Well said....and very sensible! It is irresponsible for your dogs to only be used to one person dealing with them. To be safe in this day and age dogs need to be as accepting of as many people, dogs and different situations as can be.

My dogs are very well socialised love people and dogs, but they are my responsibility, I trust my husband and my niece with them. But still if anything went wrong I would blame myself as I am the owner.

They love visitors and are "accepting" of them etc I just don't want to take any chances with their safety.

Absolutely bloody well said Jackbox!!

When we had Tai on his own, he was totally 100% bombproof with all other dogs. When we got Ben, once they had bonded, they became a pack, and will work as a pack. It's all for one, and one for all. With the problems we have gone through with Ben and his DA, these were exacerbated a hundredfold by the pack instinct kicking in - we then had 2 very large powerful dogs trying to pin male black labradors instead of 1! One was bad enough, two was impossible for my OH to control safely - he's only little, although quite heavy - so I totally agree that a pack = 2+ !

I agree with jackbox.

That poor girl who lost her life to those dogs. Having watched the news I heard many neighbours saying that they were terrified of the dogs. I certainly feel they were very large dogs to have in such a small house and I gather they were rarely walked. A meat pie presumably was the flash point.

My two adore each other and sleep curled up together but that is not to say they don't have the odd squabble which I think is totally normal and expected as would human brothers. I always know the things that could set them off and that is seeing a cat (when they are on a lead) or something that they want to get to and I am preventing them. They will then 'turn' their frustration on each other They have never attacked each other it is all noise and teeth.

They are fantastic with all visitors but when we have young children here I am always with the dogs to supervise them as I don't know what would happen if one of the children pulled a tail or poked an eye etc.

The ONLY time I have seen them 'work' together is if one manages to get a loo roll or something they shouldn't have and they will work together to destroy it.

Hi on the whole I agree with everything that has been said,but the press seem to have the upper hand,it is very rare that you read about dogs who have won medals for their bravery and loyalty,and as there has been only 9 Fatalities,and I would say over 30 dogs given in the last year or so commendations, one of the commendations was a terrier who realised that his home was on fire,managed to get his families attention they got out,but the terrier was the last one out and had terrible burns to his pads and his head,but he survived.I get newsletters from various Animal charities,and there is always some dog out there looking out for us,maybe we should repay the favour. I also have noted,that there has been no complaint about the BBC,what about the pet garden,Petra who was every childs pet is buried there,are they just going to bulldoze it.We humans are so fickle and drawn to the blood and gore of the world we live in we forget the beauty of nature,instead of grabbing a paper to read the latest horror,take a ride look at the countryside,hear the birds singing,but please remember we are the custodians off all living things and we should stand up and protect our fragile world.crystalgirl

I think any parent or relative of one of the 'only 9 fatalities' you mention would feel just as devastated if it were (to use your wording) 'only 1'.

I fail to see how it mitigates this appalling incident just because there have been more dogs decorated for good things than dogs that have killed.

There are more people walking around free and living good lives than there are people in prison for murder. Doesn't downgrade the act of murder in my eyes.

But the media don't bang on that every human be destroyed or that the entire population have enforced curfews or something when a human kills a human. But ALL dogs seem to get the blame when a dog kills. I'm sure nobody is saying a tragedy like this is OK, but the public response when it does is totally disproportionate.

Completely agree.

I would just like to say I agree with a lot of what has been said.
My biggest concern, being a woman of a certain age, who walks many miles in remote areas, is that my dogs might not protect me if someone was intent on doing me harm.
I'm reasonably confident that Nudge would bark, but I'm not sure if that would put an attacker off.
Just putting in another perspective.
My two don't necessarily work together, but I think they would look after each other.
Also, my daughter and husband have as much interaction with the dogs as possible, so I trust the dogs to know their place with them.