LordRsmacker
Abominable Snowman
- Joined
- May 1, 2006
- Messages
- 724
With the current furore in the British media about dangerous dogs, and that perhaps the legislation brought in in 1991 (Amd. 1997) needs another look, something stirred at the back of my mind.
Does anyone recall, back in the early 1990s, just before the Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in, all the savage dog attacks, many upon children? As I remember, the papers were full of them, not a nip and a bit of chomp here and there, but full-on maulings. Pit-bull terriers, Labradors, Yorkies, Alsatians, Dobermann, Rottweilers, they were all at it. The great-and-the-good were calling for all sorts of large dog breeds to be legislated against, including the latter 3 above, but in the end it was only PBTs, Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Braziliero which were named, along with anything bred specifically for fighting, like the Bandog.
Now, my recollection is that after a couple of Summers, these dog attacks petered out, save the odd exception here and there, as you would expect, despite only a tiny amount of these "dangerous dogs" being destroyed, most being registered, tagged and kept muzzled.
Living close to a large pet-food manufacturer, I also seem to recall someone telling me in a pub they were prevented from putting certain offal into dog food, previously, it all went in. Perhaps these dogs were going mental due to something in the food, maybe infected spinal columns etc. It was around the time BSE raised it's (lolling, drooling) head, and human food manufacturers were stopped from using "everything but the moo".
Certainly dog food these days looks a lot better than it did, I'm sure if I was pissed and someone challenged me, I'd have no problems eating some meaty chunks, but back in the 1980s......? Nah, that was only fit for dogs! Eating dog food back then was a stupid trick, well worth betting someone a fiver to see if they could stomach it.
So, am I just imagining it, or is it possible that certain offal in dog food back in the late 80's/early 90's, maybe BSE related, had a detrimental effect on the pooch population of the UK? Dog attacks like the one earlier this week have thankfully become a rarity, and front-page news, but back then they were coming in at a hell of a rate, and as I say, not just a bite or two, these were people losing faces etc. I'm sure it was more than the media reporting every single dog bite making it seem we were all in danger of being eaten alive by Fido. Why the surge in savage maulings back then (off-hand I think it must have been 1989-1990ish, maybe inc 1991 too)?
And why did these savage attacks cease? With thousands of these "dangerous dogs" still in homes across the UK, why did the maulings stop, surely owners didn't immediately lose all trust in their dog just because the Govt said so (yeah, right!) and kept them muzzled at all times?
Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen, please.........
Does anyone recall, back in the early 1990s, just before the Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in, all the savage dog attacks, many upon children? As I remember, the papers were full of them, not a nip and a bit of chomp here and there, but full-on maulings. Pit-bull terriers, Labradors, Yorkies, Alsatians, Dobermann, Rottweilers, they were all at it. The great-and-the-good were calling for all sorts of large dog breeds to be legislated against, including the latter 3 above, but in the end it was only PBTs, Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Braziliero which were named, along with anything bred specifically for fighting, like the Bandog.
Now, my recollection is that after a couple of Summers, these dog attacks petered out, save the odd exception here and there, as you would expect, despite only a tiny amount of these "dangerous dogs" being destroyed, most being registered, tagged and kept muzzled.
Living close to a large pet-food manufacturer, I also seem to recall someone telling me in a pub they were prevented from putting certain offal into dog food, previously, it all went in. Perhaps these dogs were going mental due to something in the food, maybe infected spinal columns etc. It was around the time BSE raised it's (lolling, drooling) head, and human food manufacturers were stopped from using "everything but the moo".
Certainly dog food these days looks a lot better than it did, I'm sure if I was pissed and someone challenged me, I'd have no problems eating some meaty chunks, but back in the 1980s......? Nah, that was only fit for dogs! Eating dog food back then was a stupid trick, well worth betting someone a fiver to see if they could stomach it.
So, am I just imagining it, or is it possible that certain offal in dog food back in the late 80's/early 90's, maybe BSE related, had a detrimental effect on the pooch population of the UK? Dog attacks like the one earlier this week have thankfully become a rarity, and front-page news, but back then they were coming in at a hell of a rate, and as I say, not just a bite or two, these were people losing faces etc. I'm sure it was more than the media reporting every single dog bite making it seem we were all in danger of being eaten alive by Fido. Why the surge in savage maulings back then (off-hand I think it must have been 1989-1990ish, maybe inc 1991 too)?
And why did these savage attacks cease? With thousands of these "dangerous dogs" still in homes across the UK, why did the maulings stop, surely owners didn't immediately lose all trust in their dog just because the Govt said so (yeah, right!) and kept them muzzled at all times?
Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen, please.........