Advice regards alot of agressive dogs in my neighbourhood

whatdoicare

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone can advise me,
I want to bring my baby out around my estate on her push trike (I live in a cul de sac but want to venture out to the rest of the area) but I'm having a huge problem with wandering/unleashed/unsupervised dogs growling and barking at the trike!! It's actually a bit frightening and I'm very nervous now as my baby is pretty much at biting level with dogs now and if a dog is acting aggressively towards us, if she lets out a squeal, he might attack!!

We had a pretty bad experience today and some of my friends are saying go to the Guards, some say Dog warden and then loads of others are saying none of them will do anything until the dog bites! :eek:

There's loads of young kids playing around my area and it's just a matter of time before someone is seriously harmed!!

What can I do to get something done about this? I wanted to walk to the shops today but I wasn't able!

ABajaninCork

Call the Dog Warden.

Dan_Solo

<snip>

Mod edit: banned

Advocating violence or cruelty in this forum will not be tolerated.
End of.
DBB

whatdoicare

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Call the Dog Warden.

Will s/he actually do anything?

lulu1

Guards or dog warden first thing tomorrow for it could be your child that is bitten

Dan_Solo

whatdoicare wrote: »

Will s/he actually do anything?

They'll pretend they called out, didn't see any problem or if they did they couldn't identify the owner and they'll he gone again until they log another 1000 calls to prompt then into "action".
First hand this is.

Dodd

What do the wheels of the trike sound like.
Some wheels will cause a dog to be afraid and react to it Skateboard for one.

lulu1

Can they not lift the dog if it running around the place

Dan_Solo

Dodd wrote: »

What do the wheels of the trike sound like.
Some wheels will cause a dog to be afraid and react to it Skateboard for one.

Um, why would this matter if dogs are under control as is legally required?

Vizzy

Control of Dogs Act 1986

Control of dogs.
9.—(1) The owner or any other person in charge of a dog shall not permit the dog to be in any place other than—
(a) the premises of the owner, or
(b) the premises of such other person in charge of the dog, or
(c) the premises of any other person, with the consent of that person,
unless such owner or such other person in charge of the dog accompanies it and keeps it under effectual control.
(2) If a dog worries livestock, the owner or any other person in charge of the dog shall be guilty of an offence unless it is established that at the material time the dog worried the livestock for the purpose of removing trespassing livestock and that having regard to all the circumstances the action was reasonable and necessary.
(3) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (2) of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment"

Basically if the dog(s) are loose, the dog Warden can seize them

Dodd

lulu1 wrote: »

Can they not lift the dog if it running around the place

Yes they can but rearly do.

ABajaninCork

The warden (if they're doing the job right) should find out who the owners are, and deal with it from there. If the dogs are strays, then he can take them away to the pound.

No point in calling the Gards. They'll just refer you to the warden.

Might also be worth raising the issue with your local councillors. Freshly elected, they'll be looking for brownie points!

Dodd

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Um, why would this matter if dogs are under control as is legally required?

Dogs are not always under control as legally required so if I had child I would try keep that child safe from dogs not under control in an estate where there are a number of these dogs.

lulu1

Dodd wrote: »

Dogs are not always under control as legally required so if I had child I would try keep that child safe from dogs not under control in an estate where there are a number of these dogs.

Yip I agree but Its too bad you cant walk around your own estate without the fear of other peoples dogs.

Dodd

lulu1 wrote: »

Yip I agree but Its too bad you cant walk around your own estate without the fear of other peoples dogs.

If the law was used then it would be fine but it's not so people have to guard them selves against it.

I live near Dublin centre and some people let there dogs out on the street even though they have a back garden.:(

gctest50

From top left,

Jack Russell bite, Weimaraner/Shorthaired Pointer mix, Cocker Spaniel bite, Golden Rettopic?
bite, Dachshund bite, German Shepherd bite, Anatolian Shepherd bite, Pitbull bite, Collie bite, Boxer bite, Malamute bite, and Labrador bite.

<snip>
NSFW
Give it a rest, please. Posts like this are utter scaremongering and bring little to the argument.
Now, can this thread, which thanks to a couple of OTT posts is turning into a train wreck, please get back on topic?
Helpful replies to the op only from hereon in.
Do not reply to this edit on thread.
Thanks,
DBB

lulu1

Horrific Cant look at this

Dodd

gctest50 wrote: »

From top left,

Jack Russell bite, Weimaraner/Shorthaired Pointer mix, Cocker Spaniel bite, Golden Retriever bite, Dachshund bite, German Shepherd bite, Anatolian Shepherd bite, Pitbull bite, Collie bite, Boxer bite, Malamute bite, and Labrador bite.

What has that got to do with this thread.?

gctest50

Dodd wrote: »

What has that got to do with this thread.?

Shows what any breed can do.

