costs the tax payer thousands of pounds every year

Dangerous dogs which attack humans costing taxpayers millions each year in kennel fees

The bill for keeping five dogs that mauled a gran to death in south London in October last year has already reached nearly £15,000

www.mirror.co.uk

https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/d/october-2022/dangerous-aggressive-dogs-seized-mps-2022/

Liverpool dangerous dogs cost £63,000 to kennel in a five month period

KEEPING dangerous dogs on death row has cost Liverpool taxpayers more than £63,000 in five months.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

Has there been any updates on what has happened to these dogs?

 

[reynold]

Retired presenter Glen Oglaza wins battle to free his dogs from police

A retired news presenter has won a legal battle to free his beloved dogs after they were detained for ten months by police over the fatal mauling of a professional dog walker.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Two dogs belonging to one owner released after court fight to stop a control order being imposed on them by the Police.

 

[Clodagh]

The owners must be going through hell, not knowing how their dogs are coping or what their fate may be, however I do remember as a child, my uncles terrier going into kennels for six months when they moved from Germany back to the UK - airforce family - I asked my mum if we could visit, but she thought the dog would think we'd come to take him home and be upset when we left, I seem to remember 'Perry' as a happy well adjusted dog who lived a very long and happy life

A belated reply but I flew my neurotic kelpie back from Oz and she had 6 months quarantine. She was unchanged, no more or less neurotic

 

[Squeak]

Retired presenter Glen Oglaza wins battle to free his dogs from police

A retired news presenter has won a legal battle to free his beloved dogs after they were detained for ten months by police over the fatal mauling of a professional dog walker.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Two dogs belonging to one owner released after court fight to stop a control order being imposed on them by the Police.

I'm really glad they've been allowed to return home. It's not that clear from the article whether he was in court to get them released or to prevent the order?

 

[meleeka]

I'm really glad they've been allowed to return home. It's not that clear from the article whether he was in court to get them released or to prevent the order?

I read it that it was to prevent the control order.

The fact that only 2 dogs had blood on them does suggest that the other dogs didn’t play any part. They were probably terrified too, especially if they were on leads, so couldn’t escape the aggressive pitbull.

 

[reynold]

I read it that the Police had made it a condition of release that a control order was imposed. As the owner wouldn't agree to the control order he had to go to court to fight to avoid having one imposed.

I wonder if the 2 dachshunds that had been released previously have had a control order imposed on them or whether their small size had completely cleared them of any involvement such that an order was not deemed necessary..

 

[Squeak]

Ahhh ok. I'm not sure I'd have gone to court to fight the order as staying on lead in public and not being walked in a group of more than 3 doesn't seem that extreme and I'd have rather had the dogs home sooner and I imagine it must have cost a fortune too!

 

[Birker2020]

A belated reply but I flew my neurotic kelpie back from Oz and she had 6 months quarantine. She was unchanged, no more or less neurotic

Not like Stella in a 1m x 3m cage for two years though (reply 14). I don't think you can compare quarantine ...

(see video of how they are treated) https://www.agriculture.gov.au/bios...s/quarantine-facilities-and-fees/our-facility

...with the way these poor 'death row' dogs are housed. I don't get how the owners can allow their inhumane housing conditions and the fact they are never be permitted exercise to continue. Its cruel beyond words. A dog would never recover from that.

Even in the kill shelters in the states they live in better conditions.