Incident Yesterday

[Rumpole]

yesterday whilst i was in the post office i heard a commotion outside and my OH came tearing in and said what can anyone do if they see someone hurting a dog "animal welfare act" says me "why"? Turns out hubby and several other people has seen a bloke attacking a tiny Jack russell ramming her several times with a shopping trolley into the railings she was tied to i told him to call the police while i sat on the bloke till they arrived and out we rushed, the bloke was still there but a distance away and on talking to a lady from the store and the store security viewing the cctv it transpires that the dog had bitten his child prior to him attacking it, but apparently not without provocation.

 

this is how it went, Mother waltzes into store child dawdling around in car park, dad was a good distance across the car park getting trolley.

Child aged around 3-4 goes up to dog who is tethered and raises his foot to her as if to kick her, she shrinks away, child then pokes at her several times, she again shrinks away and urinates, child then goes to grab at either her face or collar, she nips him.

 

Dad is walking across car park child goes to him shows his arm and dad ran over with trolley and rammed the dog with the trolley a number of times into the fence a woman who had witnessed it all was then threatened with a hiding for interfering

 

The store had also called the police and the mother of the child eventually realised child nor hubby were with her and came out, they stood across the car park as security attempted to find the dogs owner in store./ Then a car shows up containing big bloke who attempts to get to the dog which i stepped in front of there follows serious agitated exchange between me and him (whilst my hubby held his head in his hands and tried to look like he wasnt with me )

Big bloke withdrew and retreated and mother came over to have a go now i know i was probably wrong but i rollocked her my thinking being that her child alone on a busy car park could easily have been squished let alone bitten (a factor in my anger is that these people are from the family of local gypsies who were beating freddie tinker lurchalot when he was rescued and their nursery age kids are allowed to rage around our village causing mayhem on their own whilst mum gets her hair done) In my defence i also rollocked the owner of the dog when she arrived on the scene before advising her to get the dog to the vet and to call me if the police came round.

 

Now in law technically the dog was out of control in a public place as its owner was not present even though it was tethered, which could lead to a Section Three charge under the dda resulting possibly in a destruction order tho the tormenting of the dog by the child could be used in mitigation.

The childs father could be charged under the animal welfare act (as with the guy who stabbed an am bull that bit his daughter) as him attacking the dog came long after the child was nipped.

 

Now i suppose this is a tale of both an irresponsible owner and an irresponsible parent but in fact it is really only the child and dog who actually suffer the consequences of owner and parents actions.

 

This is not an ongoing case as the parents of the child and big bloke scarpered when the police arrived so no charges are being brought against anyone

 

All this got me thinking What would fugees decide if you had to judge this one, who would you say was to blame.

 

Also please tell anyone who you see tying up their dog outside shops not to, theres not just a risk of them getting stolen theres a serious risk of them losing their life

[Helly]

i would blame both the dog owner and the parent of the omenchild. In this day and age, where dog theft is rife I can see no excuse for taking a dog shopping and tieing it up outside. I also wonder why any parent would allow a child to simulate violence towards a dog. Again, in the current climate there has been enough press coverage about small children being bitten by dogs to surely educate the parents enough to teach their children how to approach a dog and the basics in dog safety. Even if they are scared or hate dogs, surely the basics is obvious enough to protect their kids.

 

my mum had a nightmare with me as a child... forever wandering off and approaching strange dogs. I did it to the wrong dog and ended up with a GSD wrapped round my back and several bites to my neck and shoulders. She added a tanned arsed to my injuries because id ignored her warnings and teachings and GSD owner got an apology from both her and me for upsetting the dog. How times have changed eh

[Ian]

I'd pretty much agree - both parents & dog owner would share blame here.

 

Though if I'm honest I think if I were that dog owner I'd blame the parents more and there's no way would I not fight to save my dog - and wrap that trolley round his head - under those circumstances.

[Brunzara]

Was the dog ok Mel?

