Dogs

[jgtuk]

Just now, westernpark said:

 

Like I said it is largely these dogs, I referenced Pug in my first post, demonstrating that it’s not all these dogs, but largely them. If you look at the deaths caused by dogs in the UK, they are largely Brachycephalic dogs. Obviously there would be more nuance to such ruling but I don’t believe Mastiff and Bull types such be allowed out in public without regulations, we don’t have to argue over the semantics.

And I will say again that you are wrong. My dogs (and other animals) were all taken in from rescue centres, socialised and trained by me, with help from the centre staff and I never witnessed any aggression or dangerous situations once settled. 
Banning the breed is the wrong way to go (I’m not talking about cross bred animals bred for aggression). My youngest daughter could take food from the mouth of my biggest mastiff (I named him Muzzy incidentally) and he would not bat an eyelid. He weighed 12st at his largest and was pure muscle. He was the sweetest, most gentle dog you could meet and was often found trying to sleep with the cats… 

[Freeman's Wharfer]

There’s just no need for dogs with massive jaws. 
 

I’ve got a Beagle and if he bit me or another dog it would cause damage but nothing disastrous. We had a border collie cross growing up and same with her.

 

But having got a mate who has a staffy, although it’s friendly (now he’s been neutered), if that bit me or my dog the jaw size alone would make it a bigger problem. Having played tug with it, you can feel the power in its jaw.

 

People who own these dogs that are mastiffs, pitbulls, staffies etc. are in some way shape or form attracted to them because of the fact they look a bit menacing. That’s what they are designed to be.
 

Unfortunately it creates a problem where a) those people buying a dog because of how it looks sometimes  have no idea how to handle it and end up with a pretty dangerous dog on their hands and b) those of us that have dogs that were designed to fetch dead ducks, chase rabbits and herd sheep encounter these units on their daily walks that are designed to destroy them and often pre-disposed to be aggressive.

[Daggers]

14 hours ago, MPH said:

I have a golden retriever and can say I think they are the perfect breed for being a family pet.

If you enjoy fur in everything you eat or drink, are perfectly happy to be kicked out of bed, and have time to kill in order to wait for them to decide that the thing you wanted done can be done now.

 

Oh, and all my food is apparently her food.

 

 

[MPH]

4 hours ago, Daggers said:

If you enjoy fur in everything you eat or drink, are perfectly happy to be kicked out of bed, and have time to kill in order to wait for them to decide that the thing you wanted done can be done now.

 

Oh, and all my food is apparently her food.

 

 

We send ours every 6 months to a dog groomer for a professional hair cut. Solves the  furr issue. One look at me will tell you I don’t share my food

[LanguedocFox]

4 minutes ago, MPH said:

We send ours every 6 months to a dog groomer for a professional hair cut. Solves the  furr issue. One look at me will tell you I don’t share my food

Every six months? Wow!

 

We used to send our big old Lab to the groomer every month - he had his last visit four days before we had to say goodbye to him, last December. He absolutely loved it and the groomer used to get a load of loose fur from him - despite me giving him a going over with a Furminator every couple of days. 
 

For all that, I still miss him every day.

[SpacedX]

5 minutes ago, LanguedocFox said:

Every six months? Wow!

 

We used to send our big old Lab to the groomer every month - he had his last visit four days before we had to say goodbye to him, last December. He absolutely loved it and the groomer used to get a load of loose fur from him - despite me giving him a going over with a Furminator every couple of days. 
 

For all that, I still miss him every day.

There are plenty of other grooming services out there. 

[MPH]

9 minutes ago, LanguedocFox said:

Every six months? Wow!

 

We used to send our big old Lab to the groomer every month - he had his last visit four days before we had to say goodbye to him, last December. He absolutely loved it and the groomer used to get a load of loose fur from him - despite me giving him a going over with a Furminator every couple of days. 
 

For all that, I still miss him every day.

 

we groom her ourselves.. but for a haircut, twice a year..  two of our children are Autistic and  the eldest is a runner.. we have trained her as a service dog also so that when Joshua runs off into the woods she is able to find him. She also helps him with ‘positive pressure’ when he has meltdowns. She will also step in between him and the rooster if he gets too close to the rooster. She’s absolute gold  as well as being such a lovely dog. Simply irreplaceable.

