Result of my puppy being killed!

I joined this forum in October, desperate for advice as my pup had just been killed by another dog in an unprovoked attack.

Link to thread at the time http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=158331

Since then I have been made promises and fobbed off. This is the reply I got today from my local council

Does anyone else think their knowledge of dog behaviour is limited? Surely killing another dog IS AGGRESSIVE, I'm not sure where their info comes from on them not barking means they weren't!

"I refer to your complaint regarding an incident in Hylands Park whereby
your puppy was killed by two other dogs in the park on Saturday, 29th
October 2011.

As you will be aware Essex Police advised us in November that they would
investigate your complaint. You however contacted us again in February
to advise that the police were not pursuing your complaint and that you
required the Council to take up the case. As the police had
investigated the matter it was essential that we obtained the evidence
that they had gathered, including your original witness statement and
details of the owners of the dogs that made the attack. We also needed
to ascertain the reasons for which they were not pursing the matter.
Due to a police re-organisation and off site storage of documentation,
the case officer for Essex Police, PC James Butler, was unable to
provide this information to us until Monday, 21st May 2012.


We have now reviewed the information provided. Whilst I appreciate that
this is not the outcome you are seeking I must advise you that under the
circumstances we do not consider it appropriate to instigate court
proceedings on the matter. Our reasons are given below:-

Firstly, there is no indication that the dogs are a danger to people.
We were advised that a reason for the police not taking action was your
statement

"I did not feel any fear that I was at risk and was going to get injured
but have just targeted Ralph as he was small and making a lot of noise.
I do not feel they were dangerous towards me or Dennis, just Ralph"

This does, therefore preclude action under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
as there must be "reasonable apprehension" that the dog will cause
injury.

As you are aware from previous correspondence a complaint can be taken
under the Dogs Act 1871 to apply for a control order to be placed on a
dangerous dog. This action is open to the Police, Local Authority and
members of the public. Our policy is that we would not normally take
action where the incident is purely a dog-on-dog attack and both parties
were off the lead and the incident was not witnessed by an Officer. It
would still, however, be open to the owner of the dog attacked to take
their own action.

At the time of the incident all three dogs concerned were off the lead.
Your statement of the 29th February states that the two dogs only
sniffed at your larger dog, which was on a lead, and were not aggressive
towards it - but chased Ralph who was not on a lead. The indication of
this is that if Ralph had been on a lead they would not have given chase
and/or you would have been able to pick him up. You have stated that
you do not recall the two dogs barking which is another indication that
they were not overtly aggressive. We are not aware of any history of
aggression from these dogs. There is no doubt that your puppy was
vulnerable given its size (2kg) and age and we believe this is a
contributory factor in the incident.

Whilst we appreciate that the outcome of the incident was undoubtedly
distressing and that your dog suffered there are no extenuating
circumstances to support action outside our policy. We will be writing
to the owners to confirm their responsibilities when in charge of their
dogs and will keep their details on record."

I am sorry that is what they have come up with

You are right, seems they know very little saying that because the dogs were not barking they were not aggressive

a dog striking and killing a puppy without warning!! Pretty aggressive to me

I'm really sorry for your loss. It's a terrible thing to have to have witnessed. One of my dad's friends had a shar pei puppy of 8 weeks who was playing in the garden when the neighbours 2 huskies jumped the fence and mauled it. The pup survived after extensive surgery but developed post traumatic stress which made him extremely aggressive to anyone or anything he encountered and so was PTS. The owners were absolutely devastated and brought an action against the neighbours but because the attack took place on private property the council would not acknowledge it. They also tried to get it through the courts but that didn't work out either. This happened about 7 years ago so I am not sure if the law has changed in this respect but at the end of the day these people were robbed of their pup and had no recourse to justice. Several months after the incident, both huskies were shot dead by the local farmer for repeatedly breaking into his farm and killing his livestock. Some weeks after that these evil neighbours were advertising for husky pups in the local newspaper. Evil b*******

Thank you. I just still to this day cannot believe that neither the police or council will do anything about it. Other local councils to me are more proactive than mine. It just doesn't seem right that a dog can kill another and the people can just get away with it

The suffering and distress my pup went through, and the long term damage caused to me is just not acceptable.

Nothing left for me to do now except local paper, the owners of the other dogs are local barristers, I won't mention their names, but I'm sure anyone that knows them will know who the article is about.

I am sorry it is not a satisfactory result.

I'd go to the papers tbh.. Its amazing what gets done when you go public about it! We had fireworks pushed through our letterbox when I was little and the police called it a "harmless prank" so my Dad went to the papers and it got the police to at least investigate a little further. Never know who did it though.

But thats what I would do.

I am so sorry that you did not get the result you hoped for - perhaps by going to the media you will at least be able to warn others.

I'm sorry you have not got a result on this. It makes me so mad that people can let their dogs attack, maime and kill other peoples dogs but because they are ok with people nothing will be done.
These dogs being attacked have feelings too and go through trauma as does the poor owner suffer mentally having to watch their treasured family member get so brutally killed or injured.
People should be free to relax and walk their dogs without fear of this hapenning and people with dogs that don't like other dogs should have them muzzled and on a leash.
All dog attacks should be investigated and whatever was attacked, human or animal the owner should be made to keep that dog under control in future.
I have had a dog that would attack others after she was attacked many times but she never ever got the chance to do it as I took control and was responsible.
My two greyhounds would chase and kill cats or wild animals if I let them off in a public place, and they spotted something, not because they are nasty but because its their nature, so they don't get let off in a public place.
People need to take respinsibility for their dogs and their behaviour and the law needs to toughen up and make sure they do.

im so sorry about your dog being killed and again so sorry about this poor verdict.

i have no advice but wanted to express my sympathy!

What did Trevor Cooper say?

You could always go to the press.........