Another fatal dog attack

The attack in Essex has been reported as being a 7yo lurcher that was apparently a family pet. I really can’t understand the circumstances for a dog like that to flip to that extent, unless they’re not being truthful about it’s previous temperament. Still, I’ve owned a few nervous aggressive dogs, ones who resource guarded and ones who were very protective of myself. Yes they’d snap and yes they’d have bitten if provoked, but I don’t think any of them would have ever gone into such a frenzy as to kill a grown adult. Any dog like that either has a serious medical issue or a screw loose and sadly isn’t safe to be alive.

Perhaps this one is just a genuinely very tragic incident where the dog had an undiagnosed brain tumour or something, who knows, awful for all involved though.
 
KikiDee said:
The attack in Essex has been reported as being a 7yo lurcher that was apparently a family pet. I really can’t understand the circumstances for a dog like that to flip to that extent, unless they’re not being truthful about it’s previous temperament. Still, I’ve owned a few nervous aggressive dogs, ones who resource guarded and ones who were very protective of myself. Yes they’d snap and yes they’d have bitten if provoked, but I don’t think any of them would have ever gone into such a frenzy as to kill a grown adult. Any dog like that either has a serious medical issue or a screw loose and sadly isn’t safe to be alive.

Perhaps this one is just a genuinely very tragic incident where the dog had an undiagnosed brain tumour or something, who knows, awful for all involved though.
Click to expand...
Lurcher could have been a bull lurcher, seen some of those with pretty big heads and if they got the wrong temperament from the bull side of the breeding could be dangerous.
 
KikiDee said:
The attack in Essex has been reported as being a 7yo lurcher that was apparently a family pet. I really can’t understand the circumstances for a dog like that to flip to that extent, unless they’re not being truthful about it’s previous temperament. Still, I’ve owned a few nervous aggressive dogs, ones who resource guarded and ones who were very protective of myself. Yes they’d snap and yes they’d have bitten if provoked, but I don’t think any of them would have ever gone into such a frenzy as to kill a grown adult. Any dog like that either has a serious medical issue or a screw loose and sadly isn’t safe to be alive.

Perhaps this one is just a genuinely very tragic incident where the dog had an undiagnosed brain tumour or something, who knows, awful for all involved though.
Click to expand...

Maybe a bull lurcher which may have a different temperament to the usual lurcher crosses. The only staffy cross lurcher I knew had a dodgy temperament and would sometimes walk past my dogs and other times have a go at them ..even so it should be put down whatever breed it is
 
Errin Paddywack said:
Lurcher could have been a bull lurcher, seen some of those with pretty big heads and if they got the wrong temperament from the bull side of the breeding could be dangerous.
Click to expand...

They were breeding them with XLs at one point. I had a weird experience I had at a show last summer. It was overrun with very big muscly blokes getting pissed, while their wives and kids sat around, all with multiple absolutely enormous XL x greyhound types. HUGE heads, the size of a small pony, and would no doubt be super fast and utterly relentless, and all scarred up from working. We have NOTHING in the UK that warrants a dog that size. It was all very odd and weve never done any showing again even though my boy won his class. It just felt off and I was super uncomfortable being around people who were breeding dogs like that.
 
It wasn’t really about the breed, more the fact it’s reported to have been a family pet raised as a normal pet for 7 years with no issues I found odd, not an unhinged dog kept locked away which is usually the case. To launch a sustained attack on a grown adult is not ‘normal dog’ behaviour. Of course who knows how reliable/truthful that report is of the dogs history. I did say the dog should be PTS, no argument there. Any dog that shows that level of aggression should be PTS regardless of breed, same for snappy small dogs, just because it’s small enough not to do any real harm it doesn’t deserve a place in society. Plenty of nice dogs out there to take its place.
 
But before the ban there were many people with XLBs who had had them for a few years reporting that they were gentle and wouldn't hurt a fly. They let them lie with babies and play with toddlers. They said they'd never shown any sign of aggression. These dogs flipped out of the blue with no (obvious) trigger. The lurcher could have been the same.
 
misst said:
But before the ban there were many people with XLBs who had had them for a few years reporting that they were gentle and wouldn't hurt a fly. They let them lie with babies and play with toddlers. They said they'd never shown any sign of aggression. These dogs flipped out of the blue with no (obvious) trigger. The lurcher could have been the same.
Click to expand...

It could have been, any dog is capable. But what can you do other than ban every dog bigger than a small terrier for damage control?

