melzawelza

How awful for all involved It's good at least for the owner of the attacking dogs to have taken responsibility and contacted DAS after seeing his dogs on the news. Many wouldn't have.

...in this source from another angle; I don't call this a sound fence to contain powerful dogs, however, I don't know how it looks from the inside. If there is nothing that would hinder the dogs from digging their way through it is definitely not suitable. so your dog is contained in an escape proof yard? Yes, please show us the fort knoxs you have created to keep your dog 100% safe from everything that could possibly happen. firstly: I don't own such powerful dogs! secondly: despite owning 'only' a BC, I took this tragic accident as a sad reminder to inspect my fence as one side is adjacent to a family with a toddler. This afternoon I will have a chat with the neighbour and we will inspect the fence from his site to discuss any potential safety issues. Your BC could easily do enough damage to a child's hand/arm that it would require amputation. I've investigated an incident where a tiny Poodle X practically degloved an elderly woman's hand - she needed specialist hand surgery. Do not underestimate how powerful ALL dogs mouths are. I don't underestimate the damage she can do - exactly that's the reason why I try to learn something from this accident and don't take it as god given.... By using the fact that you own a BC rather than a Malamute as reason why you shouldn't have to meet the extremely high standards for containment you are advocating for in this thread, you are clearly underestimating the damage your dog could do.

...in this source from another angle; I don't call this a sound fence to contain powerful dogs, however, I don't know how it looks from the inside. If there is nothing that would hinder the dogs from digging their way through it is definitely not suitable. so your dog is contained in an escape proof yard? Yes, please show us the fort knoxs you have created to keep your dog 100% safe from everything that could possibly happen. firstly: I don't own such powerful dogs! secondly: despite owning 'only' a BC, I took this tragic accident as a sad reminder to inspect my fence as one side is adjacent to a family with a toddler. This afternoon I will have a chat with the neighbour and we will inspect the fence from his site to discuss any potential safety issues. Your BC could easily do enough damage to a child's hand/arm that it would require amputation. I've investigated an incident where a tiny Poodle X practically degloved an elderly woman's hand - she needed specialist hand surgery. Do not underestimate how powerful ALL dogs mouths are.

Bloody awful situation, that poor girl and poor family. I can't even imagine how they're coping with all this. Very brave. If the dog/s have not previously been declared menacing or dangerous the council can't euthanise the dogs without prosecuting the owners and requesting it from a Magistrate - the magistrate has discretion as to whether to do so. If there were three dogs of the same breed in the yard it's very likely that the council were not able to discern which dog attacked and therefore prosecute. Even if they weren't the same breed it'd be hard given they were behind a colourbond fence. As far as examining the dog's stomach contents, I don't really know how they could force that if the owner didn't consent as there's no provisions in the Act to do that. Maybe the police would have the power but I'm not sure on that. My experience is that police don't really want much to do with dog attacks. Given the dogs were contained in their own yard at the time of the incident too, it may have been a shaky case (although if you knew which dog you could certainly make a declaration based on 'unreasonable aggression', considering what the girl is describing here is pretty bloody unreasonable). I think the key is likely not having definitive evidence as to which dog to take action against.

The staff at Nowra RSPCA are brilliant. Brooklyn will be in good hands. Seeing his rescue certainly made me teary. What a great community. So glad he's okay.

Staghound and Lurcher are usually 'type' terms that cover dogs of various crosses. For that reason they're not typically predictable in size or appearance, especially if you're getting a pup. Even if you see the parents, given the fact that they're mixed breeds the pups can really turn out to be anything. So many lovely young adult dogs of these types in country pounds, though, and if you're getting an adult you know what size and temperament you're getting, too. Bonus! Check out PetRescue and the rescue section here on DOL - specifically the country pound threads. Good luck! :)

Bites are going up in Calgary ever since Bill Bruce retired in 2012 and the program is not getting the same sort of funding and priority as it once was. Like anything, if you don't continue to resource an effective program it will start to fail.

Lots of good advice in here! All I'll add is stay away from Andonas. Puppy farmer with big health problems in his lines. If you're not set on a pup from a breeder there's heaps of great Amstaffy types (blue and otherwise) in pounds and rescue and the benefit of an older dog is that you know what you're getting temperament and appearance wise. Good luck!

I enforce leash laws in my day job and I manage to do it without assaulting people, or even verbally assaulting them. Yes, I get abused sometimes. Yes, people refuse to comply sometimes. It's part of my job to deal with that in a productive and respectful way. I see it as a challenge to see how many people I can get a 'thank you' out of after I give them a fine. You'd be surprised how many I get, just by being respectful and reasonable. I'd get fired if I behaved like these idiots and rightly so. I'm with Lee Kum Kee. It doesn't matter if he was being the biggest dickhead in the world - swearing at them and carrying on as they often do - it doesn't justify assaulting someone. That was 100% the decision and the fault of the council officers. And I've been on the receiving end of plenty of tirades, so I know what it's like.

He's rung others since this thread with the same story - it's just some creep getting off.

