Robbi

Two and a half years ago I decided to adopt a Bull Breed from Canterbury Pound, after following her pound journey in the Canterbury thread and realising if she was going to survive it would mean I would have to be the one to help out.

The wonderful rescue woman who helped me get her over to Adelaide told me she was a Bull Arab type dog with a sweet nature but a whole lot of dog.

Even before she arrived I start researching what to expect as I had no experience with the Bull Breed having only owned and handled Whippets, Kelpies and Borzoi. I found a big swag of information videos done by Bad Rap, an American group that rescue and train (Pit) Bull type dogs, I spoke to Amstaff breeders at dog shows and spoke to other rescued Bull Breed owners.

I am glad I went into it with my eyes open as on an individual level I found Abbie to be more of everything- More unadulterated love, more manic energy, more joy all wrapped in a 35kg wiggle bum. Also she was more leash reactive, more dog selective and needed to have her focus kept on good behaviour rather than not so good behaviour.

It has been a wild ride but I have never, ever regretted my descision to add a Bull Breed to my family but if she had been left unsocialised, untrained and kept on a chain she could have turned into a very different type of dog, although I strongly believe any dog would.

Responsible dog ownership is the key to preventing dog attacks....

I remember in a previous thread Haredown Whippets shared a link about the main triggers of dog attacks, it was time and again proven that the main triggers included - Entire dogs, lack of socialisation, lack of obedience training and poor dog ownership skills. I am paraphrasing as I cant find the link that was used but it was informative and showed no breed prejudice.

I can label these dogs monsters and I have done so. As far as I'm concerned they are monsters of their breed whether human created or genetically predisposed. Yes the human created them and it is their fault but they are monsters regardless because of what they have done. If I can call nice dogs "cuddle bunnies" then I can call crappy dogs "monsters".

Your continued name calling of the dogs involved in this attack is insulting and not justified. You cant know what the circumstances were that triggered these dogs to attack. Take a moment to consider whether these dogs are as much victims in the whole disaster as the young lad and his dog. You do not know whether these dogs were teased and abused or whether they have been encouraged to be dog aggressive.

Name calling achieves nothing and certainly doesn't help the people and dogs involved

I can call them what I like as this is how I see them. Just like I call nice dogs "cuddle bunnies". this is my opinion and my view and they became monsters because of people.

I have had people call my Bull Breed x all sorts of rude names when out in public due to her looks, dogs aren't monsters, people can be however.

I can label these dogs monsters and I have done so. As far as I'm concerned they are monsters of their breed whether human created or genetically predisposed. Yes the human created them and it is their fault but they are monsters regardless because of what they have done. If I can call nice dogs "cuddle bunnies" then I can call crappy dogs "monsters".

Your continued name calling of the dogs involved in this attack is insulting and not justified. You cant know what the circumstances were that triggered these dogs to attack. Take a moment to consider whether these dogs are as much victims in the whole disaster as the young lad and his dog. You do not know whether these dogs were teased and abused or whether they have been encouraged to be dog aggressive.

Name calling achieves nothing and certainly doesn't help the people and dogs involved

There has been no formal breed identification announced by the media(only the usual profiling) but if you read the latest articles they have been called American Staffordshire Terriers by Bankstown City Council spokesman Paul Scott.

The owner has had them since puppyhood and he is the one that should be punished.....

Holy crap Batman!

Some sensible reasonable discussion of the issue in a newspaper is here

I await the usual suspects posts to tell me that these folk have no idea what they're talking about

What a balanced piece of writing, one of the least breed biased articles on dog attacks I have read in a long time, the onus has to be on the owner to keep their dogs contained and controlled regardless of breed or type....

purebred, crossbred, APBT, AMSTAFF, bite propensity, redirected aggression, dogs being dogs, monsters BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!

FACT! a dog of the size, strength etc that we are talking about, can (and have) caused massive physical injury, and death. Trying to explain it from an animal behaviour perspective and then trying to ridicule people that find what they have done as vile, is as ridiculous as calling the dog a monster. human beings kill and harm each other everyday, psychologists can explain to you in intricate detail as to why they do what they do. Do we accept that as "people just being people?" because we can explain the reasoning?

look at most of the recent fatalities/serious attacks and every one of them end up being

Large breed bull/or similar powerful breed dog

now, i totally agree with not blaming the "breed" but we can scope it down to a type and usually, it would appear to be the type of dog that appeals as being a penis extension to idiots. Now as far them (the idiot) being insecure and the behaviour that they have displayed (buying a penis extension) and not taking sufficient care or management of that extension, that is a case of "people being people" which unfortunately you have about as much chance of changing as stopping dogs having the predisposition to be a dog. So as I see it

It is not a single breed and hence banning a breed cannot stop this happening in the future

we cannot stop people being people

we cannot stop dogs being dogs

what will probably happen is that the government will ban all dogs of the "type" that idiots would want to own. which sadly will be all large bull, bull or if we are really unlucky any large dog governed by weight or height.

And it will be a very sad day indeed!

As a side note, personally, I am getting tired of hearing people trying to argue that aggression has nothing to do with breed or type, only then to try and explain that a dog is aggressive because it is not a pure breed? it cannot go both ways! but by arguing with such moving goalposts you will not help sort the issue out, only assist in making any legislation more general.

Very very sad

Compassionate, sensible post Luke.

As a Bull Breed owner it is sometimes hard to remain calm and logical when this type of dog is vilified and abused, called monstrous and has people baying for all its kind to be eradicated.

