Another Rottweiler attack, UK

[Disturbed_Angel]

It is not looking good for us UK owners. This is not headline news, it's more just mentioned in a article about a staffy attack:



RENEWED calls to tighten rules on dog ownership were today made in the wake of two more horrific attacks on children.

A baby boy had to be taken to hospital with facial injuries after being savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier in Scotland.

And a teenager on his way to a paper round was knocked off his bike and mauled by a Rottweiler.

The first attack saw the 11-month-old tot attacked by the family pet as he was being looked after at the home of a close relative on Sunday.

He was taken to Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, on Sunday, while the dog was put down.

The following day, a Rottweiler knocked a 15-year-old paperboy off his bike and sank its teeth into his arm and chest.

It only stopped when some nearby children started screaming.

The teenager was on his way to collect his papers in Gobowen, near Oswestry, Shropshire.

Cops called the bites "serious" and are trying to trace the dog's owner.

The attacks have prompted calls for would-be owners to be tested before being allowed to own a dog.

They come in the wake of the death of a five-month-old baby girl who was savaged by two Rottweilers at a bar in Leicester last month.

She was mauled by the guard dogs in the living quarters of the Rocket pub in the New Parks area of the city.

Three days later a toddler needed more than 200 stitches after being attacked by his grandmother's Rottweiler at Middleton-on-Sea, near Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

On September 23, a four-year-old girl was left scarred for life after she was attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

The dog ripped off Shannon Hills' earlobe and mauled her head and neck while she was visiting her grandmother in Christchurch, Dorset.

Two days later another four-year-old girl was injured in an attack by another Staffordshire bull terrier as she walked with her mother in a park in Dibden Purlieu, Hampshire.

The breed is not covered, unlike its so-called "fighting dog" cousin, the pit bull terrier, under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Doreen Graham, of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: "All dogs are dangerous in the hands of an owner who doesn't know how to handle them, or if the dog feels threatened."
The Sun Online - News: New horror dog attacks on kids

[mannos]

jesus...
what the hell is going on?
i know dogs are moody arround may, but i havent heard anything about october.

anyone have any theorys on why owners would be less responsible after the events over the last few weeks?

[universalady]

I live in the UK, and not far from where the 5 month old was killed in Leicester. It's an incredibly rough area, My guess would be that the owners of the pub/bar thought the dogs would 'guard', if only they had thought harder

[lLorraine]

Yes I live in the UK, and I went through all of this 10-12 years ago when rotties had become so popular that too many were owned by people who shouldn't have owned them.
I take the calls for rottie rescue, and I get a lot of people phoning in that should never own a rottie, and although I know they will never get one from us I also know that they will get one from somewhere.
I don't need to tell all you owners how it is with these dogs of ours, and the situation here now is that too many are used in rough areas just as "guard" dogs. It doesn't take much to encourage our breed to guard, and without careful handling and knowledge all of our dogs would guard us and our homes.
A beautiful, loyal, family pet with one family, and a lethal weapon with another. Dealing with rescue, I see them both.