I think that would be the biggest problem. Criminal law generally seems to require a high level of evidence to get a conviction. It can also be unfairly used and abused with, as you mention, the winner being seen as the culprit. Owning a large fighting breed, I would be very worried of a small dog starting a fight with one of them and it being seen as my fault.

I assume you mean the owner would be prosecuted, not the dog.
Dogs are property in law. You could sue the owner for damages. On the other hand you would have to prove you took steps to protect your own `property`.
You cannot take a dog to court. An animal is not responsible for its actions in law.

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I think that is happening more now. This is an example of that where a dog has been ultimately killed, yet the woman felt threatened by the dog meaning it was then deemed as dangerosuly out of control.

This is Leicestershire | A terrier had to be put to sleep after being attacked by a larger dog, a court heard.

Thanks for this. With regards to the incident with Ruby I can now use this info if the Dog Warden and/or Police refuse to act as it has set a precedence. It is very similar to what happened to her with both dogs being off lead.

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HONEY - GOLDEN RETRIEVER X WHITE GSD - 2006 -

Sending love to our beloved ones now playing together over the rainbow bridge.

ZAC - Black GSD - 1978 to 1991
TARA - Black and Tan GSD - 1981 to 1995
AMBER - Pomeranian - 1986 to 2001
BOBBY - Maltese - 1989 to 2007
SHEENA - Maltese - 1990 to 2005
JASON - Maltese - 1990 to 2005
LILLITH - Maltese - 1992 to 2003

And I see this as a problem. Lady owner, small dog... will always be innocent and be able to declare they "feel threatened". If you feel threatened by a small chihuahua you'd be laughed out of court regardless of the actual truth. It wouldn't matter if the chihuahua was truly out of control as it simply wouldn't be classified as dangerous to most people.

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Its a thin line between protecting those people taht actually need it, and the cases where you state above.

I've posted on another thread that it irritates me when people with small dogs think their size is an excuse for bad behaviour, but I have successfully made an owner muzzle her pug in public as it bit me after I got in the way of it attacking Roo when he was small, and it had also bit a bloke as he stopped it going for his child as well.

Dogs are dogs, and in my opinion smaller ones aggressive behaviour should not be excused because of their size, but like wise, those people that clearly cannot control a bigger dog shouldn't have it somehwere it can do damage.

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From experience, there is nothing anyone will do. I was bitten by a choc lab who ran acroos the road to attack my shepard, my dog on lead his not. My dog put it to the ground to protect my girls, but other dog tried to bite mine under her tummy but got my knee, I was unable to walk for a week. My opinion is that if an owner is unable to control a dog they should give it to someone who can or muzzle it. The dog lives 50 ft from a kids play park, what would happen if a child got caught in the middle of 2 dogs. The man just grabbed his dog put it on lead and walked off without even stopping to check me and the girls were ok. Police had there hands tied as bloke said dog brooke free (not true), and it didnt break my skin as I had jeans on, it was not considered a serious injury! The law is an ass. My dog has issues with men and other dogs so I will keep her on the lead unless I know it is safe to let her off, and if I am uncertain if other people are around I will muzzle her too, although she does not bite, she jumps on the other dog and stands over it waiting to play but because she is a large shep, they have a bad reputation as a breed and I would hate to lose her