Dogs Attacking Children.
Posted on Monday, January 01 @ 15:00:28 GMT by jenvetadmin
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This is such an awful thing to happen – but it is fairly common – a 5 year old girl was mauled to death by her pet Pit Ball this week in Liverpool as you may have heard.
A baby boy was recently savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier in East Renfrewshire, the child suffered facial injuries
Also recently a toddler needed more than 200 stitches after being attacked by his grandmother's Rottweiler West Sussex.
Last September a five-month-old died after she was savaged by her family's two Rottweilers in Leicester.
In 1995 a one-year-old boy died after being attacked by the family Pit Bull at his home in Leeds.
Isabelle Dinoire had the world’s first face transplant following an attack from her pet Labrador who bit off her nose, lips and chin while she slept!
People relax and assume their dog is trustworthy but any dog has the potential to attack if provoked.
Other factors can change a dogs behaviour – pain, fear, change of environment etc.
To avoid any similarly tragic accidents occurring clients must be reminded that their dogs - whatever the breed must always be supervised when near children.
Dangerous Dogs Act.
The 1991 act was brought in following a series of attacks on young children. Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (DDA), prohibits the breeding or sale/exchange of four types of dog – the pit bull terrier, the Japanese tosa, the Dogo Argentino, and the Fila Brasileiro. However Rottweilers are not one of the breeds listed on the DDA
The Act also bans any other dog that appears "to be bred for fighting or to have the characteristics of a type bred for that purpose".
A dog owner can be prosecuted under the DDA if their animal is "dangerously out of control", but only in a public place and not in their own home.
A family in Wales, protested against this law in June 2005 when their two-year-old was mauled by a neighbour's pet dog in his house the child had 100 stitches in her head and face but the police said they were ‘powerless as the attack had not taken place in a public place.’
Should we have better laws to protect children from dangerous dogs?
How do we get the message across to all owners to never leave their children alone with a dog – no exceptions?
Which breeds are more likely to attack other than those mentioned in the DDA?
Please post your comments in the forums now.
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