Warning - Horse and rider seriously attacked by dog

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muffinino

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Warning to all those in the Caephilly/Cardiff area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6401869.stm

OMG!
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This happened in one of the places I ride. V. worrying. Might have to take to riding out with a machette, either to fend off the dog or to run the idiot owner through!
 
That's awful - I was riding one of the school horses on a hack and was attacked by one of these types of dog. I jumped off, punched the dog in the face (not the best idea I know but in the heat of the moment I just wanted to get it away from the horse) and shouted for the owner.

The owner of the dog attempted to have a go at me for hitting the dog but I mouthed off at him aboutt he dog's behaviour and what a serious accident - plus I dropped the horse owner's name and he was terrifed lol!!!

Poor woman
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Had a very similar ordeal a few weeks ago down our way ! The stupid owners of the dog just dilly dallied along...no urgency...as the blasted creature nipped at my horses feet....they said 'he's only young....it'll teach him if he gets a kick'
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Bl**dy dog wouldn't have had a second chance if he had been...Bo isn't small
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I think it disgusting people cannot control their dogs !! Unfortunately there is no legislation or control over dog owning.

Years ago, a girl from my yard was riding her pony across the fields when a dog appeared and started attacking the pony. The girl fell off and the dog jumped up and bit the pony's face. Not only that, but his jaw clamped on so tightly, the pony could not shake it off and the pony galloped back to the yard with dog attached to it's face. The dog (now on the yard) then proceeded to jump over stable doors and terrorise about 3 other horses (mine included). Eventually managed to shut it into an empty stable and call the police.

Poor pony had it's entire face stitched up !!
 
We were hacking out on Sunday and so stupid woman couldn't control her dog, fortuntley it was friendly but was jumping up my new horses leg and kept running around him. I tried to explain to the owner that the dog may get kicked. It followed us for a while (leaving her stood shouting it!) till it found a new distarction in another dog!!!
 
That's awful but unfortunately it doesn't surprise me
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I've been harassed by a few dogs while out riding and on one occassion it was by two rotties (I think playfully) - the owners just looked on and nade no attempt to call them off despite my warning that my pony would kick which she eventually did!

On another occasion I was out riding and my mum was walking our two cavaliers with me, a pit-bull type came running towards us with its owner shouted to us that it would attack our dogs! Luckily it didn't (maybe because they're two girls) but what on earth is a gog like that doing off its lead?!

It really angers me when people can't or don't conrol their dog.
 
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a pit-bull type

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Why do people keep saying this??? It was more than likely a Staffie - which is no more likely to attack than you old Lab. It's not about the breed it's about the lack of control or interest owners have in their dogs that's the problem.....

Grrrrrr.
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The law is ridiculous (don't know if its changed) - when I used to walk home from school (years ago!) a dog repeatedly ran out and tried to bite my legs (I was walking on a pavement) but because it never actually caused any damage to my flesh (only my shoes/trousers) the police couldn't do anything. I never found out who owned it but soon later a neighbour told me its name and if I used it the dog wouldn't bite me but that's not the point - I'd almost resolved to sticking my arm in its mouth to get something done!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
a pit-bull type

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Why do people keep saying this??? It was more than likely a Staffie - which is no more likely to attack than you old Lab. It's not about the breed it's about the lack of control or interest owners have in their dogs that's the problem.....

Grrrrrr.
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I suspect, because a 'Staffie' as you put it, is actually a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and also looks remarkably similar too. When the Police / RSPCA have to resort to DNA testing to establish if a dog is of a certain breed / type then it is reasonable for people to group them together too. In this case, the dog was displaying aggressive behaviour....so your point that the Staffie is about as likely to attack as an old labrador doesn't really stack up
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ETS: Example here :-

Pit Bull Terrier

Staffordshire Terrier
 
i had an incident when i rode out with a friend and a dog ran at us nastily and our horses spooked my horse fell over with me underneath him! He then ran home with my friends horse who had also fallen off!
 
Sorry, I know this is a touchy subject and I did almost say staffie-type but it did seem more of a pit-bull (it certainly wasn't pure staffie) - I was only trying to describe the type of dog and agree that certain breeds should not be demonised.
 
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In this case, the dog was displaying aggressive behaviour....so your point that the Staffie is about as likely to attack as an old labrador doesn't really stack up

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Any dog can display aggressive behaviour. But of course, if you're not familiar with a particular breed then yes you are more likely to call it a 'something' type breed. I just don't like to see the dog made the villain in this particular instance. In most cases like this it's down to the lack of control by owners that causes the problem rather than the breed particulary of the dog.

Not championing Staffordshire Bull Terriers per se - although do love them. But people love to label.
 
I do agree about the labelling, and of course the education / upbringing of the dog in question. We used to have German Sherphards, and they were the sweetest natured dogs you could imagine, but of course they scared many because of their reputation and type-casting
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We used to have German Sherphards

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Don't even start me on that one. GS's in my opinion, are probably one of the best breeds you can get. Smart, intelligent, loyal, good looking. I just love them. We have had serveral on the farm, and without exception they were and are all wonderful.
 
Slightly off subject but my black and tan cavalier was once mistaken for a rottweiler puppy (it was by a child!) - I don't think she could instill fear in anyone!
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Which is where the owner problem comes in as my horse was attacked by a GS. I was walking quietly along the edge of a park when suddenly the horse launched herself in an almighty buck and bolted with me.