Dodd

gctest50 wrote: »

Shows what any breed can do.

Yes and a car could go out of control and hit you and your kid.
Do you think photos of that should be showed to the OP.

Billgirlylegs

Call the authorities if this is as you describe. It is not your problem to solve.
Call the gardai. If that does not sort it, call your local council.

Keep after them.

DBB

Back on topic please folks.
No more discussion of the photo which has now been removed, nor of any whataboutery.
Keep posts relevant to the op from now on.
Thanks,
DBB

Dodd

Back on topic plastic wheels can cause a dog to get defensive but not so much if the dog can get away.
If there are a few dogs then they are more likely to go for it to defend the rest from a perceived threat.

Qualitymark

Theorising that the dog warden won't do anything is a bit pointless. Call the warden. Ask him or her to come out and talk to you and offer to walk the warden around the neighbourhood at the time you normally walk it.

There's a €2,500 fine for not having a dog licence; dog fouling is subject to up to €3,000 fine if the owner is brought to court.

If the dog warden comes out and starts issuing fines for no licence, you may find that there's a sudden epidemic of responsibility among local dog owners.

tk123

Dodd wrote: »

Back on topic plastic wheels can cause a dog to get defensive but not so much if the dog can get away.
If there are a few dogs then they are more likely to go for it to defend the rest from a perceived threat.

Or if one is frightened the others might think they should be too. My younger dog does this when the older one is excited and gets excited herself.... without knowing what she's supposed to be excited about! :P

I'd be inclined to wheel the trike around without the kid on and let the dogs get used to it. You've got to work with the situation you've got until thinks improve. Say the warden comes out and the dogs are on lead passing by and under control - they'll probably still bark and growl at it if they're afraid of it? Dogs are within their rights to bark and growl at stuff - it doesn't mean they're aggressive child eaters. My dog barks and growls at skips outside houses some times :rolleyes: but has never savaged a child.

Also OP if you're sending vibes to the dogs they could be reacting to that too - that's not meant to be an excuse for them being out of control but something to think about. I had somebody giving me and my (on-lead) dogs filthy looks the other evening for no reason and one of them started growling - we were walking along minding our own business.

whatdoicare

tk123 wrote: »

Or if one is frightened the others might think they should be too. My younger dog does this when the older one is excited and gets excited herself.... without knowing what she's supposed to be excited about! :P

I'd be inclined to wheel the trike around without the kid on and let the dogs get used to it. You've got to work with the situation you've got until thinks improve. Say the warden comes out and the dogs are on lead passing by and under control - they'll probably still bark and growl at it if they're afraid of it? Dogs are within their rights to bark and growl at stuff - it doesn't mean they're aggressive child eaters. My dog barks and growls at skips outside houses some times :rolleyes: but has never savaged a child.

Also OP if you're sending vibes to the dogs they could be reacting to that too - that's not meant to be an excuse for them being out of control but something to think about. I had somebody giving me and my (on-lead) dogs filthy looks the other evening for no reason and one of them started growling - we were walking along minding our own business.

i don't really care if dogs bark at us when they are under control, i would expect a dog to bark at a wheeled object, what i don't like is dogs not under control going for us. Im not interested in why they do it, im only interested in protecting my baby and not being trapped in my home because of it. Husband is onto the warden now, well see what he says.

mymo

Do call the dog warden, it depends on the area, I hear some areas they do nothing, but I had to call about 4 years ago about 8 dogs from one house running around in a pack trying to attack other dogs on leads (mine on several occasions) and whatever he said, 4 were gone within days and they rest in a pen in the garden from then on.

sillysmiles

tk123 wrote: »

Also OP if you're sending vibes to the dogs they could be reacting to that too - that's not meant to be an excuse for them being out of control but something to think about. I had somebody giving me and my (on-lead) dogs filthy looks the other evening for no reason and one of them started growling - we were walking along minding our own business.

On this, is it not more likely that you was pissed off by the person giving your dogs filthy looks and that your dogs were reacting to you and the tension from you rather than from a stranger.

sillysmiles

I would bring the trike out around the street and learn how they react to it without your child.
Any idea who owns any of the dogs?

tk123

sillysmiles wrote: »

On this, is it not more likely that you was pissed off by the person giving your dogs filthy looks and that your dogs were reacting to you and the tension from you rather than from a stranger.

No I wasn't really aware of the person until he growled - I was in a world of my own lol! :P We're used to people giving is dirty looks (2 retrievers) so I'd seen her looking and kept walking - I wasn't dwelling on it or anything to make him react.

sillysmiles

But if you weren't aware of the other person how do you know they were giving filthy looks before your dog growled. If a dog growled at me then I would give it filthy looks too!!

Not being deliberately argumentative, I just think sometimes it is too easy to excuse what a dog does as being a reaction to something else rather than the instigators.

