This is absolutely awful, I can`t believe it. I`m so so sorry. RIP Morph

So sorry to hear about this.

I only ever walk my small dogs on leads round the pavements, as I'm too scared to take them to parks/open
spaces where bigger dogs (mainly staffs nowadays) run loose.

Really sad for you

and sad also, that it's not safe to take small dogs for a walk anymore.

im so so sorry to hear this awful news ,
my heart goes out to you ,
all our love sarah and kizzey x

A terrifying experience; so sorry for you all. I walk through the park most days with my young grandaughters on the way to school and we are constantly on guard with so many dogs off the lead. They look friendly and most have responsible owners in charge, but as today's incident proves, they are wild animals and we really have no way of anticipating their behaviour. In public places, dogs should be on leads, with perhaps one clearly signposted and gated section of the park where they could run freely with their owners in supervision.

Oh fuzzyboots! what a terrible thing to happen to you all and rip little Morph - he sounds an absolute treasure. Please pass on everyone's condolences and good wishes to Morph's owner. I can't begin to say how shocked I am that the police will not/are powerless to act if it is a dog on dog attack. That seems completely wrong, especially when the attack turns out to be fatal.

Hello everyone, I'm with Dara, Morph's mum, right now and she has been reading your kind messages of condolence and support.

Dara would like to thank you all for your comments, sympathy and kind thoughts. It is very sweet of you.

Trish

what a dreadful thing to happen - just too awful, and in front of a six year old child. How on earth can an adult be so oblivious to what is going on - and this is the rub, it is the dozy owners, not the dog.
In the heat of this, I am afraid I must disagree with you lilly123 with regards to all dogs being muzzled (and some have mentioned on leads in parks). I regularly walk a dog (actually a puppy)in dulwich and peckham. All the dog owners I have come across have been considerate and kind. the few times somebody's dog has been less than friendly they have been hugely apologetic for any bad manners (and this is a grumpy growl not a full blown attack). There is always some plonker who has no idea of how to treat/train an animal or behave in a considerate way to their fellow park users = dog walkers or not.

I do feel that perhaps licences should be brought back - at least a way of tracking who has a dog. If you walk your dog, you have to carry your dog licence - signed by your vet (or other approved body) it seems nuts that this dog had attacked before but the powers that be could do nothing.

What I feel is that yes there needs to be something done, but please don't punish all the responsible owners and their well behaved dogs.

This is horrific. I am so sorry to hear the outcome for poor litte Morph and your loss Dara and Fuzzyboots. Can I just get this clear that nothing can be done about these dogs and their owner until a human is attacked, is that right??

Dogs Act 1871

It is a civil offence if a dog is dangerous (to people or animals) and not kept under proper control (generally regarded as not on a lead nor muzzled). This law can apply wherever the incident happened. The dog can be subject to a control or a destruction order and you may have to pay costs.

You'll be lucky if anything is done, a few local dogs have been attacked in the past and the police have done nothing, one of them was a Scottie (one of my clients, I'm a groomer) he was attacked by 2 Pitbulls, nothing was done until the same 2 dogs attacked a Jack Russell and the owner was bitten in the process, then the police interviewed the Scotties owner, can't remember the outcome a friends Doberman was attacked on the common by a dog belonging to the Fairground people a few years back, he had a bad injury but don't think anything was done then either. Its all wrong

so, if your dog is attacked, stick your hand in?

If my dog was set upon i would have no hesitation in wading in and probably getting bitten in the process.

the law is bonkers

as in the case of the police officers attacked, the neighbours knew there was a problem dog but there seemed no power able to act.

my friends dog was attacked about 2 weeks ago on Peckham Rye by a dog with an owner exactly fitting these descriptions. Her dog was very traumatised and had a stroke the following day. My friend reported the attack to the park warden and the police.

My God. You walk in the park with your dog and it gets killed by another dog ?

I am so sorry. Poor Morph.

This is just so awful. I hope something is done about this vile dog owner soon. RIP Morph

How very very horrible for you fuzzyboots. My girlfriends dog was attacked by the same dog a couple of years ago in the same place. Fortunately she survived and it cost her a lot of money at the vets. She has never let her dog off the lead since, as a direct consequence of this attack. Regarding the Staffordshire dog owner, Peckham Rye attracts Scum more frequently than Dulwich Park so I would avoid wherever possible.

I think Civil offense means you have to go to a lawyer. Police won't help.