Edited 19 November 2023 by MPH

[LanguedocFox]

2 hours ago, MPH said:

 

we groom her ourselves.. but for a haircut, twice a year..  two of our children are Autistic and  the eldest is a runner.. we have trained her as a service dog also so that when Joshua runs off into the woods she is able to find him. She also helps him with ‘positive pressure’ when he has meltdowns. She will also step in between him and the rooster if he gets too close to the rooster. She’s absolute gold  as well as being such a lovely dog. Simply irreplaceable.

Brilliant story. I think some dogs have an innate sense of another being’s needs, and react positively to that. Bit like guide dogs, I suppose.

 

Our Lab was a therapy dog for the last four years of his life, going to care homes, the hospital, university etc, and he loved it. 
 

Your dog is clearly very special.

[Zear0]

20 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Would it not be beneficial to reintroduce the dog licence?

 

And also make some kind of mandatory assessment part of this?

 

As a dog owner and lover, it certainly wouldn't inconvenience me.

What next, license for my goldfish? 

[tom27111]

Just now, Zear0 said:

What next, license for my goldfish? 

 

If your goldfish could potentially be a menace when you take it out in public or you just have it to look hard, then, yeah 

 

Anything that might stop bad owners and make sure the dog is properly looked after can only be a positive?

 

There's no guaranteed way to do that, but just something to make the process regulated is worth a go.

 

In no way would it deter genuine, responsible dog owners. 

[1972 Fox]

22 hours ago, tom27111 said:

Would it not be beneficial to reintroduce the dog licence?

I reintroduced it the other day when I beat my opponent at golf 7 and 6.   

[westernpark]

On 18/11/2023 at 18:21, jgtuk said:

And I will say again that you are wrong. My dogs (and other animals) were all taken in from rescue centres, socialised and trained by me, with help from the centre staff and I never witnessed any aggression or dangerous situations once settled. 
Banning the breed is the wrong way to go (I’m not talking about cross bred animals bred for aggression). My youngest daughter could take food from the mouth of my biggest mastiff (I named him Muzzy incidentally) and he would not bat an eyelid. He weighed 12st at his largest and was pure muscle. He was the sweetest, most gentle dog you could meet and was often found trying to sleep with the cats… 

Great, well done. 

[jgtuk]

1 hour ago, westernpark said:

Great, well done. 

Apologies if I sounded rude, I just don't believe that banning is the way forward for the recognised breeds mentioned in the thread. The answer (imo) is the regulation of owners and protection of the animals to stop idiot owners, at the very least, from not caring for them properly and at worst, using them as a weapon.

Regulation, assessments and licensing would not only stop the issues around dangerous dogs but would hopefully reduce the overall numbers out there (many in shelters or strays). I think the same rules should apply to cats btw.

I'm not coming into this as an angry mastiff/staffie owner as I've had many other breeds, some short term and some over their lifetime ( I used to help a local shelter when overcrowded by taking some home). 

 

[westernpark]

7 hours ago, jgtuk said:

Apologies if I sounded rude, I just don't believe that banning is the way forward for the recognised breeds mentioned in the thread. The answer (imo) is the regulation of owners and protection of the animals to stop idiot owners, at the very least, from not caring for them properly and at worst, using them as a weapon.

Regulation, assessments and licensing would not only stop the issues around dangerous dogs but would hopefully reduce the overall numbers out there (many in shelters or strays). I think the same rules should apply to cats btw.

I'm not coming into this as an angry mastiff/staffie owner as I've had many other breeds, some short term and some over their lifetime ( I used to help a local shelter when overcrowded by taking some home). 

 

XL bully has certain amplified fears regarding any bull breeed. I’ve always liked Rottweilers, always found them well behaved but would never have one because of their potential if they did turn nasty. If a responsible owner has a bull-breed they know if there is any inkling of trouble with that kind of dog, they are appropriately restrained. I certainly agree with regulation but don’t know how it would be forced. About 5 minutes before typing this response I walked through Leicester station and saw an XL bully off the lead with an owner who was effectively drunk. My point is that if he had a Labrador, I wouldn’t have been worried nor would he have caused others to run off. I know mastiff’s or purebred/regulated bull breeds are not as dangerous as an XL, however I feel that despite as you say there can be some lovely ones, the risk is far higher to the public, because of their potential. Nonetheless, as my anecdote regarding the owner and XL at the station shows, like you say owners are a denominating factor, therefore they need to be regulated themselves!