In the case of the OP - yes the dogs may react to the trike or they could just be nasty dogs.

whatdoicare

sillysmiles wrote: »

I would bring the trike out around the street and learn how they react to it without your child.
Any idea who owns any of the dogs?

How do you suggest I react to a dog growling and snapping at the bike? Its one thing saying learn how to react but there really isn't any way to react.

tk123

whatdoicare wrote: »

How do you suggest I react to a dog growling and snapping at the bike? Its one thing saying learn how to react but there really isn't any way to react.

Are you genuinely asking what to do or being argumentative - i honestly can't tell? I'd put the trike down and step away from it - they'll probably sniff it and walk off. While you're at it record them growling and snapping at the trike and post it here if you actually want feedback. It'd be handy for you to have evidence for the warden or indeed the owners.

sillysmiles

How I would react is not allowable to mention under the forum rules.
But all I'm saying is that you would know if the dogs react aggressively to the trike and then you have extra information for the dog warden and you would know it is 100% not a safe environment for your child until the dog issue is sorted.

I don't mean that you should learn how to react to them, but rather that you learn how they will react to you and the trike - they might take no notice of it.

whatdoicare

sillysmiles wrote: »

How I would react is not allowable to mention under the forum rules.
But all I'm saying is that you would know if the dogs react aggressively to the trike and then you have extra information for the dog warden and you would know it is 100% not a safe environment for your child until the dog issue is sorted.

I don't mean that you should learn how to react to them, but rather that you learn how they will react to you and the trike - they might take no notice of it.

well you wrote take the trike out and learn how to react not take the trike out and see if theyll do anything.
i really don't think im going to go and put myself in that situation, im not at all comfortable trying to video an aggressive animal in close range on the off chance the warden might like to see it. Im going to take the advice of continuous reporting to the Warden and contacting a local politician. I believe this will be the safer option.

I'm also not going to put an expensive trike down and walk away from it, it might encourage another child to go into the area to get it or it might get damaged or stolen.

ABajaninCork

OP. Instead of sitting here arguing the toss about the trike -have you called the Dog Warden yet? Did you get in touch with your local councillors??

borderlinemeath

whatdoicare wrote: »

well you wrote take the trike out and learn how to react not take the trike out and see if theyll do anything.
i really don't think im going to go and put myself in that situation, im not at all comfortable trying to video an aggressive animal in close range on the off chance the warden might like to see it. Im going to take the advice of continuous reporting to the Warden and contacting a local politician. I believe this will be the safer option.

I'm also not going to put an expensive trike down and walk away from it, it might encourage another child to go into the area to get it or it might get damaged or stolen.

I think what TK123 is trying to say is that the trike may be the trigger for the aggressiveness as dogs in general are not used to seeing children on trikes getting pushed around and may act out of character when face to face with one. Not many dogs are used to buggies/trikes/scooters/flickers and will act out of character. One of my own dogs hates the sound of my OHs quad bike and gives a "stranger danger" bark when it's turned on, and it can sound quite aggressive if you're not used to dogs, or how to deal with them.

I agree dogs should not be allowed out to roam, and their owners should be made keep them on their own property, but the trike could be the trigger than is setting them off and it's worthwhile knowing if they would just ignore you if it's just when you're walking by. Getting evidence can be extremely useful as the dog warden may visit and there could be no sign of the dogs at all but if you have evidence then there could be grounds for a prosecution if the dogs are eventually seized.

sillysmiles

whatdoicare wrote: »

but I'm having a huge problem with wandering/unleashed/unsupervised dogs growling and barking at the trike!!

This is the bit I was talking about. It would (I think) give you piece of mind or knowledge to know what would happen. They could just be reacting to it.
Nothing might happen.
Something might happen.

At the moment dogs are barking. Not all barking dogs are aggressive. Not all dogs that bite, bark first.

At the moment all you have told us is that the dogs bark at the trike - everything else is assumption of the worst case scenario. No one is suggests putting your child in danger - but if it was me, I would want to know how they react to it. Informing myself would make me feel better able to predict possible outcomes.

sillysmiles

whatdoicare wrote: »

well you wrote take the trike out and learn how to react not take the trike out and see if theyll do anything.

Actually what I wrote was

I would bring the trike out around the street and learn how they react to it without your child.
Any idea who owns any of the dogs?

borderlinemeath

Thinking about it, those trikes could look pretty much like hoovers through a dogs eyes, tall handle, pushed by a human, makes a strange enough noise Unless a dog is completely bombproof and has been socialised from the day it could hear a hoover then it will react one way or another. The vast majority of dogs really don't like them and either shy away or bark at them.

whatdoicare

Listen, I'm not interested in why the dog is barking, it's not important. The dog obviously thinks that area is his territory and is attacking everyone and anything he perceives as encroaching on that.

