Every dog owner has got an opinion; most of these opinions stem from tried and tested responsible dog owner experiences and should be taken into account by authorities when considering new ways to handle dangerous dogs. The dangerous dogs act and the dangerous dogs banned breed list is a mess and something needs to be done about it soon, as year after year this unresolved debate continues without proper progress in the right direction.

The government and the lawmakers around dogs need to listen to responsible experienced dog owners over anyone else. Information and feedback needs to be gathered over a period of time from these dog owners to see what they are saying without the irrational emotion and ignorance as to what is and is not a dangerous dog and what should be done about so-called dangerous dogs.

Literally every single dog in the world has the potential to be dangerous and cause damage with its teeth. Even a little Chihuahua dog can be aggressive and territorial and so can a Rottweiler, a German shepherd and a pit bull. Exactly the same could be said about a Chihuahua dog being gentle, passive and non-aggressive the same as a Rottweiler, a German shepherd and a pit bull.

Pit bulls are one of the worst guard dogs because they’re incredibly friendly! Not a lot of people know that as pit bulls can be very loving and friendly home dogs and in other countries where they are legal, they live amongs family and children peacefully, socialised and trained to do no harm.

Yes, a pit bull is genetically powerful and built to withstand fighting damage and attacks that would kill other dog breeds but it’s how you treat them and how you bring them up that makes the difference in how ANY dog becomes. The dog wasn’t born to be aggressive the same as you weren’t – but you can be if your circumstances warrant it!

This week in August 2016 it just goes to show that a three-year-old child and a fully grown adult male were both killed in separate incidents by loose and uncontrolled or unrestrained dogs which were not considered dangerous breeds nor were they on the list of dangerous dog breeds.
And again next month there will probably be another death from another uncontrolled and unrestrained dog that possibly is on the dangerous dogs list and so the cycle continues.

The whole scenario is mixed up by the media who will fuel public opinion with anger and emotion before we even know what breed it was that attacked an innocent, leaving you to think that yet another dangerous dog breed has caused the death of another child when in fact it turns out not to be a pit bull type dangerous dog breed after all, just a dangerous uncontrolled or mistreated dog!

First and foremost all dog owners must have complete control over their dog which includes proper upbringing and proper training.

Most dog owners can be good amateur dog trainers with great success and you don’t need to have any professional dog training intervention especially if you’ve had the dog from eight weeks on-wards.

A dog moves from one state to the next very quickly and the switch can be sudden from neutral or balanced to territorial and aggressive if it feels threatened or needs that state. Exactly that – if it needs that required state!

Aggression in a dog in a social community setting should be rare if the dog is treated right from the start. But if any dog is persistently demonstrating aggression on a daily basis then this is the result of a mixture of factors including its upbringing and its treatment, its environment and/or its abuse and lack of training and pack leadership.

The dog doesn’t become persistently aggressive or threatening daily unless it’s received ill treatment. Whatever goes through the dog senses will come back out later or in other words ,if you abuse or harm any dog it will take on board that treatment and send it back out to others where it becomes repetitive and habit forming.

We treat others how we were treated! The same for dogs but more automatically in dogs than humans and without rational thought of course!
In most cases but not all, bad dog behaviour is the result of its owner and its environment, upbringing, lack of training, lack of respect and lack of kindness and affection, directly or indirectly.

Many new dog owners absolutely adore their puppy with kindness and affection, love and treat it with respect and play/fun and they will moderately train it and give it the best life they can and you will see it in that dogs friendliness, gentleness and playfulness on a daily basis!
It is how you treat the dog and that applies to ALL breeds!

Most aggressive and violent, dangerous, threatening or menacing dogs are the result of how they have been treated and this can also mean intentionally or unintentionally due to lack of socialising including a lack of proper attention, leadership and training but in most cases, crazy violent dogs running amok are a reflection of their owners behaviour, lifestyle, neglect and possibly abuse and physical ill-treatment towards them.

Take any dog and beat it, kick it and scare it and it won’t take long for it to develop a powerful and aggressive fighting or attacking attitude to come back to others. It is so simple!

As the saying goes, it really isn’t rocket science and most people will mutter under their breath on what they think are the ‘ingredients’ that led to such and such an incident such as a child being killed and it is always the owners and their lifestyle. Maybe not all the time but mostly all the time!

