More bad press for Akitas :(
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605206/Father-horrific-injuries-attacked-Japanese-Akita-dog-walked-child.html
Came across this article from today in the UK..
I can only imagine the call for BSL once again. Who lets a 6 year old boy walk a dog alone?
Came across this article from today in the UK..
I can only imagine the call for BSL once again. Who lets a 6 year old boy walk a dog alone?
Comments
I saw these kids walking a overweight black lab on a Flexi leash! The kids were taking turns and the dog over powered the boy even. Not sure how old they were I guess 5 or 7 maybe? I have hard time guessing kids age, but they looked to be about that.
Luckily the dog wasn't pulling to chase a rabbit, cat or whatever it just kept pulling to the next spot to pee on the grass.. Still the kids had no control luckily the dog seemed friendly to people, but if it was reactive or aggressive then no way the boy or girl could stop it plus I'm sure the dog would break the flexi leash rope if it pulled hard enough. At least on the articles he says he has nothing against Akitas so that is good. I'm sure most people wouldn't care and think all akita are bad.
Sad this happened a big dog like this shouldn't be walked by a 6 year old I mean sure if parent was with the kid and dog was trained to walk loosely, but a dog this size can pull the kid and cause issues.
I hope this guy recovers good those injuries look painful. I was attacked by a rabid cat as a kid and that wasn't fun coarse treatment for the rabies stuff wasn't either..
Gotta love the comment section someone wrote this. and he/she got good bit of up votes and one down vote.. I'm like why would this comment get even one down vote? I do like Réka Anna Csépl¿, comment much more nicer compared to some.
"I hate dogs" "All dogs should wear muzzles when in public." etc.
I hope the best for that man and he recovers hopefully he can have use of his arm so he can work.
The other thing I noticed is they said Japanese Akita in the headline but the photo is an American Akita. It would be nice if the media recognised the split.
I hope the best for the guy too, fingers crossed people will realise who was at fault here and not blame the breed.
"Dog attacks man. Dog must be bad. Destroy dog."
One of my favorite sayings is there are 3 sides to every story. His side, her side and the truth somewhere in the middle.
Like others posted, why was a 6 year old boy walking an 80+ lb dog?
Where were they? Distractions? Noises? What was the man doing.
It's possible it was unprovoked but it's also possible the man is full of shit. But the dog can't defend itself and I doubt the 6 year old can effectively communicate what transpired.
And I'm sure if I took a few more moments I could draft a host of additional queries.
I wonder though. If it was truly unprovoked what would make a dog so crazed that it would attack people? I saw an old video the other day of a dog running across the street attacking a child for apparently no reason at all. How do they become so randomly aggressive? Is there a trigger?
Why didn't they get the story from the kid's point of view? Because he's 6 years old?
@apmissboo I was thinking the same thing when i saw the picture of the AA instead of JA...
So while I could be totally off base with this, I do wonder if it is a combo of things: bad owners making big mistakes (like letting a small child walk a large dog), probably undertrained/undersocialized dogs, and perhaps some tendency toward aggression in the lines anyway.
I can say this: I rarely walk my male AA in places he will encounter people he doesn't know (there are other reasons for this--he has health issues that make him not able to be easily walked on a leash anyway). But he is also 110 pounds and is suspicious of strangers. He will just bark at people he doesn't know, but I could see that he might snap or even bite if he felt threatened or felt I was threatened. He's usually pretty good at places like the vet, but he has a strong sense of personal space and won't let strangers touch him. It's not ideal--I know that. So what that means is he doesn't go out to places where he might feel threatened and cause a problem.
I strongly suspect, in cases like this one, the dog already had some issues, but those issues were not handled responsibly by the people who had the dog. And now the dog will die for it, and a man was injured because of it. It's pretty sad.
Personally I am totally aware that my JA is a large dog and I am very concious of this when we are out knowing that she will make some people nervous purely due to her size and I take this in to consideration in every environment I take my pup. I am aware that peoples nervousness can cause her to become nervous which if she was unattended could cause her to have an unfriendly reaction (this has never happened to me thankfully but I'm trying to make the point that I am aware of how bites happen etc) any way..... what I'm trying to say is these awful situations are due to peoples lack of education about breeds, their understanding of the time and commitment a dog requires combined with pure stupidity.
Here in the UK when I'm on sites such as pets4homes where people sell dogs the Japanese Akita Inu breed section is particularly depressing. There are usually between 0 and 1 actual JAs in a list of up to 50 from around the country. Most are AA or a cross of an AA. It just shows to me that in the UK there are alot of people who do not take the time to learn about the dogs they have and attempt to breed and they are not interested in knowing either.
Akitas are becoming a status symbols here too like stafforshire bull terriers and alot of scumbags have them just to make them look tough but they are not always caring for them. Currently a large percentage of dogs in shelters here are staffs and I can see akitas becoming like that too in the future which is very sad. Staffs and now akitas have a reputaion for being dangerous but actually official research showed that in the UK the largest number of bites that go to hospital are from labradors! But no one calls them dangerous because they weren't used as fighting dogs generations ago!
So to sum up my rant (lol) some owners are beyond stupid and as usual the dogs get the blame and its infuriating!! (Sorry if I went on a bit)
I also remember looking at rescue sites in the UK and how many Akitas were available. I was astonished to find so many! @StefJackUK do you think with all the regulations on pitbulls people are finding Akitas as the next best thing? Also does the media bother to report non Akita/Pitbull attacks?
All in all its a horrible situation where both a human is injured and a dog killed. Such an avoidable event
like you say the attacks by other breeds rarely get repprted unless it's a Staffordshire Bull terrier or a rottweiler. It's a ridiculous system I feel and it breeds fear in people which just leads to even more issues.
