Proposed law-If your dog bites a burglar you could get PROSECUTED?

Out of interest how would you stand if you were walking your dogs late at night on the lead, so under control, and someone attacked you and your dog intervened and hurt them?

I work shifts and often walk the dogs on my own in the dark.
 
If you remember the M25 rapist some 10 years ago? Won't ever forget this incident as that particular night I was less than 1/2 mile away, at a yard, on my own.

A female jogger was out when she was attacked. She had her stafford with her which defended her and attacked said rapist. Never any mention of any sort of action against the dog (and if my memory serves me correctly, she was one of the few who actually "got away" so to speak)
 
Dry Rot said:
Is this the post?

OT but as I understand the consultation doc, there will be protection for legitimate callers ie the postie, binmen, door to door sales, those type of visitors who most people would consider to be coming to the public part of the property (front door or path) Dog owners would have to put in place something, ie fencing that would prevent the dogs getting to parts of your property that callers could reasonably expect to be safe or put up notices warning of loose dogs AND lock the area so people couldn't just wander in so it would become your responsibility to secure the property so that a child for instance couldn't get into your garden easily or ensure that your dogs aren't unsupervised at any time. You could also be prosecuted if your dog bit a visitor that you had invited in - currently that isn't the case and this is the part that I can see problems with as an 'attack' is so subjective and the 'victims' perception of what is an attack (think a large dog flattening a visiting child just as an example)will be very much to the forefront of this legislation IMO.

But rest assured, anyone who passes a locked gate/signage/high fence is still fair game to be used as a full sized tug toy

In RBs case, dog on dog attack is usually treated as a civil issue especially as it happened on A) private property owned by the him and B) the JRT was trespassing. If anybody is on the wrong side of the DDA it is the JRT's owner as technically her dog wasn't in control albeit it wasn't a 'public place'. TBH, RB I would contact the DW first just to ask their advice and get your side of the story across rather than have her ranting and raving to them with maybe some inaccuracies (being polite here) if only to provide a record of the incident in case something else occurs...
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That's the one :D Please note though that this legislation is only proposed at the moment and can still change an awful lot as it goes through committee let alone actually gets debated in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords...

Copperpot said:
Out of interest how would you stand if you were walking your dogs late at night on the lead, so under control, and someone attacked you and your dog intervened and hurt them?



I work shifts and often walk the dogs on my own in the dark.
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I've always thought of my dogs as deterrents and hoped that they would put off anybody who wanted to harm me rather than have to actually defend me.

Technically if they did bite, they weren't truly under control. You could plead mitigation (after pleading guilty in court I suppose) by saying you were attacked and the dogs were only defending you and that they weren't a danger to the general public. Your problem, if you were uninjured would be proving this as I doubt that the person they bit would confess that they had attacked you!

A few years ago my Rott knocked over a bloke who was behaving very aggressively towards me but he didn't bite him. I was panicking that this toe rag could report me but was told as there were no bites I was ok. It was a case of 'he said, she said' and I was on private property at the time so it would have been a civil rather than criminal issue even if he had bitten.
 
I don't remember that Lucie. Good old staffy :)

I guess yes without CCTV it would be hard to prove your dog was defending you.

Like you cmbcts I rely on the visual deterrent really.
 
i have rotts live here sign, guard dog sign, dogs running loose sign, CCTV sign, freezemark sign, enter at your own risk sign, and a sign saying I am MRS TONY MARTIN enter at your own risk. yes i have been burgled a few times and NO i am not prepared to be burgled again hopefully.I think the enter at own risk sign should cover you. my insurance know i have grotts and cctv. grotts are covered on the yard liability policy.
 
All gates are padlocked at night,sign up,"dogs running loose" with a pic of a snarling GSD on it,yes Night Dog is out ,and would do the job.We were burgled and our dogs stolen years ago,and it ain`t happening again.All kennels are also alarmed and sensor lights everywhere.
As soon as one night dog gets on a bit,another is purchased,trained up and expensive.The calibre of dog,quiet but efficent is not that easy to find.
 
Well, if I am prosecuted for my dog biting a burglar, I shall opt for prison. I could so with a bit of a rest with someone else doing the cooking for a change!:D

In Scotland, it is possible to record an interest with the Scottish Government and be sent copies of proposed legislation for consultation. The doggy stuff used to be sent to me by post and it was quite fun seeing my name on the list of consultees between the likes Spratts and Pedigree Chum!
 
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