How do I report a dangerous dog?

Some of you may remember a while back I posted a thread about an irresponsible dog owner:

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=125030

Well today whilst on a walk we came across the same lady who owns a black standard poodle who has attacked Monty before and put some hefty scratches on his legs.

Previously if i'd seen her down there i always put Monty on the lead and walk as far away from her as possible but unfortunately today her dog saw Monty before we saw them and all hell broke loose.

Today she was walking her black poodle and a friends pointer - the pointer is fine, Monty has met and played with the pointer with no problems at all but today was different. When paired with the poodle they ganged up on him and he is now left with several large scratches and teethmarks on his legs several of which have drawn blood.

As all this was happening i was trying to get Monty back and onto the lead away from the poodle mainly but he was so scared that he just stood still as everytime he moved the poodle went for him and i was very cautious of getting in the middle of the fight.

At this point i notice that the poodle's owner is on crutches and can therefore do nothing but stand and whistle/call her dog which was obviously ignoring her. I then think to myself who in their right mind walks a dog they obviously can't handle when they are on crutches but then also decides to walk someone else's large dog as well.

There was another lady stood talking to her with two retrievers and she also stood and did nothing.

Monty did not approach any of the dogs, they all charged across the field to him so i know that he did not initiate the fight.

When i finally got Monty back we instantly noticed a small patch of fur missing on his back leg and the poodle had drawn blood.

I contemplated going over to her and giving her a peace of my mind but she doesn't listen and doesn't think her dog is doing anything wrong so we walked away and left it which was probably wise as anything i did say wouldn't have been very nice.

Anyway Monty has been despondant and quiet all afternoon since we got home. He hasn't left my side all afternoon and even came and sat with me on the sofa which he never normally does - he's not a cuddly dog!

Whilst stroking him i've just discovered several other scratches that have drawn blood and a small puncture wound so am now f**king fuming about it all.

Last time i spoke with the woman she claims it is only Monty that her dog goes for and in her opinion it is because neither dog has been castrated.

Whether or not Monty is the only dog that makes her dog react this way doesn't really concern me. What concerns me is that her dog is dangerous and has serious potential to do harm to another dog. She will not listen to this point and i've even spoken to the owners of the pointer about her as they know her and expressed my concerns.

Based on this i now feel strongly that i want to do something about this as i think it's only a matter of time before either Monty or another dog gets seriously injured by the poodle.

So how do i go about doing something? Who can i report her to? Any advice is much appreciated.

I would first go to the vet and get the wounds recorded. Then you have evidence if you want to take it further.
In our area we have a good dog warden who would go round and advise the owner so that`s where I would go with it.
There is little point getting the police involved as it isn`t really something they can take any action on.
If possible, get a vets` report and give the lady a copy, and perhaps suggest she might like to pay the bill. IME money talks louder than warnings.

That is seriously out of order. Not sure of the correct procedure, perhaps contact the local dog warden and explain the situation,or even have a word with the local police. if she wont listen to you, then she leaves you with little choice. Surely if she cannot control the dog, and the dog is causing actual harm to another dog on more than one occasion, he should be kept on the lead, and potentially muzzled too.

Hope Monty is feeling better. make sure to keep a record of all your interactions with her and her dog.

I agree you should speak to your dog warden but if you feel that the dog warden is not going far enough then do go to the police.
If you go to the police then you will have to go armed with a lot of facts and be well versed with the DDA.

Even if they don't prosecute then a visit may make her wake up to her dogs actions.

The dog does not have to bite you but if you have reasonable fear that it would then you have a case.

She clearly was not in control of the dogs if she is on crutches and dogs off lead. The only thing that may go against you is that your dog was not on a lead either.

My dog got attacked by a Rottweiller and our dog warden wouldn't do anything apart from go round and speak to the owner about her responsibilities. Like she was bothered as Cherry was not the first dog it had bitten.

The police wouldn't do anything either as it was dog-on-dog.

I made the owner come to the vets with me to pay the (large) bill but only because I was screaming for someone to call the police as the owner of the dog was walking away. They obviously didn't want the police as they knew the dog had bitten before.

In the town 20 miles from here the dog warden has put control orders on dogs like this that bite other dogs so that they have to be muzzled and on a lead. It is the luck of the draw as to what your dog warden will do.

I carry a "Pet corrector" spray and a "Helix personal security" alarm to protect my dog now should I need to.
If I were you I would get something similar to use should you see this dog approaching yours again.

If you don't feel comfortable telling the dog to back off before he gets near enough to Monty to bite him then I'd go with a screech alarm such as dog stop and use it on him every time he came near, if she doesn't like it she can learn to control her dog, she might just take the hint. I think the pet corrector is a bit mild and most likely be ignored.

she might actually thank you for the help with training

I agree this sounds like a good idea

What an irresponsible owner . Poor Monty.

Like others have said, if your local dog warden is any good, that would be my first port of call. I've reported an owner whose golden retrievers attacked Barney & left a puncture wound. Her dogs were completely out of control, off lead & came haring over & jumped on Barney. She was screaming at her dogs & I eventually shooed them off, but not without worrying that they may also attack me. When the owner managed to catch her dogs, she clipped flexi leads to there collars, but obviously forget to lock the leads, as both dogs pulled to the end of their leads & dragged her across the park (face down in the mud!!). I did feel a bit sorry for her at this stage though.

When she was at last in control & the dogs were safely on lead, I followed her back to th car park & when she'd put her dogs in the ar I went over to speak to her. I showed her the bleeding puncture wound on Barney's neck, asked for her name & address (although I'd already got her car registration) & said that if Barney needed vet treatment I would be sending her the bill.

To be fair, she was very apologetic & gave me her name & address. But then she ruined it by saying the dogs had never done that before, that they weren't her dogs, but belonged to her husband & that this was the first time she's walked them on her own because her husband was ill. I knew she was lying as I'd seen her on her own with these dogs before, & the dogs had attacked another dog in the same park. I confronted her with this but she then just drove off.

It was the lies & denial that made me report her to the dog warden. I felt that she wasn't taking the problem seriously & I had every expectation that she'd carrying walking her dogs off lead in this park. Luckily the dog warden was very sympathetic & said he would pay a visit to this the woman. He even called me back to say that he'd spoken to her, she'd agreed that only her husband would walk the dogs in future as they were obedient with him. I've never seen her or her husband or the dogs again!

You may like to remind your dog warden of section 3 the DDA:

Keeping dogs under proper control
(1) If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place—
(a) the owner; and
(b) if different, the person for the time being in charge of the dog,
is guilty of an offence, or, if the dog while so out of control injures any person, an aggravated offence, under this subsection.

The poodle was clearly dangerously out of control in a public place ~ so she is already guilty under this section, especially if you thought you were in danger from this dog. It needn't have bitten you, only that you were worried that it might bite you because of the dog's threatening behaviour.

I hope you & Monty can get over this horrible experience.

poor monty i hope he recovers quickly to be honest the dog warden in my area did nothing but suggest training classes to the owner of two great danes who attacked my two and that she should walk them separate which she still doesnt do and she also now walks another dog with them i now carry a pet corrector and that works well so far for me when ever i feel my two are being threatened by a approaching out of control dog and ive also used dog stop which is a high pitched screeching noise hope you dont see this women again