Woman killed by two bull mastiffs in Galway

What a horrendous way to go.

Why oh why are people so incapable of or unwilling to control their dogs, especially those breeds predisposed to aggression?

Suddenly everyone are dog experts now. Its tragic what happened, but that's about it, dont care for breed or size if it was toddler and some ****zu chewed its face outcome would be the same, people kill each other for no good reason and trying to understand animals thinking and claim one isnt capable is like predicting future from tea leaves.

I was just at Tesco in Bray, a guy who was definitely on something asked us for spare change while his husky growled at us.
He looked like a gust of wind could knock him over, there's no way he could control the dog if it wanted to attack someone.

Definitely agree with having to prove yourself competent before you own a dog, looked like a disaster waiting to happen

MadDog76 wrote: »

What jumps out at me from that List is the amount of breeds from the Restricted Breed List that have actually killed people, ie. the RB List has obviously been compiled based on facts ........ they are capable, and more than willing, to kill humans.

For heavens sake warn the blind who have German Shepherd guide dogs

MadDog76 wrote: »

I think you've proven yourself irrelevant to the discussion at hand on this thread at this stage .........

Says the Pit Bull breeder.

Xmas .... kids getting presents and attention....excitement....jealousy.....attacks?

Wasn't there always warnings about a new child being brought into a house with a dog?

And how the dog could get jealous of the attention it was getting?

please helpThank YOU wrote: »

Scum bags dogs pit bull mastiffs f**K ing scumbags walking around thinking there hard with them dogs.

Eloquently put....and I fully agree.
Certain dog breeds seem to attract a higher proportion of, how can we call them, less desirable members of society.

Its time it cost serious money to own a dog, a hefty annual fee.

If you had to pay €100 a year to own a dog, there would be a lot less demand, especially from the tracksuit brigade.

JennyZ wrote: »

My two cents worth ..I noticed over the Christmas period ( two years ago) there were a spate of dog related incidents in the UK that particularly related to unfortunate incidents that happened in grandparents houses. why is this.
I think while dogs can be so good at heart the grandparents may be stressed with the visits and the dogs pick up on that stress and they may be particularly agitated because of it.

You're partly right, but to realise why a dog isn't happy with a child in it's midst you have to go right back to when they were pups.

Puppies have a finite window of time to learn how to be confident. And that little window of time starts from the minute they're born to about 16 weeks of age. No breeder should remove pups from the bitch before 8 weeks but puppy farmers and cheapskates who don't like the idea of 3 weeks puppy food eating into their profits will try and sell the pups from about 5 weeks. Reason being the bitch will wean the pups at 5 weeks and "kick them out" as such. So you'll get the spiel that the mother has "rejected" them or is "growling at them. Of course she is! There's a litter of pups with tiny needle like teeth still attempting to feed from her!

But there's valuable teaching still to be done during this time, one of the most valuable is "bite inhibition", where puppies will play fight or try it on with each other and their mother and she will tell them off when they get too rough or go too far. She also toilet trains during this time (when they're born she has to stimulate them to poo and wee and cleans up after them) but she ensures that they don't soil the den/bed so the first seeds of toilet training are sown. They also learn how to be confident with their siblings, with humans, of all ages and sizes - so this is where it's vitally important that if you want your pup to be confident and happy around children, then you should pick a breeder who is willing and able to adequately socialise the litter with them. Pick them up when they're even a day or two old (once the mother is comfortable) play with them when they're growing and learning. Household noises, such as loud tvs, dishwashers, washing machines, hoovers, all should be on as loud as possible for pups to acclimatise to.

When a pup goes to their new home at 8 weeks - if it's the grandparents, then the grandkids need to visit a lot so the pup is used to them being in the home, and used to the noises and actions that kids make - running, screaming, jumping, lying on the floor etc. Now, imagine a fully grown dog in an adult only house experiencing this for the first time? Experiencing the tornado of noise and activity that only a child can be, and if a dog hasn't any experience of this in the "fear imprint period" (which is that vital first 16 weeks) then it can be REALLY afraid. Also important to note that kids can also be the same height as some large dogs such as your average labrador and this can also be a threat, a toddler poking a dog in the eye or trying to pull at their ears is possibly the catalyst for nearly every dog bite where a child gets bitten in the face.

This isn't an exhaustive list, sometimes all it takes is a child to hug their grandparent and if you have a dog that's prone to resource guarding then there's danger there too.

TL:DR - if the dog is not used to children in the home, they are usually scared of them, scared of the noise and activity and while the grandparents may say "he wouldn't hurt a fly", the dog may never have experienced children so how can the grandparents tell?

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

if you KNOW what to do yes. Educate yourself. Many dog attacks come due to the lack of common sense of the people involved. LEARN about dog behaviour and what to do when an attack seems in evitable. learn also how to deter an attacking dog and free yourself. You've pointed out quite clearly it's the stupid owners.I agree. So don't rely on them to control their dogs, also learn what to do if something happens.

And where would one learn this? Is there a particular dog attack course you recommend? Any of the universities do one?