Luckily she had good brakes even then and I pulled her up in a few strides and turned to see a GS slinking away through a hedge onto a lane. I got off and found teeth marks right through her brushing boot on her back leg - I hate to think of the damage it would have caused if she hadn't been wearing them.

This dog had run up behind her, no noise or warning, bitten her, and ran off again. No owner in sight. Even though she was only young at the time, it hasn't affected her and she's still very trusting around dogs.

I think its time the legistlation changed and that owners were held accountable for attacks on ANY other animal or human, and should a dog show this behaviour, they should be forced to only let them loose with a muzzle and face prosecution for any further attacks.
 
Does anyone know where we'd stand if our horse were to damage someone's dog who was (or the horse thought was) attacking them? If the horse was also damaged then I wouldn't have thought there'd be a problem but if it boiled down to your word against the dog owner's...
 
We are having lots of problems with dogs where I ride in Epping Forest at the moment. My sharer once had 3 terrier types yapping around my horses back legs. She asked the owner to call the dogs and got told "you horse riders think you own this effing forest".

A horse from the yard next door to me actually killed a dog about 3 weeks ago. Horse was plodding along merrily and dog (staffie type) came hurtling towards and jumped onto horses chest. Rider got of and ended up kicking the dog to get it to let go. Everytime it let go though, it jumped straight back for more. Eventually horse started to get really aggitated (had stayed reasonably calm so far), dog let go and ran to back of the horse who then kicked it and sent it flying. Owners eventually arrived after attack had taken place.
 
OMG... that is so frightening. I know I shouldn't say this, but it was lucky that it was this lady and not the two children and their ponies as they would probably not be around to tell the tale.

I think the woman did incredibly well to keep her horse under control and the dog should be PTS the moment it is found and the men banned from ever owning animals again. Someone must know this dog and its owners... I just hope they have the guts to speak up.
 
IMO - Im sorry but as far as Im concerned this type of dog IS more likely to be agressive compared to another breed. These dogs are/were bred to fight, aggression is bred into them and there are no end of cases reported where the 'gentle, family, he's never done anything like this before' staffie 'type' has mauled a child, killed a neighbours cat, had a go at a horse or whatever.

These dogs are very often kept because they have the status of being 'hard, tough or aggressive' and theres a good reason why this is the perception.

The sooner 'fighting' dogs are banned in this country the better.
 
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IMO - Im sorry but as far as Im concerned this type of dog IS more likely to be agressive compared to another breed. These dogs are/were bred to fight, aggression is bred into them and there are no end of cases reported where the 'gentle, family, he's never done anything like this before' staffie 'type' has mauled a child, killed a neighbours cat, had a go at a horse or whatever.

These dogs are very often kept because they have the status of being 'hard, tough or aggressive' and theres a good reason why this is the perception.

The sooner 'fighting' dogs are banned in this country the better.

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I don't think i was disagreeing with your sentiments above
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Perhaps the issue is not that people CAN't control their dogs - but choose not to in certain situations! If an owner warns a person that their dog might attack, they are not a establishing a reasonable amount of control over that dog.
 
how awful! In the past we've had many problems with 2 English bull terriers that live at a house at the side of one of our few bridleways, there have been so many accidents as they go for the horses legs, I don't know why nothing has been done. A few years ago my pony was attacked by a german shephard, she was lame for months
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I don't think it's a particular type of dog, more the way they are handled, or not as the case may be!
 
Well I used to have a mongrel that would bite, a friend of the family has a rotweiler that wont dream of it...

The fact of the matter is ANY dog can bite its in ALL their natures, every single dog from shitzu to akita. They are decendants of the wolf (obviously) and therefore they all are pre-programmed to bite. Its wether or not they are
a) trained out of it and or
B) if not trained out of it then managed properly....
 
It is the owners that I find unbelievable sometimes! Around our area there are lots of dogs around as well and I have often come face to face with them, however a lot of dog owners either sensibly put the dog on a lead before we get to close or if the dog is well behaved they call them away from the horses. However, a few weeks ago I took a friend out riding (her on Louis and me on a friend's horse) and we came round the corner and suddenly a dog (who was walking with a couple) came hurtling towards us! Louis spun and took off and Arnie (the horse I was riding) jumped and took off after Louis! The dog continued to chase us all the way up the lane and finally gave up, at that point we managed to pull the horses up.

What peed me off the most is that when I turned round to continue our hack, the couple were just happily strolling along not obviously even concerned about how we were or what had happend!
 
Terrible for the lady but I wish people would stop using the phrase 'pitbull terrier TYPE' that could be one of about 20 breeds and secondly an American bull terrier (a proper bull terrier, used for dog fighting) can only be described as 'PITbull' if it has been in a pit, the vast majority I'm sure have not. The media have alot to answer for, they're damaging the reputations of breeds just to sell papers.

I hope the horse recovers, being optimistic it could have been alot worse!
 
Well sorry but in my case I didn't stop to ask the bloke what exact breed of dog it was in order that I effectively relay the story without damaging a breeds reputation!
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In my case I was by no means saying that this was an American Pit Bull Terrier (I'm almost certain it wasn't) but that it was of that type as I'm sure was the case in the report.
 
I'm not blaming you!
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I'm blaming the newspapers, for a start its not a pitbull terrier type. If people are unsure it should be described as a bull terrier type. There is a difference.

I haven't read what happened to you but I hope you're okay.
 
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