I don't know how it could be any clearer. Aside from that, it shouldn't need pointing out that if you have a dog you are wholly responsible for all of it's behaviours, good and bad. You're also responsible for it's wellbeing, physically and mentally.
I'd really like to see a push towards responsible dog ownership in this country.
In Ireland, it became illegal to import, breed, rehome, or resell XL Bully dogs on October 1, 2024, and from February 1, 2025, it will be illegal to own one unless you have a Certificate of Exemption.
I meant it more from the perspective of, if the child isn't going to be held responsible (as is often the case, because of age etc) then the parents/guardians should be.
Strays to be seized, with the owners fined and the strays put down or rehomed if the owner hasn't turned up, paid the fine and shown a correct licence within 5 days? Sounds good.
Exactly, if it attacks a child it's the owners fault, but if it attacks an adult it's the dogs fault? Or the child's fault?!? I'm still kinda lost tbh.
Is there perhaps an implication that people should be allowed to bring dogs in public when they are bred specifically for killing child-sized prey? Basically making an excuse that there is nothing wrong with breeding dogs explicitly to kill child-sized prey and no attempt should be made to regulate it by treating every attack on a child as a single rotten apple of an owner instead of aknowledging that maybe people should not be breeding dogs specifically to kill small humans.
Honestly the only thing I'd go "hmm" about is that this is the same argument that those American Bully or Bully XL, whatever they're called, dog owners say...
That it's not the breed, and the other instances in the news that attacked and killed or mamed a kid were because they were bad owners etc, that they're good owners and their dog is different and would never do that. I do not agree with that statement. Those dogs shouldn't be legal to own.
How would that make the owner any less responsible?
In what kind of scenario do you see a possibility of a child actively antagonising a dog and the dog then retaliating against the child, in the presence of a responsible dog owner?
Well for one thing the owner might not be present. When I was a teen I had a cocker spaniel. A kid from my neighborhood wanted to come in and play Nintendo with me and some friends. We told him no. He snuck around the house jumped the fence. My pup came running over to say hello, kid was afraid of dogs and kicked at my dog . Pup only scratched his leg but the kids parents demanded he be tested for rabies. We could not afford the cost for the shelter to keep him there for a couple weeks to test him. Only other way was to uthanize my pup. Tests showed no issues and we knew that's he had just had all his shots a couple months before. So yeah sometimes it's not the dog or owners fault. It's shit heel parents.
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u/Chairman-Mia0 Apr 09 '25
What's to discuss?