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.
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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.
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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
 
GSD Woman said:
In my little corner of the world, these sorts of attacks are more likely to happen near the housing projects. Are the areas of these attacks similar?
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For the most part I would say yes, we call them council estates in the UK. But the in the case of 19 year old woman the area actually looks quite decent.
 
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
 
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.
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Everybody thinks they know what they are doing until the situation proves that they don’t!
 
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.
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This is right, the case is absolutely tragic, but the circumstances in which the attack bitch lived will be similar/identical to multiple dogs all over the place.
Why are dogs ever living in bedrooms, sleeping on beds with sleeping humans, being actively encouraged to ‘own’ such spaces? Apart from hygiene issues, this is so inappropriate for dogs, but entirely in keeping with the notion of a ‘fur baby’.
You might with good reason prefer your dog to the other humans in your life, but can still respect and treat it as a real live dog, with real live dog needs, drives, idiosyncrasies which need separately addressing from your own.
 
Exasperated said:
Why are dogs ever living in bedrooms, sleeping on beds with sleeping humans, being actively encouraged to ‘own’ such spaces? Apart from hygiene issues, this is so inappropriate for dogs, but entirely in keeping with the notion of a ‘fur baby’.
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Just a short video of my dog who sleeps in my bed.

You will have to excuse him being loose in the countryside like this. Usually he would be in a pram, but that simply isn't possible when riding a pony.

I don't tend to worry about hygiene tbh. I also share my bed with a man, so....

 
I spent most of my childhood with two collies draped across my bed, over the years the disgusting behaviour has been allowed with quite a broad mix of breeds and types, labs, JRT's even a feisty little Patterdale and a few mongrels. Not all at once of course. ;)None of them were ever my 'fur babies' , I shudder at the thought of calling any of them that! 😂

So far I haven't ever had rabies, worms or any other dreadful diseases, nor have I had part of my face ripped off. I guess I must have just been lucky. 🤷‍♀️
 
I think the problem in this case is that nobody was home with the poor girl at the time so we'll never really know what happened/what triggered the dog. There were 2 other dogs at the property, a family member has commented that she was trying to separate a dog fight and got caught in the middle, although the dad doesn't mention anything, so who knows. There was the tragic incident a while ago of the dog-walker that was mauled by the dogs she was walking when a fight broke out and they redirected at her. It could have been resource guarding gone badly wrong. It could have been that the dog had a brain tumour or neurological issues that just caused it to flip. I thought the interview that the dad did was fair enough, it was a much loved family pet, not a dangerous dog that they tip-toed around and kept locked away. He wasn't making excuses but saying that he never imagined in his wildest dreams that his dog would behave like that and a warning to others that you can't ever assume you know your dog and that it won't happen. I understand why he did the interview as there was so much public speculation about the breed of dog/circumstances around what happened. It's a devastating tragedy whatever.
 
GSD Woman said:
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.
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@GSD Woman I so get your post, I have a step daughter living in the US who lets us know about the shootings. I guess here in the UK our gun laws are so tight that our "norm" is teenagers stabbing each other on a daily basis 😢
 
splashgirl45 said:
This is the picture of the lurcher , they have said they’ve had her from a puppy. She is a merle colour so maybe in bred to get the colour and maybe temperament is dodgy also could be a bull breed cross
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It said they'd had her since 7 weeks old in the article, which doesn't scream respectable breeder to me. But yea, not your typical killer dog. It's just awful.
 
Exasperated said:
This is right, the case is absolutely tragic, but the circumstances in which the attack bitch lived will be similar/identical to multiple dogs all over the place.
Why are dogs ever living in bedrooms, sleeping on beds with sleeping humans, being actively encouraged to ‘own’ such spaces? Apart from hygiene issues, this is so inappropriate for dogs, but entirely in keeping with the notion of a ‘fur baby’.
You might with good reason prefer your dog to the other humans in your life, but can still respect and treat it as a real live dog, with real live dog needs, drives, idiosyncrasies which need separately addressing from your own.
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I do not even know where to start correcting the utter nonsense in this post. Suffice to say, its horribly outdated nonsense.

My super drivey working dog, best hunting dog people who know more than me have ever seen, hunts most of the year when in season, and he also races, so hes getting his drive met, also sleeps in my bed. The two things are not mutually exclusive. But the rest of your post is nonsense.
 
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