Dangerous must attack humans before police will act.

MY lovely dog Poppy was attacked by a pack of dogs. Two lurcher type dogs and two terrier type dogs. One of the lurchers had her teeth into Poppy for around 5 minutes. All the time the terriers were biting her as a pack. When the owner who had no control over his dogs eventually got the lurcher to let go, Poppy bolted for home absolutely terrified and was chased for 1.5 miles by the two terriers right to our house as seen by witnesses.

It has cost us over £500 in vet fees and Poppy has not been ok for a couple of days now. We rang South Yorkshire Police to report it and they simply did not want to know. I told them that the totally irresponsible owners had no control over a pack of vicious dogs and it is only a matter of time before they might attack a small child. They said that before they will take any action the dogs would have to attack a child first. Dogs attacking other dogs is not a crime - it is only a civil offence which leaves me in a position where the two adults would simply claim Poppy had been the aggressor and their dogs just defended themselves.

Poppy is ultra well behaved and was walking to heel which she always does when dogs approach. We have been told that the owners live on Wood Lane in Carlton and use the dogs for hunting the deer that roam in Carlton. Although we do not have any proof that this is the case.

These dogs are a threat to everyone in the locality. If anything similar happens in the future, heaven forbid to a child, please let me know and I will support you with any action taken. People should not be allowed to have hunting dogs they cannot control.

The police are aware of the situation and will do nothing. They must carry some of the blame for any further damage that is likely to happen if irresponsible owners are allowed to let dogs loose that they can't control

 

Absolute fùcking scum that would let their dogs do that.

 

Full stop. I thought that hunting with dogs was illegal.

 

It is only what we have been told on Facebook. I don't know if this is true or not. They certainly attacked my fog as a pack.

 

If there is any clear evidence of them being used as hunting dogs then the police should be informed. Probably still not do anything though.

Hope your dog recovers quickly mate.

 

She is playing the sympathy card very well at the moment. The cut with stitches looks very angry.

She is a very popular dog and thus getting a lot of affection from all over. Socially distanced of course.

 

Poor Poppy. Definitely needs to play the sympathy card for a while yet.Unfortunately police don't have the power to act in a dog on dog attack. If you'd been bitten trying to intervene it would have been different.
Must have been really horrible for you as well. Take care.

 

the wife was walking our chihuahua with 4 grand kids a few months back, and got bit by a german shepherd and ours was on a lead
she was ok in the end, vet said she was lucky but at the time the wife was absolutely terrified
police cannot do a thing, they said all they could do was tell the owner to keep his on a lead! (it was on a street too)
our insurance company are currently trying to reclaim the vet costs off the *****

 

Every day is a school day, I thought an owner could be prosecuted for failing to control the dog but that’s clearly not the case.
Hope Poppy gets better soon and is not affected long term when she starts to go on the walks again.

edit: this could suggest the Police are wrong?
https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

 

Similar thing happened to our dog, only one other involved. The dog has previous form for attacking others in the area, and we ended up having to pay for surgery, thankfully the dog recovered, however, the vets bill was north of £500.After a few days of negotiations the owner sent a cheque for half of the bill with a letter claiming my wife was at fault for walking too close to her!. The advice we received from the vets was to pursue this through small claims court as the attacking dog was out of control. We mulled this over, and decided to move on without taking action. You could write to these people, enclosing a copy of the vets bill, asking for recompense, and if nothing transpires, file a claim in court. Good luck if you do, and I will gladly donate towards your costs. Best wishes to your dog.

 

Good shout mate whether it’s a police intervention or the courts


Out of control
Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:

• injures someone
• makes someone worried that it might injure them

A court could also decide that your dog is dangerously out of control if either of the following apply:

• it attacks someone’s animal
• the owner of an animal thinks they could be injured if they tried to stop your dog attacking their animal

 

Thanks LK311 That is very much contrary to what the police said. I think I will ring them again on the strength of that.

 

The problem I have is proof. There were two of them and one of me. The police are going to say it is one persons word against two others. It is the danger to the public I am most concerned about. They said as it is not a "dangerous breed" they cannot act. But a dog can be a danger no matter what it's breed and if it is out of control then this is irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owner. I appreciate your words of support though.

 

It isn't one word against the other though.
Your dog has suffered wounds, presumably theirs haven't. Their 4 dogs and 2 owners won't have been scared of your one dog. You on the other hand have got physical proof of the injuries inflicted and the vast outnumbering demonstrates why you were fearful. It's a clear enough case to have the police at very least give a crime reference number if you register it as a crime and then you can claim on insurance for vets bills which your insurance will try to push onto them.

It might not result in a prosecution but it will make them think

 

Thanks again LK311 - I rang the police, got a similar response as last time, until I read them the wording of the Government statement. I have now got it reported as an Incident no SYP - 20201206-0313, They say they may contact me back about it. I indicated that they have now been forewarned about these dangerous dogs. If nothing is done, and something horrible happens again, as I fear it will, then it will definitely be on the conscience of anyone trying to sweep this under the carpet. If anyone else has trouble from these dogs then please feel free to quote my crime number. The dogs in question are two big lurchers ( though one was not involved in the incident) and two terrier type cross ( generally white in colour with brown and black markings),

 

Take a big stick with you on your future walks.

 

As an owner of one large dog and two very large dogs who has owned the same breeds for over 30 years I have never been in the position where my dogs have attacked another simply because they aren't allowed off the lead however my dogs have been attacked several times usually by much smaller dogs who their owners have no control over what so ever because they were not on a lead.
The solution is simple all dogs at all times should be on a lead when in a public space or if off the lead must wear a muzzle. I've no doubt the dogs you describe are lamping dogs used by scum bags to mutilate and kill wild animals for their owners sick entertainment.
BTW it is an offence to have a dog dangerously out of control and the dog DOES NOT have to have attacked a human it only needs to have frightened them if I was you I would call SYP again and insist they do something as an offence was commited against you not the dog it the junior officer refuses to act ask to speak to the duty officer in command if that fails write to the Chief Constable and copy in your local MP also you could if you know the persons address report them to BMBC animal control.

 

irresponsible owners i, hope ya dog is on the mend mate.
I took my kids to a beach on Thorney Island last summer ( military camp with old bylaws allowing civilians to walk around), anyway this couple with some kind of a large cross breed had their dog off the lead, my youngest is absolutely terrified of dogs, the dog came up and start getting giddy i politely said my kids terrified of them, i got the typical answer " oh its fine with kids" sorry sherlock but a 3 year old as no concept of " its alright " so I thought they would have put a lead on, oh no, it jumped up scratched my sons stomach and chest, i grabbed it by the neck and took it out to the sea, i had all intentions of drowning it before i realised it wasnt the dogs fault but the retarded owners, and I thought better with kids and families on the beach, i love dogs but that day got easily triggered by inconsiderate owners

 

If I had a quid for every time somebodies kid had been allowed to wonder up to my dogs two of which are over 100 kgs and the others a rottweiler and without questioning their nature stick their hands in the dogs faces I'd have enough to by a season ticket to Oakwell every year. I never let my dogs approach people without being requested to and have every sympathy with you for your experience but like you say it wasn't the dog at fault it was the completely irresponsible inconsiderate owners.

 

SFR I love dogs and even as a adult I will always ask the owner if its OK to stroke and fuss the dog if I'm out