who should really be put down here?

[awaaar]

Dog or parents?

[Emz]

Very irresponsible parents if you ask me and they have paid the price

 

Maybe they didn't know the danger an america bull terrier was (and if my memory serves me right, I think that they need to have a licence too, to be in the uk), but still, if they knew the dog was violent they should have re-homed it while there was a child in the house...

[honest it got off]

both should be put down

why on earth would you keep a dog like that when you have a tiny baby about in my opion any dog right from a pitbull to a labrador big or small should idealy not be kept together i will probley be slated by people saying not all dogs are goin to savage a small child but can any body really understand whats goin through a dogs mind

[chubsta]

those dogs are illegal in the uk - they were committing a crime just by owning one....

 

i always wonder at the type of person who owns dogs such as pit-bulls - i think it is fair to say that they are generally owned by the sort of person who would like to project an image of being 'hard' - certainly in my town bull terriers and other dogs that are usually wearing studded collars and heavy chain 'leads' are always being walked by what are now known as 'chavs', and what we used to call 'dolite scum'

[Newt]

American Pit Bull Terriers - have gotten a bad reputation that largely is not deserved.

 

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanpitbull.htm

 

And it is interesting that they are illegal in the UK since the breed was originally imported to the US in the 1800s from - the UK.

 

http://www.ukcdogs.com/breeds/terriers/ame...rrier.std.shtml

 

Have any of the folks posting about how terrible/mean/dangerous they are ever spent any time around one of these dogs that has been well raised?

[Emz]

skippy:

Is there really any such thing as a bad dog - or are there just bad owners?

Bad owners imo because its the way they're brought up.

[Paul_D]

Skippy, never, ever, 'trust' a dog totally. It is a pack animal and every single guide/police etc. dog has the potential to confront a new addition to it's pack if it feels it's position in the social hierarchy is threatened.

 

The dangerous dogs act was a completely farcical knee jerk reaction brought in by a government bowing to tabloid pressure.

 

There is one very simple way of disuading scum bags from breeding from unsuitable breeds or stock......tax them! It's the black economy at its very worst to me, personally....Puppy farming. And it's so easily detectable if the authorities were only inclined to.

[jeepster]

bit of a strained analogy there though skippy, you don't need a licence for a kitchen knife, a hammer, a bicycle, a window box, a rusty nail sticking out of a fence etc etc. i could go on but you get the idea.........

[SandTiger]

Leached from... http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/main.asp?structureid=675

 

In 1990 and 1991 there was a sudden increase in the number of UK newspaper reports of dog attacks although there was no apparent rise in the number of dog bites. Initially, reports concentrated on the Rottweiler breed. During 1991 the emphasis seemed to shift to the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT). In 1991, in a knee-jerk reaction to public outrage, the Government introduced a hastily-produced and poorly thought out piece of legislation, the Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) 1991.

 

The Law

 

The DDA 1991 contained two main sections.

 

* Section 1 of the Act stipulated that owners of the ‘type of dog known as a pit bull terrier’ and three other breeds (Japanese tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero) had to fulfil certain strict requirements. These included keeping the dog muzzled and on a lead at all times in a public place, having the dog insured and neutered with the aim of the breeds becoming extinct in the UK. Owners of these dogs were not permitted to give away or sell their dogs and any dog of a prescribed breed or type had to fulfil all of the requirements of the DDA 1991 by November 1991 or would become illegal. Owners were also given the option of accepting a token compensation from the government for having their dogs voluntarily destroyed. Individuals of these breeds were and still are banned from being imported into Britain.

* The second part of the DDA 1991, Section 3, affects all dogs regardless of breed. It makes it a criminal offence to allow a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place. This includes any instance during which an injury of any sort occurs or there is a fear that an injury might occur

[jeepster]

skippy:

I see where your coming from Jeepster but there are laws preventing under 16's etc from buying knives!

where do under 16's come into this? and don't you mean seeing red? rather than read?