Bad owners=bad dogs, not monsters but dogs who haven't been given the skills to be the best they could be with a sensible owner who knows the needs/requirements of any dog....

:laugh: What a lucky boy, looks better than my car!!

Lets hope more dogs are released back to their families. So happy Butch is home :)

When my dog was about 6 months old - she had an experience with walking on water - ran across a pool cover (the bubble wrap floaty sort - not attached to the sides) - immediately after we had discussed "she wouldn't do that". She wasn't keen to try it again tho.

I have heard horror stories about dogs and pool covers, you must have been terrified that she may fall through. Dogs are the cause of many grey hairs :laugh:

Rescue dogs need all the help they can get, what an unfortunate tragedy that such a caring young woman lot her life in such circumstances but I cant help but agree with other posts that there were a lot of potentials for a disaster with so many dogs plus two newcomers.

:thumbsup: Way to go Rusty, I am sure you will be a well loved family member :D

I will be extra vigilant around water with Abbie from now on,I didn't realise some dogs were unable to stay afloat. My Whippet is quite a water baby as were my previous dogs. This has been a warning to me about water safety and dogs.

Yesterday my friend and I were walking the dogs around the River Torrens in Adelaide, we were standing near the edge of the bank near the festival centre watching a family of swans, Yogi and Abbie were on their leashes standing next to me .

Abbie took a step towards the water, lost her footing and literally torpedoed into the water, she didn't pop back up and it was fortunate that I had the leash firmly around my wrist, my friend and I reached down into the water and grabbed her by her collar and easy-walk harness and managed to pull her up onto the bank.

My question is can all dogs swim or not? Abbie didn't seem to try to paddle or struggle and I fear she would have drowned if we had not been there

Abbie is a 35kg Amstaff x, she doesn't like water and wont ever go near it at the beach or our dam, she was found as a pup wandering the streets of Bankstown in Sydney so maybe never saw water as a pup,would this make a difference in her swim ability?

While we are on the topic of breeds that complement or mesh well together, anyone with Staffords or experience with them want to give their insight into breeds that potentially mix well. Without knowing the personalities/temp of the dogs in question.

I'm not going to be adding to my current pack unless it's my grandmother's whippet, bless him. But just thinking down the road.

Edit spelling

I have a Bull Breed x bitch(desexed) and a male Whippet(desexed) they are the best of friends and Yogi Whippet is very much the boss.

They play well together and love doing zoomies :D

Once people start calling for the extermination of a breed/type of dog due to isolated incidents hyperboled by the media( I am in no way belittling the suffering or heart ache caused to the victims of these attacks, only the jaundiced reporting and breed misidentification) Emotions are going to run high, imagine worrying that at any time your family member is at risk of being killed because of looks alone.

Bsl does not stop the number of dog attacks in a community, move on from calling on breed bans and start looking for alternatives, this is what we must petition our politicians to do.

Tret is a legend, my son and I watch all his videos

My heart goes out to Andrew and his brother Allan, an awful, tragedy that will haunt them for a long time to come. My thoughts and prayers are with Bosley, that he recovers fully and isn't in pain while he heals. Rest in peace Matilda a well loved and brave guide dog and friend to a very special young man.

This whole situation is heart wrenching to all dog owners but for the pro bsl supporters to use this to call for total annihalition of a type/breed of dog is just as much of a tragedy, the ratbag owners need to be held responsible for these attacks, mandatory jail sentences, large fines and a ban on dog owning.

Ban the Bull Breeds and other breeds will follow, this is not what any body would want surely

We can come on either Saturday hopefully

Three mix breed dogs apparantly.........I can just imagine what the breed mix will be

For goodness sake is there one thread that you can keep your hatred of dogs from

The main triggers for dog aggression are not breed specific.

My thoughts are with the people who had to fight off three dogs I hope they are healing okay and dont suffer to many physical or mental scars

Three mix breed dogs apparantly.........I can just imagine what the breed mix will be

For goodness sake is there one thread that you can keep your hatred of dogs from

The main triggers for dog aggression are not breed specific.

My thoughts are with the people who had to fight off three dogs I hope they are healing okay and dont suffer to many physical or mental scars

parklea markets near me has been selling pups for years at at least 2 stalls, and one has very exotic pups, bostons, chi's, cresties, BB.

Its an aweful site to see them in cages being poked all weekend.

pfft i've seen the most disgusting things at parklea markets including a stall that promotes dog fighting the skum bag!

What a nightmare, is there anybody you can report this to? Scum that promote dog fighting need to be exposed and prosecuted, they have no place in our society

One more thing - if you asked me if it were possible that there are ethical non-ANKC registered breeders, breeding companion animals, then my answer would be a resounding "yes".

But they appear, from what I can gather, to be as rare as rocking horse poo.

And how Jo Average is going to find one, I simply do not know.

Handwritten cardboard sign attached to a light pole saying 'staffie pups 4 sale'?

That's "English Staffie" please.

Blue English staffie....

"Rare" Blue English Staffy!

Hopefully they will get a good size crowd, I will be there in spirit. I think the recent killing of Bear and Kooda has raised more peoples awareness of bsl in Victoria and the true evil that it is and the heartbreak that it causes

Someone had posted this on another thread and I thought it was a pretty good example of BSL not being helpful

:)

Awful, just a witch hunt by sadists who need to make themselves feel bigger by hurting and harming innocent dogs. This makes me feel sick