Pam50 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dogs Act 1871
>
> It is a civil offence if a dog is dangerous (to
> people or animals) and not kept under proper
> control (generally regarded as not on a lead nor
> muzzled). This law can apply wherever the incident
> happened. The dog can be subject to a control or a
> destruction order and you may have to pay costs.

what a terrible, frightening and sad thing to happen. I walk my dog on Peckham Rye and stay far away from any dog that looks like its running out of its owners control orbit. Can you say what time of day this happened- walkers are pretty regular so it may narrow it down to find this person. Big commiserations.

This is awful, I am so sorry for the owners, the little boy and the dog.

People need to be aware that many different types of dog can have a strong prey drive and, unfortunately, some staffy types have it within them to view small dogs as prey. The fact that 'Blue' was shaking the poor dog that died indicates this. Owners of these types of dog need to be particularly vigilant and UNDERSTAND the drives and motivations of the breeds they choose to own and take the necessary precautions.

The owner of 'Blue' sounds utterly irresponsible and, in my view should not be allowed to own a dog at all. The fact that this dog has performed this action once means it is almost certain to do it again.

We all need to be vigilant and report this person if he is seen out with the dog immediately. A dog like this cannot be let of lead around other dogs and my concern would be that the owner not only lets it off in the park but walks it offlead on the streets. There is the additional concern that if someone tried to intervene in an attack on their dog they might also end up badly injured.

Sorry, having read this thread properly it sounds as though 'Blue' has been attacking other people's dogs for a number of years and has now progressed to killing. Surely it would be worth collating all of the evidence, with witness statements and seeing if some kind of civil action can be launched against the owner- otherwise he is just going to carry on. He clearly knows what his dog is capable of doing.

I'm so sorry to hear this! How awful! My puppy was attacked by a dog of exactly the same description a few months ago when he was 4 months old. It was towards the girl school outside the park. There was also a brindle staff with it who also joined in. They were walked off the lead by a group of teenagers. I kicked Blue and scared it away from my puppy who was on the lead and couldn't move, and was verbally abused and pushed by one of the kids! I managed to get rid of them by shouting and got my phone out to call the police in front of them so they ran away. The police were absolutely useless and not interested... I'll warn all my friends who walk their dogs in the park. So sorry for little Morph!

I dont have a dog and I never go to peckham rye park because of the dogs! The attack is horrific - reprot to the RSPCC? I have no idea what can be done in these cases but surely there must be something!!!

Hi all,

It is very heartening to read your support and views about what happened to our darling little friend, Morph yesterday. To be honest, we're all just reeling from the suddenness and the huge loss we're feeling.

I will indeed go to see Mark the Head Park Keeper and report the incident to the Safer Neighbourhood folks and the RSPCA.

I would like to clarify to everyone what happened:

The dog in question was with his other dog companion and they both ran up to Morph and invited him to play with them, using play bows and bouncing. Because of the size difference between Morph and the other dogs, he crouched down with his ears down and I think that Blue, the offender, interpreted this either as submission or that Morph must, as mentioned above, be "prey". This was not an attack where the dog went tearing up to Morph with the clear intent of attacking him. It was a game that went horribly, horribly wrong.

I have described Blue as a staffordshire terrier, because that is the nearest description I can give with my knowledge of dog breeds. I am questioning my identification of him as a Staffie, because I've been looking them up on the internet and this dog seems to be leaner and taller than most of the staffie pictures I can see. He had a slim face and his body is lithe, not stocky. Maybe he is a cross with another breed, or simply a breed I don't know about.

If anything, I'd probably now describe him from memory as a cross between a staffie and a boxer in terms of his physique, although his chest was not as deep as a boxer's chest.

He and his companion were in very good condition. I had seen their owner carefully washing Blue off at the water tap at the loos at the Cafe Car Park entrance when I arrived there with Morph, so I actually assumed that he was washing off muddy splashes and would be on his way out of the park, not on his way into the park with his dogs.

If this dog is a Staffie, then from what I understand of them, they are NOT generally a threat to humans and indeed they are very affectionate with humans.

When we saw the lovely vet, Amber, at The Neighbourood Vet Centre yesterday, she was very clear that Staffies are brilliant with humans and absolutely rubbish with any other dogs. She mentioned that her very own dog had nearly been subject to an attack by a blue staffordshire the day before, but that at the last minute, the blue dog had been distracted by a squirrel, so the attack didn't happen.

I do not believe that whipping up concerns about children's safety is really helpful or accurate. When I ticked the dog off, he stood very obediently in front of me waiting for my instructions.