Absolutely. Dogs eat shit, and bones that have been buried for months. They can eat re-frozen meat :D

Absolutely! Bit by bit. I do hope that locals continue to push for best practice, there's no reason why Wollondilly can't implement it.

Update on the Wollondilly case. Council chose not to implement best practice for suspected restricted dogs however they have now got a formal procedure in place that gives any suspected restricted dog the ability to be breed and temperament assessed if a member of the public or rescue wants the dog. Not perfect, some way to go yet - but a big improvement. http://www.teamdog.com.au/wollondillyupdate/

Thought some of you guys might find this as fascinating as I did. A look back through the history of dog legislation in NSW, all the way back to 1830. If you're really in to this stuff like I am, I recommend following the links and skimming through the Acts in full - there's heaps more interesting things in there. A History of Canine Discrimination and Dog Legislation in NSW

I do agree that there are a lot of issues in some factions of the American Bully breeders, particularly in certain classes (they come in different sizes), but the breeders of the classic American Bullies are breeding some really beautiful, well put together dogs. Torque is one of my favourites (pics attached). The American Bully Kennel Club (ABKC) is extremely supportive of rescue and welfare groups, too. Financially and otherwise. There are definitely big problems in American Bullies, particularly in some classes, but there are a lot that are doing it right, too. The guy you speak of is a friend of mine and you're absolutely right. He's a perfect example of someone who would probably be targeted by Terrierman's post. But Nadia couldn't be a more well trained, socialised, healthy dog, and Rob couldn't be a more responsible owner. His two dogs have got a brilliant life working and excelling in many dog sports.

I don't really get the article or think there's much value in it. People have gotten dogs for the purpose of intimidation forever, and the dogs used for intimidation are certainly not limited to the umbrella of breeds that come under 'bull breed'. Different breeds have come in and out of fashion as 'intimidating dogs' over time, too. There's been a separation between show dogs and working dogs forever, and it exists in most breeds. Personally I'm more a fan of the terrier type working bull breeds, others prefer the blocky-headed show type. It exists in plenty of breeds and as long as both types are healthy, who cares? The vast majority of people that own these breeds and mixes own them simply as pets and family members. Indeed, the vast majority of *all* dog owners, regardless of the breed, own them as pets and family members. Also, he should maybe go up to and speak to some of these 'young men' DARING to walk their blockhead down the street. I have, and most of them adore their dogs and they are absolutely part of the family. Yes, even when they have tattoos. Yes, even when the dog is wearing a spiked collar. Yes, even when they are from a lower socio-economic background. They turn to mush when it comes to their dogs. But it's much easier to judge and make assumptions about them based on their age, their appearance and the type of dog on the end of the leash, I guess. I am the Majority

Effective at killing that individual cat, yes. Effective at reducing the cat population as a whole? All evidence points to 'absolutely not, you'll probably end up with even more'.

Unless you're talking about a very small island or you're spending big, big bucks to cat-proof fence small areas and being extremely thorough with your trap and kill within the fenceline (and then slowly creating more tiny fenced areas and continuing), the evidence shows that you'll just be increasing the cat population by culling. http://www.sciencealert.com/culling-feral-cats-may-actually-increase-their-numbers-study-suggests Increasing native flora biodiversity and ground cover also seems to have much more impact than culling or restricting cats. http://media.murdoch.edu.au/cat-legislation-not-effective-without-conserving-bush The money being plowed in to throwing out baits willy-nilly on an enormous mainland is going to basically be flushed down the toilet, and we'll probably end up with more cats than we started as an added bonus.

Seeing as you know the dog and the owner I would report it to your council, especially as you've seen the dog loose before.

It's disgusting that we're still using 1080 in this day and age.

Absolutely agree, but I can understand why the community are upset. Especially when this isn't the first time those dogs have been out and about. I guess that's why they shouldn't get the chance the first time, nor the second. The pigs weren't that little though. Brave dogs! Pigs don't mess about. These dogs are aggressive. I'm sure they'd be interested in passing dogs, were there any. Why are you sure of that?

Pet Resorts Australia Dural - if kennels is what you're after that's where I'd be going.

And Hume have pretty much the worst reputation of all the councils down there. About a year and a half in to the current form of BSL their AMO said in court they'd killed upwards of 150 dogs under it already.

I'm actually suspicious of Hume. They've got a long history of seizing dogs and bullying and intimidating owners in to surrendering, and enforcing current BSL laws anywhere they can. That dog has a very blocky head. It would not surprise me one bit if officers had tried to bully the owner in to surrendering and then council backtracked and not admitting it....

I agree that DAS would have much more powers in regards to actioning the behaviour of the dogs than DAS, but if the owners didn't have permission for the dogs at that property and Housing failed to act to enforce the agreement despite complaints about their behaviour, I could certainly see them bearing some of the blame. More dogs will crop up in their place with this type of idiot, sadly. Yup. After an attack so severe the owner needs either some serious intervention and education or a ban on dog ownership.