Dog attacked my child (St Aiden's Road) (Lounged)

[mandyw]

In response to the enquiries re the dog attack on St Aiden's Road 3 weeks ago, it was my 6 year old daughter who was mauled by what I think was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in a totally unprovoked attack. She sustained terrible injuries to her right leg and is now terrified to leave the house. The dog was outside, unsupervised, and the owner, who must have heard me screaming for help, did nothing to help us. Furthermore, when the ambulance arrived, she simply let the dog back in and shut the door. As far as I am aware she has made no effort to enquire about my daughter's condition since the attack. As a family we are obviously traumatised and extremely angry. I want to thank all the people who did come to our assistance and bravely beat the f****ing thing over the head in an attempt to get it off her. These dogs are dangerous, once their jaws are clamped round it's prey, it's extremely hard to get them off, as their jaws lock. It was a terrifying experience and she could have lost her foot if it weren't for the intervention of those people. Indeed, had it got to her throat it would have killed her. What is astounding is that the animal wasn't immediately removed and destroyed. Be warned folks, dogs and their owners seem to have more rights than children.

[Brendan]

Have they not put the dog down?

[giggirl]

Mandy that's just awful. I'm so sorry for your little girl. I really do hope she can eventually put it behind her.

[Pongo]

are you going to court over it Mandy?

[Huggers]

Thats horrible. Hope you reported it to the police. If you havent, do. My friend was similarly mauled in Brixton a few years back and it went to court, but she could not indentify the accused dog for certain. If you had witnesses you haven't got that problem. If the dog was in the street and not in the owners's secured garden then they should be prosecuted, open and shut case I would have thought.

[jimbo1964]

That's terrible. What have the police done? Like Brendan says it should be destroyed (along with the owners). I hope your little girl makes a speedy recovery. I have a toddler and live just around the corner so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

[lozzyloz]

It's sickening that any toddler is attacked because a dog owner can't control their pet. I hope that your child makes a full recovery, though I fear she will always bear the mental scars. I don't understand either why the dog has not been put down. There seemed to be enough people that witnessed the incident. Have the police given a reason? Is there anything further that can be done to get this dog of our streets?

[mandyw]

No. According to the Police it doesn't work like that. They don't remove and destroy them as a matter of course. For the Police to prosecute the owner, the dog gets to stay with the owner until the case goes to court, which would take several months. The alternative course of action, in which we had a say, is that the owner agrees to sign the dog over to the Police for 'assessment', and they are given the assurance that it won't be automatically destroyed. We obviously felt that this, at least, must be done, for the safety of others. Meanwhile, we are left with the responsibilty of pursuing a civil case. To date, we have not been informed of the dog's fate.

[ratty]

Give us the address of the owner - we can go round and make an example of them!

[James]

The sad thing is it's the owners, not the dog, who are to blame. This forum is always full of people poking fun at the organic vegetables & bugaboo brigade but at least they don't bite! I have a dog and all the dog owners I know would never dream of allowing their animals to behave like this. There are some revolting chavs about (the owners of dogs like this are always chavs) with absolutely no sense of personal responsibility. My heart goes out to your poor daughter, I hope she's okay.

[lilolil]

Wasnt this the same dog that attacked other children that morning??????

I would go to the press.

[KalamityKel]

Was it not already briefly mentioned in the SLP? Possibly wrong... but maybe you should follow it up in any case.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Can you describe the dog? What colour it was etc, incase the owner gets it back.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Mandyw - absolutely horrified for you. I can't begin to imagine the hell you are going through. I hope things improve sooner rather than later for you and your girl

[MadWorld74]

Why have you not rung the police and demanded they do something?

[BARA]

As a former do owner, I am amazed how irresponsible other owners can be. One of our greyhounds accidently caught a cat who suddenly appeared out of a gate. My husband hit the dog hard to allow cat to escape, he knocked on the door of the house the cat came from but got no reply, but got a reply from a neighbour, he explained what had happened and gave a telephone number in case the cat was injured so that he could meet vet's bills. All of our dogs have been insured, and I also believe we were insured under our household insurance. The cat was injured slightly but the owner did not want any financial assistance. From that day on, the dogs wore muzzles out in the street. We had to explain they were not dangerous to humans but only to cats and some other dogs (usually the small snappy ones). Much as we cared for our dogs, if they ever went for someone for no reason, we would have to have them put down.

Hope your little girl is getting better. Have you informed yourlocal councillor of this attack?

[Asset]

I was bitten by a dog as a child, nothing like as bad as this incident and the dog was destroyed immediately. I suppose it may have been with the consent of the owner, I don't really know. I just find it bizarre that nothing can be done. I presume you will be taking the owners to court. Make sure you take photos of your daughters injuries.

CWALD - the owner still has the dog apparently

[bawdy-nan]

I'm so sorry to hear about this. It must have been absolutely awful for you.

The attitude of the police feels really odd.

I know that owners of these dogs say that, with the right training, they can be great pets I find it hard to believe.

I visited a dog rescue centre in Hammersmith where most of the animals they were taking in were Staffies. Often they couldn't be re-homed because they had been trained to attack or were totally out of control.