Obviously I feel very strongly that all dogs of this breed and nature MUST BE MUZZLED at all times in public.

I will post some more when I've had a chance to speak to Morph's mum again.

Thanks for your support - I can't tell you how much it means to Dara and me.

Best wishes

Trish/Fuzzyboots

I'm so sorry for the poor dog and the people involved. From the various posts, this 'Blue' dog has been hurt other dogs and the stupid owner is totally responsible. The dogs are either out of control or being encouraged to do this. I don't think you can be certain that someone or a child going to the aid of another dog being savaged will not get seriously hurt.For the sake of all park users, they should be identified. There must be a pattern to the times when these dogs are let loose there. If people pool this knowledge and log the events then at least the RSPCA / park wardens have something to go on.

Fuzzyboots,

Many thanks for taking the time to write more about this awful incident, especially under the circumstances.

Yes, it sounds like the interaction between the dogs went wrong, but it sounds as though this dog has attacked a few times. It seems that the dog might start off playing but it rolls over into something else, or the dog treats the other dog as though it is a toy. Given the opportunity I am sure this dog will try to do the same again.

It is known that bull breed types from what would have been fighting stock are not great at reading the body language of other dogs or of signalling their own 'intentions'. For this reason owners need to be extra vigilant with them around other dogs. As you say, they tend to be good/extremely biddable with people and children and I think this misleads a lot of owners who cannot grasp that while they may be reliable with humans they are less likely than the average dog to be reliabel with other dogs.

Again, I am so sorry for your loss and I am sure the local 'dog community' will help and support you in any way we can. Most of all in trying to get some redress for you.

in addtion to what First Mate says, when I went to dog training with Robert-off-dog-borstal who did classes in New Cross, he discouraged any 'play fighting' between dogs when young as he believed it gave dogs fewer inhibitions re aggression and then play could trigger a reflex aggression when they were older in a play situation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit was 2012:03:24:17:26:22 by Huggers.

So sorry for your loss, my heart goes out to you....poor Morph, I can only imagine how devastated you must be feeling

When one of my dogs was attacked at Xmas we rushed her home without getting the owners details as had to get her out of that situation quickly, she was on a lead. I managed to track the owner down last month and let them know the extent of the damage caused and the huge vet bills and are currently claming though their insurance. But more importantly I wanted to track them down as they weren't away that their dog had even bitten mine as they had gone off ahead of their dog when it happened. If you can I think you should track down this owner and make them aware of what happened to poor Morph!

The police will do something if a dog kills another under the dangerous dog act.

As a rule I don't allow either of mine to socialise with dogs they don't know, I don't allow strange dogs to even sniff them as you can never tell whether two dogs will get on or not. Only yesterday a dog (not a bull breed) ran over off lead aggresively brandishing it's teeth and went straight for my dog snapping for no reason other than it obvioulsy doesn't like the look of her, I got in the middle and had to drag her off the ground by her lead and swing her behind me to protect her.

I hope the owner of Blue is told about this and will seek the help of a behaviourist, keep Blue on a lead at all times and muzzled from now!

Isn't a problem with these dangerous dogs the fact that a lot of them are cross-breeds and there isn't an actual breed called a 'pitbull', only a pitbull-type? Most of the ones I see around seem bigger than staffs but not as big as those enormous banned ones like that Argentinian breed. I don't see how you could ban a cross-breed?

Also, you hardly see any rottweilers or dobermans around anymore, only these smaller, equally vicious dogs. Unfortunately it seems to be true that the more vicious the dog, the thicker the owner.

jctg, it doesnt take a pit bull to kill a small dog, just any larger dog that gets a grip and shakes it about. The problem here was an out of control dog. The dog wasnt out of control because it was a staffy or a particular breed but because it had a thoroughly irresponsible owner!

Bring back dog licences. Last week I sat in the japanese water gardens on Peckham Rye with my dog on his lead sitting by my feet when a totally unaccompanied staffy of some kind came tearing into that enclosure- where dogs HAVE to be on the lead- and started to terrorize the ducks. No one came looking for it. If it had been a dog aggressive dog we would have been totally trapped. The problem was an owner who didnt give a f*** and was probably engrossed in in their mobile on the other side of the park.

Well said Huggers, it's the owner to blame not the breed. Any breed of dog can be aggressive jctg! A dog can have fear based dog aggression and an owner can be seeking help for that dog....it's ignorant to assume that the more viscious the dog the thicker the owner!