UK laws regarding 'dangerous dog' owners - Page 2

Greyhoundgirl  - who says we can't use anti-bark collars ?
In Wales, ELECTRIC collars are banned - but not yet in the
rest of the UK;  and nowhere are we stopped from using
those which spray citronella, or whatever.

Not that I choose to use those aids myself, although I might
do if circumstances made any one of them the only answer to a
problem.

I wasn't actually talking about dogs barking at the fence of a property;
when of course what you say is true.  I was agreeing with Uschi that
when you walk down the street or through a public park, if you have one
of these reactive Shepherds (or any other breed)  that do this barking and
scrabbling to get at other peoples' dogs they pass,  it can be a pain unless
you get on top of it.  And could lay you open to legal problems, in the current
UK climate.  The Law does not recognise why your dog is doing this, 
whether it is because it is worried and thinks the best form of defence
is to go on the attack & 'warn off',  or whether it is just under-socialised
and excited.  And unfortunately a lot of humane workers, local authority
Wardens (animal control), and police officers are pathetically under -
equipped to make correct judgements about that, or what is "dangerous",
or the owner's degree of ability to control it.

 

Okay, so greyhoundgirl, do you mean that when your dogs bark and you're 'all over them,' how do you prefer to shut them up? Do you put them in their cage? Shelby still barks if I do that because she's already in an excited state. Do you maybe spank them? Sorry, I won't do that to my dog. Do you scruff them? Been there, done that. Once she calms down it's fine, but then let's say I'm sweeping again, she'll start to bark again. Should I never clean up my floors? Do you alpha roll them? There's debate on whether or not that's advisable to do. 

Are your dogs dominant, submissive? 

There are times when I do like it when Shelby barks. If I'm particularly engrossed with something and haven't been paying attention, she'll let out a little whine or bark if she needs to go out. Normally she will sit next to the back door and stare at me, which is normally enough to get my attention (since I am usually watching her out of the corner of my eye). But like I said, sometimes attentions wander or get engrossed in something, and maybe I didn't notice her sitting at the door for a few minutes. 

Also, I personally do not feel comfortable using an electric collar on her while she's still so young. I've also never used one before and don't ever want to use one improperly. 

We've been progressing very slowly with her training, but laws don't normally make room for 'progression'- the law wants the results to be here and now, and does not often leave room for improvement (when it comes to dogs).

Dravensgl, I definitely see where you're coming from. Perhaps you can work with your dogs to become comfortable around other people again. I have heard other people share similar stories of someone or something scaring their dog. Definitely what that kid did was horrible, and a lot of kids unfortunately are not taught from a young age to respect animals, but you can always help your dog to overcome his fears. Trying to keep that kid away would be good too. A kid carrying a gun while unsupervised is never a good idea either.

Dogs have to bark because they are guard dogs. This is their misson.

I can't see what the new legislation is going to change.  The recent fatal attacks by dogs all occurred because stupid people failed to recognise the potential danger their dogs posed.  Does anyone really suppose for one moment that any of the owners thought their dogs would actually kill someone?   So increasing the penalty may well satisfy a bit of vengeance after the fact, but will do nothing to stop it happening in the first place when owners cannot see the risk.  Same thing with this compulsory microchipping, when these incidents happen, everyone knows who the dogs belong to, I've never heard of an anonymous dog killing anyone in UK, so what is the compulsory chip going to change?  Half the dogs I pick up as strays are chipped and more than half of those have out of date details, even  the ones who have been picked up before and the owners asked to update the database.  Even if the details are correct, a lot of them are still not claimed and there is nothing anyone can do about it.   

Margaret N-J

All of which is absolutely true, Margaret, of course !

I think the 'powers that be' are convinced that this will have
some effect on 'yobs' who parade around with their Staffie x
Pitbulls, looking to chain fight the dogs, or scare the local
populace.  They believe - or expect the public to believe -
that their dogs will bite;  [I don't suppose even they think they
might kill.]  Seems to be overkill in terms of numbers of
people involved, even in urban areas and even if you add in dogs
guarding crack houses and meth 'factories'.  But the Ministers want
to be seen to be taking some action,  and the Police want to be able
to reassure members of the public who complain they have been
scared by these dogs (or have had their Assistance Dogs attacked,
a small but real problem) that 'something is being done'.  For this
miniscule benefit, people who love and look after their dogs will still
have to pay, and suffer, whenever errors or malicious complaints are
made.   Like I said, 'Cart before the horse'.

Of course they cannot bark at night when everybody have to sleep. Except if something unusual occur.

This link is To read and sign the petition:

http://www.care2.com/causes/can-threat-of-life-in-prison-help-stop-dog-attacks.html

Mentayflor, thanks for the petition link.  Surprised Care2
haven't emailed me direct with it yet, I'm on their list.
I did get the official government email, to give my opinion
on the length of sentencing, couple days ago. [ Wahoo!,
government asked my opinion on something ]