What do dog wardens actually do?

Sealine

Sealine

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Yesterday whilst walking my gsd on a public footpath he was attacked by two mastiffs who jumped over a three foot fence from a property alongside the footpath. I managed to get them off my dog just as the owner appeared and I stood still waiting for him to get hold of them before I carried on walking. Before he got to the dogs they charged at my dog again throwing him in to the air and pinning him to the ground and attacking him again. Again, I pulled them off him just as a third dog appeared. The owner grabbed the mastiffs and as I walked away the third dog was following us barking and I had to keep shouting at it to keep it away. A few minutes later as I my adrenaline dropped I realised I'd been bitten on the arm, I'm bruised but they didn't drawn blood as I had a couple of layers of clothes. My dog appears to be ok. I saw some blood on his mouth at the time but I think he may have bitten his tongue. He has a few sore patches and chunks of hair missing and I'm sure he's feeling a bit bruised too. At the time I thought I was about to see my dog being killed in front of me. It was terrifying and I'm shaking now as I write this.

My point to this post is my frustration that absolutely no-one is interested. The police won't log the incident as I got bitten because I intervened in a dog fight therefore the dogs didn't attack me. The police told me to call the dog warden but the council told me the dog warden doesn't deal with dangerous dogs. All I want is for someone to ask the owners to fence their property securely and keep their dogs under control before they kill a dog. Does anyone have any other suggestions of who may want to get involved with this?
 
I understand that if you felt threatened they should be interested. You poor thing, and your poor dog. I would go in and not mention that you intervened in a fight, but that the dogs jumped out and attacked you and your dog.
 
As Annette says both dog warden and police should be getting involved and, at the very least, speaking to the owner about the conduct of his dogs. Telephone again and don't let them fob you off. Take photos of your bruises and the injuries to your dog.

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q653.htm

https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

https://safe.met.police.uk/dangerous_dogs/other_help_and_advice.html

So sorry you and your dog went through such a terrifying ordeal and I hope neither of you suffers any lasting effects.
 
Yes, in the circs dog warden and police should be dealing with this.

Near my local area we have a very good dog warden (actually they are quite under-resourced and so they deal with dogs and all other domestic animals across a very large urban population) who will deal with even dog-dog incidents.

I'm guessing that your problem here is that you reported it to the dog warden in such a way that they thought it was serious enough to involve the police and to the police in such a way that they thought it was dog-specific enough for the warden to handle...

I fully appreciate how scary this can be (my dog is only 5kg and watching him be attacked by two larger bull types is not something I ever want to go through again - it was only when they turned their attention to me that a bystander got brave enough to assist). Take a deep breath (and a deeper glass of wine!) and try speaking to them again tomorrow.

In the interim I can thoroughly recommend carrying an umbrella on walks...

Edited again to add: my mutt doesn't seem to have been traumatised at all - you'll probably find yours is more accepting of the situation than you are as they do seem to understand it as normal for dogs
 
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GirlFriday said:
Yes, in the circs dog warden and police should be dealing with this.

Near my local area we have a very good dog warden (actually they are quite under-resourced and so they deal with dogs and all other domestic animals across a very large urban population) who will deal with even dog-dog incidents.

I'm guessing that your problem here is that you reported it to the dog warden in such a way that they thought it was serious enough to involve the police and to the police in such a way that they thought it was dog-specific enough for the warden to handle...

I fully appreciate how scary this can be (my dog is only 5kg and watching him be attacked by two larger bull types is not something I ever want to go through again - it was only when they turned their attention to me that a bystander got brave enough to assist). Take a deep breath (and a deeper glass of wine!) and try speaking to them again tomorrow.

In the interim I can thoroughly recommend carrying an umbrella on walks...
Click to expand...

Whereas I surmise that you spoke to a civilian call handler when you rang the police. Their standard reply seems to be 'we can't do anything about that'! I would ring again, ask to speak either to a supervisor at the call centre or to the duty sergeant. The law has been broken, therefore it is police business.
 
Sorry to hear this. Try again with both and I'd pop him to the vet just in case there are any hidden puncture wounds under his hair.
If nothing happens I would then try the press. Like on the other post, having these dogs loose behind a small fence beside a footpath is just lunacy. And I have a large dog and live beside a footpath.

He may be a bit more reactive in future, I know mine would be, but just take things slowly and build him back up again.

There's nothing worse when you're alone with a dog on a lead and suddenly something huge and intimidating (with no recall) appears out of nowhere with the owner miles away and it's up to you to deal with whatever happens. Totally irresponsible and the answer is usually 'he's friendly/just wants to play/is a rescue' while it's trying to duff yours up....never 'Sorry'.
 
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