[Rumpole]

Both dog and owner were in shock i told her to go home and make them both a hot sweet drink before taking her off to the vet

 

 

have just rang the owner this morning and shes very stiff the vet has given pain relief as she is badly bruised but at the moment there dont seem to be any broken bones tho she needs to take her back on monday as the dog was far too stressed and terrified to be properly examined.

 

she is a ten year old jack russell

 

 

ETA the child had a puncture wound that i sincerely hope the parents get looked at but i guess ill only find out if the little lads okay if i ask the parents when they come as promised to burn me in my bed and turn me to cinders

[ReikiAnge]

I would blame the dog owner and child's parents. If the dog hadn't been left on its own, the child couldn't have approached it and done what they did - and if the child had been well brought up, or at least carefully supervised (very young children could well annoy/hurt a dog without bad intention) then the child wouldn't been bitten.

 

As usual, poor dog, poor child I hope they are both ok.

 

And tell your hubby he should be proud of you not embarrassed!

 

I've spoken to lots of people before about leaving their dogs tied up alone outside shops, shopping centres etc. One guy asked if i was the dog warden and another guy had a massive go at me about it outside Starbucks. It really upsets me when I'm more bothered about a stranger's dog than the owner is

 

I did also get asked to mind a Big Issue seller's beautiful staffie for a few mins once while he nipped across to see someone and felt very privileged to be trusted

[owl]

OMG Parents sound horrible, not surprising the child acted like that with such a poor example from adults. Owner at least will never leave dog tied up unattended again. Poor terrier Hope the little thing can get back to normal, but something like that will not be forgotten. Well done yourself, you are a brave Fugee as we know. Thank goodness you happened to be there.

[Rumpole]

lol im not brave im whats known it these parts as a gob on a stick and i act without any thought at all hubby is actually used to me but is amazed how its always the biggest bloke in the room that i at 5 foot 1 have issue with, he also knows to keep out of the way when i go

 

Stuff just happens to me l walk down the road and pigeons fall out of the sky in front of me, or ferrets walk out of the hedgerow i even once found a pike seemingly discarded but alive by a fisherman quite some distance from water which spent the afternoon in my bath until hubby got home and we released it, Only last week i was asked by a solicitor to go and break into a house to retreive a regged pit bull albeit with the owners permission, i spent the journey up there wondering how the feck i was going to squeeze a dog that didnt know me through a small kitchen window and what i was gonna tell the neighbours much to the amusement of melp luckily the owners brother had got in by the time i got there

[BillyMalc]

Like everyone else: dog owner and demon's child's parents. I don't hold out any hope for the latter but I do hope that the dog's owner will have learnt a lesson and never ever leaves her tied up outside a shop ever again

 

I've also been one of those children who was forever going up to strange dogs (it was very common at that time for people in my town to take their dogs shopping and leaving them tied up outside), and I was bitten more than once by dogs who did not appreciate my displays of affection. I quickly learned that A) running back to mum crying because I'd been bitten only resulted in a telling off on top of it - I suppose she would of reacted differently had the blood been pouring from my arm, but fortunately it never came to that - and B) that if a dog growled and showed their teeth it WAS aimed at me and that I wasn't exactly a dog whisperer just yet

 

I'm sure my mum's attitude was a major factor in me not becoming fearful of dogs, but at the same time developing a healthy respect. How ironic that years later she was bitten by a friend's dog, who I had told her to ignore until he'd approach her - because she got impatient and "wanted to say hello"

[Rudi]

Rumpole you rock The dog owner probably shouldn't have left her dog outside the shop, but she's most likely not aware how rife dog theft is and has probably been doing it for ages, she's probably got a routine going where she walks the dog and takes it to the shop, doesn't make it any less of a problem, but I'm guessing she was just going about getting on with her life. No doubt she's had a wake up call. I just have - I very occassionally leave Rudi and Koda outside my local corner shop (can see them out of the window), I guess I think "it won't happen to my dogs" but won't be taking that chance again because you just don't know who's going to walk past and it's not worth losing them.

 

The child's parent, especially the father are the type of mindless morons that I would happily help eradicate from the face of the earth. I cannot stand cruelty it's the most despicable human trait and I don't care what the dog did to the child, the father's actions were sickening and unwarranted. And who was the big bloke - someone they rang up to come down and 'do' the dog?? FFS.