I’m not referring to XL bullies btw, I don’t thing they should exist tbh. I’m sure plenty are lovely dogs but genuinely I don’t understand why anyone would want one versus the risk they pose. They’re just a pretty pointless breed at best and a terrible idea at worst.

But I don’t know what you can do to avoid a dog flipping out of the blue and killing its owner after 7 years of being a family pet.

I’ve only really seen it once, thankfully it was a very small dog (miniature dachshund) no doubt terribly bred. Flipped into a complete frenzy completely unprovoked out of nowhere one day. Immediately afterwards it was back to normal, loving pet. It was like it went not some sort of trance during the attack. It was PTS 3 days later.
 
New Forests Rock said:
I couldn't agree with @fiwen30 more - these dogs are just as dangerous as guns, yet nothing is done to stop people (scum) owning them.
Click to expand...

Living in the land of ammosexuals, I can honestly say that these dogs don't have military grade guns that can mow down a grade school class, walk the hallway of a university checking for unlocked doors, etc.

Children in school nowadays don't have fire or tornado drills. They have active shooter drills.
 
There are now reports that it wasn’t an unprovoked attack but she was breaking up a dog fight and the dog turned on her, if true it could be redirected aggression which sounds more plausible.
 
Sadly you can’t legislate to force ALL breeders to select for health and temperament rather than looks and pretty colours / whatever they think is going to sell. (There is SUPPOSED to at least be legislation to ensure the bare minimum welfare needs of bitches and puppies are met but even that doesn’t really function cos the people we really need it to apply to are masters at getting around it. The irresponsible backyard / puppy farm breeders are the ones I’m meaning here)

You can’t force all breeders to give their puppies an upbringing that best equips them for life in a human home with appropriate early socialisation.

You can’t physically force people to have a dog that suits their lifestyle, physical abilities and experience (& yeah in the case of some people the answer to that would be a stuffed toy!) rather than what they think looks cute / makes them look / feel tough etc

You can’t force people to research breed traits and how they affect how the dog is likely to react in certain situations, what’s likely to arouse them, how much “work” they need to satisfy their needs and what they do and don’t find rewarding

You can’t force everyone who has a dog to have a basic understanding of dog behaviour and body language (you could theoretically try if you made being able to pass a course on this a condition of licensing)

You can’t stop people doing stupid things in their own homes with their own dogs (although better follow up when concerns are reported, especially when there’s children or vulnerable people in the house would be a start)

You can’t stop parents (of very young children) from thinking just because they’re in the room they’ll be quicker than the dog if something goes wrong

I mean sure you can try and educate people on a lot of that but it’s a bit like shouting into the void when people simply don’t want to admit that their “furbaby” is not in fact a mini human in a fur coat but a dog who needs treating and managing as such and sadly when things go wrong people who have chosen to be oblivious to any possible danger do sometimes have to accept a level of personal responsibility for that.
 
Boulty said:
Sadly you can’t legislate to force ALL breeders to select for health and temperament rather than looks and pretty colours / whatever they think is going to sell. (There is SUPPOSED to at least be legislation to ensure the bare minimum welfare needs of bitches and puppies are met but even that doesn’t really function cos the people we really need it to apply to are masters at getting around it. The irresponsible backyard / puppy farm breeders are the ones I’m meaning here)

You can’t force all breeders to give their puppies an upbringing that best equips them for life in a human home with appropriate early socialisation.

You can’t physically force people to have a dog that suits their lifestyle, physical abilities and experience (& yeah in the case of some people the answer to that would be a stuffed toy!) rather than what they think looks cute / makes them look / feel tough etc

You can’t force people to research breed traits and how they affect how the dog is likely to react in certain situations, what’s likely to arouse them, how much “work” they need to satisfy their needs and what they do and don’t find rewarding

You can’t force everyone who has a dog to have a basic understanding of dog behaviour and body language (you could theoretically try if you made being able to pass a course on this a condition of licensing)

You can’t stop people doing stupid things in their own homes with their own dogs (although better follow up when concerns are reported, especially when there’s children or vulnerable people in the house would be a start)

You can’t stop parents (of very young children) from thinking just because they’re in the room they’ll be quicker than the dog if something goes wrong

I mean sure you can try and educate people on a lot of that but it’s a bit like shouting into the void when people simply don’t want to admit that their “furbaby” is not in fact a mini human in a fur coat but a dog who needs treating and managing as such and sadly when things go wrong people who have chosen to be oblivious to any possible danger do sometimes have to accept a level of personal responsibility for that.
Click to expand...
Everybody thinks they know what they are doing until the situation proves that they don’t!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top