Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:HSCIC latest dog bite stats published | |
Posted by: | Charlotte Kasner | |
Date/Time: | 21/05/15 10:54:00 |
THE SINGLE GOOD REASON WHY WE SHOULDN'T MUZZLE ALL DOGS IS THAT IT WILL NOT WORK. Sorry to shout, but really, it's getting tedious. These statistics do not reflect rabid dogs rushing up to people in the street and sinking their teeth in for no apparent reason. Most dog/child bites happen in the home when the dog is left unattended with the child. Children provoke dogs all the time because adults do not understand what upsets a dog, cannot see when it is trying to take avoiding action and treat every dog as if it is a toy to be petted and played with all the time and do not allow their dogs a break from noise and children. Adults do not behave well around dogs and do not teach their children how to behave around dogs (or other animals). The vast majority of dogs will have given signal after signal that they are unhappy and it will have been ignored until the dog eventually snaps. Inevitably the owner then says "I don't know why it happened, it came without warning". Mandatory muzzling could only ever cover a dog in public. This would not stop the mahjority of bites to children. Most bites outside the home happen because someone has stuck their hand into the middle of a fight. Muzzling all dogs is unethical and could cause more probelms than it attempts to solve by making some dogs more reactive. It is analagous to handcuffing all humans because everyone is a potential kleptomaniac. A truly agressive dog, bred to fight, trained to do damage and deliberately badly handled is not going to be deterred by a muzzle. It is truly frightening when such dogs make short work of restraints. I've seen it happen once and heard of one other incident - both incidents occurred in veterinary practice where dogs were being euthanased because of aggression. God forbid the little darling kiddywinks should be taught how to behave around a dog and not be left alone to provoke them. Ditto the adults who do not stimulate, exercise and train their dogs in the first place and who have no idea of how their dog communicates. I know that you don't hate dogs Dan and I believe that we are both motivated by the same desire - to reduce the number of dog bites. So please provide concrete proof of a muzzling order that has, without question, reduced the number of dog bites and maybe we can have a serious discussion of the issue. |