of course its always worth considering!!!!! we have the sweetest dog you could ever meet but i still consider the fact that if for what ever reason she turned being 5 and a half stone my children would stand no chance and they are my first thought, so she is never left unattended

Whoops my wording was really badly written. I haven't come across one post whereby an owner does not consider their dogs around children. However there are some owners who don't.

The people on this forum are responsible people otherwise we wouldn't be sharing opinions, ideas etc..

We are all aiming for the same goal eradicate dog attacks on people without restraints on responsible dog owners depriving them of their freedoms and rights. We all pay our Council Tax so we should be entitled to use local Parkland with our dogs and children in safety.

I have read some really good suggestions to stop irresponsible dog ownership.

Sue

I think that good debate is always helpful, and this forum has thrown up some really interested points.

Everyone believes that they can control and know their dog's, but my worry is that you can be over confident! The external problems are not being considered here which does worry me a little, but I have made those points in earlier threads.

At the end of the day, I honestly believe that we will have a blanket control of dogs in public places weather we like it or not. Again I totally agree that it will be a sad day indeed, but we only have ourselves to blame.

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I think people should use thier own judgement and act responsibaly in different situations. Myself i think it would be terrible if my dog could never go of its lead. I know my dog would never bite a child, but if i had a dog which i was not 100% sure of i would take sensible precautions. My dog was attacked at an early age while she was on her dog lead(the other dog wasnt) When i take her out i always put her on her lead when i see other dogs coming, what bugs me are people with big dogs who never put there dogs on the lead and let them run at you barking and growling.

That's a bold comment which concerns me. I am quietly confident with my dog that he wouldn't bite anyone but at the end of the day he's a dog and could.

When I am asked by children "does he bite" when they want to stroke him. I always say all dogs can bite, he hasn't bitten anyone yet. Occasionally that will put children off but more often than not they will stroke him. He will lay down and wait for their attention (I haven't trained him to do that). I always tell the child(ren) never stroke a strange dog.

Where I live you're lucky to see an owner never mind a lead. This morning a little black SBT was walking round the streets. This evening two white brown eared JR were walking round the streets. This is the reason why I think Nina is right dogs on leads will become law and its because of owners who won't take responsibility and control of their dogs.

This isn't a new phase of dog owners the situation used to be a lot worse. Cleaning your shoes in long grass was common practice. Seeing dogs in large packs on street corners was also a common sight. Things have improved but sadly not nearly enough.

Sue

That is quite a bold statement! I trust Milo 99.9% that he would never hurt anyone on purpose unless it was to protect us.

He's great with kids even when they're pulling his ears and rugby tackling him but we would never leave him alone with them because, like has been said, he's a dog and you don't know what he might see as a threat.

I don't think he'd fight for his own life but I think he'd fight for ours.

Please remember that dog are animals and do not have the ability to reason.

Nobody can be that sure that their dog will not bite, hence the problems we see.

If your dog is feeling unwell, he could well lash out in self defence, but that is no mitigation in court!

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[QUOTE=ajshep1984;63620]That is quite a bold statement!

Its not a bold statement its what i believe to be true, my dog is 10 years old, shes never bite or attempted to bite anyone( she just torments the postman). I know you can never say never but after 10 years i think you should have a pretty good idea what your dog is capable of. My other dog was 8 when she died and she never bite anyone either, my brother had a sheep dog and i knew she was capable of biting anyone. Now i could not say that my dog would not bite another dog, because she got attacked by a dog, whilst on her lead, so now she is very choosey when it comes to other dogs. But she is human friendly(mind you some humans are so horrible i could bite them myself) Ha ha

I agree after 10 years you probably know your dog exeptionally well. But like you say you can never say never. A medical condition that you were unaware of could even trigger him to attack someone, I don't think you can ever be 100% sure with any dog.

I agree, you can never be 100% sure, but it is our job as owners that we try never to put our dog in a situation where it is likely to bite. Our old Lab that died at the end of last year, was very trustworthy, he never bit or growled at anyone, he did lots of displays in schools, and scout and brownie groups. He never once gave us reason to think he would bite, did we trust him 100% ?no he was a dog, a very well trained and sociable dog, but still just a dog.