But, that dude can't fight off an 80lbd dog? Kinda sad...
And of course there is absolutely no reason to mention breed here....just adding to bs about so called "dangerous" breeds.
the offleash comment was in reference to the second link @apmissboo posted.
http://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/11153477.Warning_as_dog_kills_one_lamb_and_mauls_others_on_Otley_Chevin/
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/1-2/28
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/20/09/2012/135227/your-legal-rights-on-shooting-dogs-on-your-land.htm
I'll stand by my off-leash comments. I've seen it cause way more trouble than not, and that includes in Germany. My brother-in-law lets his reactive dog off leash in Germany, and I saw what a good idea that was. In one walk, we had two fights and one snapping at a person walking. Also a scuffle with two reactive dogs at a beer bar, one leashed, one not. And, as it happens, dogs are required to be on leash in Germany in developed areas, and in less developed areas, if people see someone coming, they are required to put the dog on a leash. Many people I saw did this, but not all.
Even in Germany, where I did see more well behaved off leash dogs, I also saw plenty of dogs that should not have been off leash.
My point is that most people do not have dogs that should be off leash, but they let them off leash anyway. It's not a matter of rights; it is a matter of being considerate of other people and other animals and also being realistic about the control people have over their off leash dog (which is often not enough).
According to my German friends, it's 35 euros fine if the dog is not leashed up properly or go beyond the legal definition which would be 1-meter in city and about 2- to 3-meter in parks. Dogs which cannot be trained to stay within that radius have to be leashed up. This can be quite problematic because a lot of tourists and expats get confused why the police fines them, but don't fine German nationals which lead to accusations of racial profiling.
If the dog harass other people; or worse, cause damage to a person or another dog, then they are sued for several tens of thousands of euros. If dog roams at large, then they are shot or put down.
The latter happened to an Austrian friend of mine who let her untrained Spanish rescue off-leash, and the dog got shot by a peace-officer in the countryside. Now she no longer does rescues because it's too difficult to train them as adults.
The former occurred with my Danish friend who sued an American when his untrained off-leash German Shepherd harassed her trained off-leash Dalmatian.
These friends of mine never had a problem with off-leash dogs. The dogs which cause problem usually get sued by other dog-owners or by people who don't like dogs, or the dogs are put to sleep.
And if the German model is such a big problem, then why is it being expanded to places like Calgary AB, Victoria, B.C.., Toronto, ON, Sweden and other places? It's becoming a national debate even in Finland and Norway.
Either way, the British dog-owners with the sheep-killing Akita is lucky they got off with a warning. A simple Google search will yield farmers have sued dog-owners for letting their dogs roam at large, and there is a legal precedent for shooting livestock chasers.
The article:
http://positively.com/2014/04/18/the-science-says-dont-hit-your-dog/
https://shine.yahoo.com/author-blog-posts/dog-knows-joys-adopting-animal-222100307.html
And since this is all a digression anyway, I'll leave it. My point was simply that there are can be a lot of problems with off leash dogs. If everyone had perfectly trained dogs it would not be a problem, but that is certainly not the reality--or even close to it--in the US at least, and those of us who do follow the law (which is on leash) often have to suffer the actions of those who think their ill trained or untrained dogs can and should run free. And in the case of the Akita mauling the sheep, obviously, the dog should not have been leash, and I am also surprised that the dog was not shot.
Oops, meant to add it was nice to see the other Akita article, about the older dog and her "puppy"!
I know a few years ago there was a huge rise in chihuahuas and yorkies in shelters because women were buying them as an accessory.
Does anyone know the documentary Louix Theroux? He recently did a series on LA and the first episode was about Los Angeles dogs. It's kinda horrible to watch as a dog owner and lover, but you can see how people get dogs because "oh, dog, cute, I want it" and then people using them as weapons (causing an increase in aggressive dogs in shelters - again, status symbol dogs like pit bulls) and those that buy the cute small ones and then 'dropping' them off next to the shelters. Argh. I hate people, sometimes.
Likewise, in the UK, I think there is a surge popularity in the Akita and people are getting these dogs without knowing anything about dogs or Akitas. Then, oh surprise, surprise, being bitten? Pssh. I wish we could put some dog owners to sleep/shelter instead.
I realize this is a story about a six year old? Taking an Akita for a walk? Yeah, this is also not news to me (sadly) - In my previous neighbourhood, there was a family that owned a black male staffie. Staffie was a nice dog, when the dad was walking it, or when it was offleash, no problem. Happy go-lucky dog. Of course, they had two young daughters who would end up walking the dog most of the time, and in most cases, when their staffie saw us, the girls panicked and tugged at his leashed (trying to control their dog) - their dog then thought we were a threat and would try and lunge at us. Every time I saw them and came home I would complain to my husband about them, about how stupid the family is. Sadly, being bitten by a dog here is a lesser crime than in most parts of the world (which I think should change!) - because I would so report them to authorities ASAP.
anyway, my mom thought she was a perfect "guard dog" for me, and because my mother was not the most skilled at parenting, she decided the dog could be my babysitter. So I was allowed to be home with the dog alone, walk the dog at any time of the day or night alone, etc. It's true: no one could get near me with that dog. She would have torn someone apart. But of course, she also was a serious liability, and my mom let me--probably around 9 or 10 at the time--take the dog anywhere. Nothing ever happened, but that was only because we were lucky. If a stranger had approached, she would have ripped into someone, no doubt about it. And I'm lucky she just never got loose. (and my mom's boyfriend at the time was a cop, and when on the rare occasions he came over in uniform, we had to put the dog in another room. She never liked him, but she wanted to kill him when he was wearing a uniform.)
Pretty scary situations.