As I am sure you are all aware, there has been another dog attack in the news which has resulted in the awful tragedy of a toddler losing her life.

At the moment, it is still rather unclear how the attack happened but the toddler died from severe head injuries whilst the dog’s owner was absent from the home.

Many people are scared and some believe dogs attacks are on the rise (personally I would think it more likely that more dog attacks are being reported now rather than that there are more attacks/bites per se…) and there should be a ban on certain bull breeds such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers or as the media like to call them ‘Pitbull type dogs’.

I feel absolutely awful for the family as there is nothing that could be worse than the death of a child but I do think it is important to keep everything in perspective.

For example, it is unclear exactly what went on between the dog and the people in the house. We are not yet sure whether the dog was provoked (not condoning at all! Just think it is important to be clear on the entire situation) or whether this dog truly was a danger and should never have been allowed around children in the first place.

It is also important not to blame a dog owner for being negligent / uneducated / a poor trainer until the full situation comes to light.

I trust my dogs implicitly – with me. But, I am aware that there are things they don’t like and that they have a ‘threshold’ for things they can tolerate. I am sure if I tried to push them over their ‘threshold’ they would react in what could be deemed an ‘aggressive manner’ – I don’t have dangerous dogs, I have two daft collies who are as affectionate as anything BUT what I am trying to say is that all dogs have the capability to be ‘aggressive’ if a situation arose where they felt they couldn’t get away or felt extremely fearful.

What I find difficult to accept, is the media’s emotive portrayal of these ‘devil dogs’ (yes I have seen the phrase used in more than one newspaper!) which only serves to stir up public emotion and fear when actually, we should be educating the public about how dogs learn – and the importance of socialisation of dogs to humans and other dogs as well as the importance of teaching children how to behave around dogs.

When I was young, my family always had German Shepherds and we were told the following:

If ‘Rover’ is asleep, you leave him alone. If he is on his bed, you leave him alone.

You stroke him GENTLY and never, ever pull at his face, whiskers, tail etc…

You NEVER put your face down to his (of course I do it all the time with mine now but I can see why my parents told us off if we did it as littluns!)

You NEVER take food away from him.

You don’t encourage rough play or ‘mouthing’ from pups as it will hurt if they do it to you when ‘Rover’ is older!

My point is, of course terrible things like dog bites / attacks should never, ever happen…but equally, we should be educating dog owners and helping them teach their children how to behave around dogs because let’s face it, dogs are animals that don’t communicate in the way that we do – if people can learn how their dogs communicate then it is possible that they could see a situation about to happen and stop it before it actually starts.

We need to react objectively and with understanding to these tragic situations and realise that it won’t be a ban that helps prevent dog attacks (black market will just go mad with dog sales!) but EDUCATION!

I am not against the idea of people applying for a dog license and passing some sort of ‘test’ (though I think it would be rather difficult to enforce) … I just wish that each case could be judged on an individual basis rather than blaming an entire breed.

I realise that some breeds may have been bred for fighting abilities and may even have a more aggressive tendency in their nature BUT it comes down to nurture as well as what’s in their genes…coming from a ‘fighting’ breed does not necessarily mean the dog is a killer.

So…what should we do? EDUCATE!

I know I keep reiterating it but there really is a wealth of information out there online, in books…and of course there are experts in the canine field who are more than happy to speak to people to help them understand more about how a dog’s mind works and how dogs learn.

And hopefully, if more people truly work on raising happy, healthy dogs as well as ‘training’ themselves and their children how to behave appropriately with our canine friends, we can go a little way to decrease these horrific situations.

My heart goes out to the family and of course, the little girl.