-Apologies typed up walking back

Edited 20 November 2023 by westernpark

[ozleicester]

What does brachycephalic mean?

Brachy means shortened and cephalic means head. Therefore, brachycephalic dogs have skull bones that are shortened in length, giving the face and nose a pushed-in appearance. Due to the shorter bones of the face and nose, the anatomy and relationship with the other soft tissue structures are altered; some of these changes can cause physical problems for the affected dog.

[Tommy G]

On 19/11/2023 at 12:11, MPH said:

 

we groom her ourselves.. but for a haircut, twice a year..  two of our children are Autistic and  the eldest is a runner.. we have trained her as a service dog also so that when Joshua runs off into the woods she is able to find him. She also helps him with ‘positive pressure’ when he has meltdowns. She will also step in between him and the rooster if he gets too close to the rooster. She’s absolute gold  as well as being such a lovely dog. Simply irreplaceable.

Interested how you trained her? Interested in this for our son. He is already naturally protective and will follow him if he bursts off somewhere

[Tommy G]

Because of the ''dangerous dog'' coverage in the news (rightly so IMO) there is a developing negative culture out and about with dogs on leads v dogs off leads. Situation yesterday where a dog owner literally screamed at me to put my dog on a lead - when I had complete control over him, he was literally standing next to her as she picks up her little handbag dog (worst thing you can do is pick a dog up as it just makes the dog on the floor want to play).

 

She explaied her dog had been attacked before by a husky, so why on earth she is walking through a busy park with about 5 dogs off lead I don't know. My dogs recall has improved dramaticaly over the past 2 months so I now know even with the most tempting distraction I can whistle him back. 

 

These sort of people is what is wrong with dog owners, she was pathetic - I've got a black lab ffs

[MPH]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Interested how you trained her? Interested in this for our son. He is already naturally protective and will follow him if he bursts off somewhere

 

hate to make it sound like a cliche, but we watched some  videos and spent a lot of time with her. Retrievers are very trainable when young. I’m sure a lot of dogs are. There’s also services that provide trained service dogs for Autistic kids but they can be pricey.. I’d be surprised if there isn’t some charities somewhere that will help with funding for this..

[Tommy G]

27 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

hate to make it sound like a cliche, but we watched some  videos and spent a lot of time with her. Retrievers are very trainable when young. I’m sure a lot of dogs are. There’s also services that provide trained service dogs for Autistic kids but they can be pricey.. I’d be surprised if there isn’t some charities somewhere that will help with funding for this..

Thanks, I was willing to pay to get him trained somewhere. I have Lab x Retriever as his parents were both dogs for the disabled. I have very little spare time to dedicate to training him and wouldnt consider myself a natural dog trainer or something I'm good at, where there is an opportunity to outsource I usually do! Thanks for the tip.

[MPH]

11 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Thanks, I was willing to pay to get him trained somewhere. I have Lab x Retriever as his parents were both dogs for the disabled. I have very little spare time to dedicate to training him and wouldnt consider myself a natural dog trainer or something I'm good at, where there is an opportunity to outsource I usually do! Thanks for the tip.

 

Wether this charity is exactly what you need or not, I’m not sure… but if they don’t pay for the training I’m sure they will know someone who does…

 

https://www.supportdogs.org.uk/

[Tinman]

[VinceNoir]

 

 

Tonnes of snow in Denmark these days and the big fella is loving it. Having a dog is a huge responsibility but honestly most the time it’s like therapy. They’re just the best.

[SpacedX]

We love this guy!!!

 

[Daggers]

I was today years old when I discovered that scented candles are toxic to dogs. 

[Milo]

27 minutes ago, Daggers said:

I was today years old when I discovered that scented candles are toxic to dogs. 

Oh dear - how did you find out?  😬