There is nowhere near enough legislation or control over dog ownership.
Only recently in April 2016 compulsory micro-chipping has been enforced where all new dog owners/breeders have to have their dog micro-chipped by the age of eight weeks old and that any new dog owner is subsequently responsible for registering their details on the microchip database!
Any non-compliance could result in a fine – but probably won’t!

Even excessively barking dogs that demonstrate aggression or disturbance of the peace has to go through a piddling about process of complaint procedure with the local authorities that can lead to legal action and fines.

Then there is the dangerous dogs act and although it has its purpose there is not much else going on as regards legislation and yet people are still being bitten and attacked in open public places all round the UK on a daily basis because of uncontrolled and unrestrained dogs.

Every single dog that exists has the potential for it to be a threat and a danger to anyone and legislation must be brought in around the area of proper official and/or certificated supervision or training to improve this mess. Whichever way you look at it the starting point with legislation has to be around dog owners, dog training and supervision where the dog has to meet some basic tick boxes.

The lawmakers and the bodies that would need to be employed to sort this out would have to start in THIS area because if they don’t this is going to continue for years to come and possibly another few hundred children have to be killed at the jaws of attacking dogs before the government does something.

Often it does take tragedy for the powers that be to step in with new laws because right now the situation is not only incredibly messy but it is beyond stupid.

It is absolutely not the breed but the dog’s treatment and upbringing that make it dangerous.

If you’re a regular dog walker over your local park you’ll come to realise that it’s the little dogs such as the Jack Russell that can be the nastiest, biters nipping at other dogs and children.

The majority of large dogs are often better handled as sometimes the consequences can be greater with a bigger dog whereas the little nippy yappy and biting dogs can be the worst especially when they exhibit territorial tendencies to drive you out of their perceived space.

Taking away dog licenses years ago was a mistake. Dog licensing should be brought back with more punch with more power to be given to the RSPCA to monitor and inspect concerned dog behaviour and their environment. That means the RSPCA or a similar overseeing body/agency should be brought in with some power to respectfully inspect any dogs environment if they have just reason to do so and they should have the power to enforce some sort of legislation around training, supervision, certification before it’s too late.

There are many bad dog owners that absolutely do need monitoring because they’re not fit to be dog owners for various reasons. The monitoring of bad dog owners by an empowered overseeing body would be a good starting point that offers guidance and support and corrective HELP when needed as opposed to just putting down or enforcing laws.

This area is a sporadic mess that needs to be sorted fast. If this was a huge logistical money making business then some very clever business people would put their heads together to sort this out in no time at all.
The problem is this issue has too many ingredients and variables in it including too many opinions and arguments from all directions clashing. What one believes to be right, someone else will disagree, which results in people fighting in the courts!

The dangerous dogs act in UK is a very controversial messy legislation that needs to be sorted out, because it’s not stopping dangerous dogs that become out of control, unrestrained, loose to attack and bite other people including killing children. It’s not working!

The reality is more children will need to be killed by loose out-of-control dogs before the government sorts this out.

There are many opposing arising arguments with this whole issue. For example, if the law said all dogs have to be muzzled in public then there would be too many who would argue this is unfair to non dangerous dogs.

Also if all dogs had to be on a leash at all times in public then this would also eliminate the majority of the problems of dog attacks but this would be impossible to put in place as it would also be unfair to all dogs. A dog needs to run free across a park or a field so that it expends all its energy.

This is just one example of how easy arguments will arise instantly and every time the powers that be come together to try to sort this out there are too many sides of this argument clashing. When one says this or that will sort the problem out another will disagree and it is this that is one of the main reasons why it is in a mess. Lawyers will continue to argue with other lawyers in courts of law and have been doing so for several years.

There are just so many grey areas!

It appears change will be made bit by bit at a snail’s pace over a period of time possibly one or two more decades before it gets to where it needs to be. Thousands more people will have to be bitten and attacked including children and mauled to death before the government will sort this out properly. If this was a huge money making business which involved high profits for the government then this would be sorted a long time ago.

The government needs to listen collectively to the opinions and views of responsible and experienced dog owners because that’s where they answers can be found.

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