I see more and more ofthem on the street, sometimes not on a lead and sometimes on a lead held by someone who, if the dog decided to would probably be unable to control it.

Of course there are responsible dog owners and I generally like dogs, even the exuberant sniffy ones in the park but it seems to me that humans have to take precedence.

I really think there ought to be a return to dog licensing of some kind.

As far as prosecution goes the owner was clearly in breach of the law relating to proper control of his/her dog in a public place. It can't be allowedto happen again.

What are the council doing about this? Whatever happened to cleaner greener safer?

[Mscrawthew]

Mandy, I am so sorry to hear about your little girl and I hope this dog and its owner will be dealt with A.S.A.P What makes me sad is the fact that she will more than likely be petrified of all dogs for the foreseeable future and that isn`t very nice for anyone, Let alone a child. You did say you think it was a stafford, is there anyway you can confirm this as I would hate for yet another Sterotypical thread regarding Staffords.I.E "There are some revolting chavs about (the owners of dogs like this are always chavs)"or "I know that owners of these dogs say that, with the right training, they can be great pets I find it hard to believe" Yes unfortunately, There are a lot of very sick, irresponsible people out there (amongst them a lot of young males) who will own a Stafford for a few months as "fashion" statement and either abandon it or use it as a means of gaining "respect" or even worse as a form of controlled violence during various illegal activities. There are also a lot of people who own Staffords because they are such a lovely breed of dog and history (and a bit of research) will show you that they have a great reputation for being a friendly, family dog. Unfortunately there are a lot of Staffords in rescue centre`s because the novelty wears off pretty quickly and at the end of the day a lot of them haven`t had a good start in life, If they are to aggresive to be rehomed a lot of charities would never leave them in rescue centres as it would be kinder to the dog to put it to sleep. ANY dog can bite, ANY dog can attack, ANY dog untrained and off of a lead can do damage.

YES whatever breed this particular dog is at no point should there be any hesitation in destroying it immediately, it`s disgusting that the police haven`t done a thing. Please remember a dog only knows what it is taught and sadly that sometimes is all the wrong things and the reflection should be on the ignorant owner, not the breed.

[pretty polly]

OMG!!! what a terrible ordeal you have been through! u should let us all have their address, i walk up there sometimes, and am scared of dogs!! and i am sure if these idiots left their dog to do such a horrific things to a little girl and didnt even try to do anything would surely leave the dog to do something like that again!! i think that it is terrible that the police won't do anything about it, your poor little sweet heart!! funny thing is , compare this to the guy who was given a criminal record for an over full bin...... there's something worse with this system some where! good luck!! i think you will have alot of support from the local community if you took this further, after all it does concern all doesn't it!!!

[macroban]

I am sad to read this thread.

On a practical level for future reference can anyone advise:

1) The "best" way to release the dog from a child: i.e. quickest and with least further injury to the child.

2) The quickest way to kill the dog when it has a bite-hold on a child.

Thank you.

MacRoban

[bawdy-nan]

Mscrawthew - I totally take your point.

I have done some research on this and I know and accept the arguments. I probably didn't express myself clearly enough. I do find it hard to believe that Staffies make good pets. Thats not say they don't. I just find them a bit scary looking, very powerful and fast - which is probably why they've become a tough guy accessory.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

What happened was appalling and I am wondering why the owners haven't been prosecuted, as the police (in SE1 where I used to live) are usually very quick in my experience to deal with dangerous dogs and their owners if anyone is hurt.

What is also distressing however is people going on to brand a whole class of people (ie chav dog owners) as being somehow to blame because of this person's behaviour.

Would you condemn all men for the violence and abuse of a minority, or all mothers because a few neglect their kids?

Please can you think before you post sweeping generalisations about people who have nothing to do with what happened and who know how to treat their dogs and neighbours properly. The hostility that responsible dog owners get because of a few criminally negligent people, nowadays is unfair and divisive.

[bawdy-nan]

If you mean what I have posted I think you are being unfair. Please read my posts again.

All I said was that I know what Staffie dog owners say and I know that one of the most powerful arguments they make is that it is irresponsible dog owners who are the problem.

I also expressed my gut feeling which is I find the breed a bit scary - whether or not that is justified is a different matter, but, to my non-dog owning eye they look powerful and fast and, off the leash or in the hands of someone quite young or not very strong, they make me nervous.

Has anyone posted sweeping generalisations about people? I certainly haven't. I'm wondering if, given the late hour (:)) you perhaps didn't have a chance to grab the gist fully...

Why do you assume that I am making some kind of social categorisation or judgement here? The only thing you might construe as being a generalisation is my statement that the dogs seem to be increasingly used as a kind of tough guy accessory. I absolutely stand by that but it that doens't mean I think all owners of such dogs have them becasue they want to look tough.

As far as my suggestion that there is a return to proper dog licensing goes surely that would be good for responsible dog owners, the dogs themesleves and society at large.

[citizenED]

Mandyw, I am so sorry to hear about your ordeal. I really trust your little girl is getting better and that the psychological scars eventually disappear.

Regards, Citizen