[ranirottie]

well done for sticking up for the dog. As another gobby mare here I would have done exactly the same. Both adults are to blame, the owner of the dog and the parent of the child, but the dog was not to blame. x

[reds]

Thank You first of all for being someone who 'does something'

I'm really pleased that the store staff and security took it seriously and called the police. That poor little dog though Very un-pc but don't care that the child was bitten quite frankly given the fact that, from your account, they were deliberately tormenting the dog and inciting them to react. Stick your hand in a fire and you get burnt.

 

Dogs should NEVER be left outside a shop, anything could happen to them and with them being tied up makes it worse as they are largely helpless. I wish supermarkets and the like would place notices and large signs asking owners NOT to leave their dogs unattended and acting as soon as they see a dog left outside - much the same way as they would a dog left in a car on a hot day.

 

Ultimately the child's parents were at fault IMO, with the dog owner being irresponsible. Sad thing is, is it 'reasonable' to foresee something like a child intentionally intimidating your dog if left outside, and the answer is yes!

[cycas]

I think the child's parents are to blame.

 

OK, on this occasion the dog was tied outside a supermarket, but what if it had been behind a gate in its own garden next door to the shop? That's a legitemate place for a dog to be, surely, yet I bet the kid would still have tried putting his hand or foot through the gate, and I'm not convinced the parent would not have opened the gate to get his 'revenge'. One wonders if the child had been run over: would the father have attacked the driver of the car with a shopping trolley? Probably!

 

The reason that dogs should not be left outside shops is that the world isn't safe, but it could be, and it should be, if it didn't contain people who are prepared to hit a small and almost defenceless animal with a shopping trolley.

 

I feel for the child, what chance does he have growing up with parents like that. I really hope he turns out to be one of the people that can see past what their parents do and resolve to be different.

[yena]

I would say both are to blame. The owner for taking the dog to the supermarket in the first place and the childs parents for not learning them not to approach any animal, never mind kick it .

Well done to you for standing your ground and taking control of what could have been a bad situation for the dog.

[estweyn]

Frankly some kids are little bs, we had a neighbours kid poking sticks through the fence at our gsd bitch some years ago. She was lovely natured but got to barking when he did this. I ended up telling his parents that I had been training Sheba up in manwork and would they stop thier kid doing it (after repeated requests) as I was worried the child may be bitten. It was a complete lie, but it worked, they gave her a respectful distance after that...

 

Times have changed so much, I remember when my son was young 30 odd years ago, I used to take the pushchair and the dog to the shops every day. I left her outside while I nipped in the shop and then we went on a walk. I wouldnt dream of it nowadays, perhaps I was too niave then but I do think some of it is due to the change in society. I wont even leave my dog in the car for two minutes unattended now.. I think someone would have to be pretty brave to try and steal him but just wouldnt take the risk.

 

I think the owner was a little niave in this case, she certainly learnt a terrible lesson about humanity and about dogs who will sometimes act out of character when provoked.

The kid, the parents and the man in the car are just the type of mindless scum we could do without in society nowadays, the kid probably thinks it quite ok to treat a dog or any other animal in this way because he has never been told otherwise.

 

Its the parents who are at fault. Last summer walking on the sea front with two gsds, a little kid ran right up to them and screamed woof woof woof at their faces. Frightening, this kids face was level with the dogs teeth. Now fortuantely my dogs are kid and people friendly and they did not turn a hair, but imagine the consequences if the dog had been a bit jumpy..the parents were on the beach and didnt even miss the kid. I asked several people nearby who had seen incident happen, a lot were tut tutting, not just because the kid could have been bitten but because the kid could have been adbucted running around on his own with no clothes on. Eventually they parents reclaimed the kid and I told them it was dangerous to let him run up to dogs like that - water off a ducks back.

 

I always tell kids that they must ask first before touching any dog and often they respect that. The same day a party of French kids were admiring the dogs and every one asked if the dogs were friendly and could they stroke them, brilliant, perhaps they train their kids differently in France