It doesn't matter if he's scared of hoovers or bikes or clouds - the only thing that matters is that one day he might decide he's sick of being scared and that he's going to attack and that "hoover" might be a child.

There's no point saying that he might never do that as we all know there have been plenty of dogs who put up with unreal things like toddlers crawling all over them until one day they decide they've had enough and then all of a sudden, baby is in hospital, dog's on his way to be put down and the owners are all over the news saying how gentle the dog was and they can't understand what happened. I'm trying to prevent this.

I like Dogs, my family own dogs, we are responsible owners.

The bottom line here is - there's a dog not in control, barking and snapping at people. I'm not interested in going near him or analysing his barks or trying to decipher if hes barking, snapping and growling out of fear or anger. I want him inside or in his back garden and then on a leash when he is outside. If he still can't control himself then I also want a muzzle on him. That's the only outcome I'm looking for here.

I've contacted the Warden, he's already been complained about multiple times so what I'm going to do is send my husband down every night for the next few weeks and if the dog is out I'm going to ring the Warden and keep ringing until something is done. If nothing is still done I'm going to take the dog and put him in the pound and tell them I found him roaming.

borderlinemeath

whatdoicare wrote: »

Listen, I'm not interested in why the dog is barking, it's not important. The dog obviously thinks that area is his territory and is attacking everyone and anything he perceives as encroaching on that.

It doesn't matter if he's scared of hoovers or bikes or clouds - the only thing that matters is that one day he might decide he's sick of being scared and that he's going to attack and that "hoover" might be a child.

There's no point saying that he might never do that as we all know there have been plenty of dogs who put up with unreal things like toddlers crawling all over them until one day they decide they've had enough and then all of a sudden, baby is in hospital, dog's on his way to be put down and the owners are all over the news saying how gentle the dog was and they can't understand what happened. I'm trying to prevent this.

I like Dogs, my family own dogs, we are responsible owners.

The bottom line here is - there's a dog not in control, barking and snapping at people. I'm not interested in going near him or analysing his barks or trying to decipher if hes barking, snapping and growling out of fear or anger. I want him inside or in his back garden and then on a leash when he is outside. If he still can't control himself then I also want a muzzle on him. That's the only outcome I'm looking for here.

I've contacted the Warden, he's already been complained about multiple times so what I'm going to do is send my husband down every night for the next few weeks and if the dog is out I'm going to ring the Warden and keep ringing until something is done. If nothing is still done I'm going to take the dog and put him in the pound and tell them I found him roaming.

Now I'm a bit confused. The thread title says "A lot of aggressive dogs" and now you're saying it's only one dog? Do you know who owns him?

By the way, you can only insist on a muzzle by law if the dog is on the Restricted Breed list. It's not up to you to insist otherwise. Is this dog/dogs on the list?

whatdoicare

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Now I'm a bit confused. The thread title says "A lot of aggressive dogs" and now you're saying it's only one dog? Do you know who owns him?

By the way, you can only insist on a muzzle by law if the dog is on the Restricted Breed list. It's not up to you to insist otherwise. Is this dog/dogs on the list?

Sorry, thats bad grammar on my part, there's actually three dogs. One on the bottom of my hill, one to the left and one to my right. I had a particularly bad experience with the one on the left yesterday and I guess I'm most concerned with him right now.
I didn't know that about the muzzle - I would have thought if a dog is snapping and biting then a muzzle would be required. What happens if they are not a special breed?

Kukey

If they are not a special breed ie on restricted breed list,then they don't have to wear a muzzle.Even though dogs are aggressive.You are right you should be able to wheel your child wherever you want,without fear of your child being attacked by roaming dogs! If you are in Dublin the Warden will usually respond to a complaint asap.

borderlinemeath

whatdoicare wrote: »

Sorry, thats bad grammar on my part, there's actually three dogs. One on the bottom of my hill, one to the left and one to my right. I had a particularly bad experience with the one on the left yesterday and I guess I'm most concerned with him right now.
I didn't know that about the muzzle - I would have thought if a dog is snapping and biting then a muzzle would be required. What happens if they are not a special breed?

By law the only dogs required to be muzzled are those on the RB list. A responsible owner should muzzle their dog (non RBs) if it appears aggressive in public towards members of the public or other dogs, but it's wholly dependent on the owner. If, however they were charged with having a dog out of control then they may be compelled to muzzle the dog but it depends on the judge. Although usually if there has been an incident the dog is pts rather than the owner keeping it with conditions. If owners are indifferent and irresponsible enough to let their dogs roam then they probably wouldn't be pushed into keeping a dog with law abiding conditions and take the lazy way out

Qualitymark

If the warden has been contacted several times before and has done nothing, why is this? Is he afraid of the dogs' owners?
Is there a community garda you can talk to, if the warden doesn't take action?
The trouble with these barky dogs is that they're liable to turn your child into someone who's afraid of dogs.