Any article about dog attacks, breeds more often than not turns into a flame war of the two sides, pro dogs, and anti dogs. Yes there are a few pro dog, who are also pro responsible ownership, that’s great, but the ones which go around saying it’s the victims fault, that really bugs me.

Now on stuff, there is currently an article on the latest dog attack in New Zealand.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/9806876/Get-tough-on-dog-owners

A few comments I just had to respond to…

Wow, get your facts right, there are not 12,000 dog bites per year, there are 12,000 dog related injuries which could be as simple as falling over your dog. Dogs are not wild animals they have been domesticated for centuries. Yes you should be more aware of dogs just as you teach your children how to cross the road safely. Sorry I dont agree that if a dog bites its automatically euthanized one needs to know why it bit, if my neighbours children torment my dog and it bites them thats their fault, if someone attacks me and my dog bites them should my dog die. Dog control laws are quite strict enough it is usually those that have no regard for laws and society that cause problems. We have over 70,000 acc claims for rugby, we have had many assaults on the rugby field, we have evenhad deaths, should we not ban rugby as well

Dogday, you are kidding right, “if my neighbours children torment my dog and it bites them thats their fault”! Maybe they caused the issue, but if your neighbours children tormented you, and you then got out a knife and started attacking them, do you really think we’d all be on your side saying it was their fault? The problem is that unless a dog is very well trained, it doesn’t realise what is the correct response to a situation. You, hopefully know if your neighbours kids are being a couple of little prats, you can’t cut them up. If your dog doesn’t also have this training, then it has to be confined in a way that the kids can’t get at it, even if they jump your fence. And yes, you should be held responsible for its actions if it isn’t, and injuries the kids, just like I would be suspect you to be held accountable for your actions if you knifed up your neighbour’s kids.

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Alcohol is to blame for a huge number of assaults, most often domestic. Far more people are injured or killed by their drunken partners than by dogs. Therefore, let’s follow your lead and also ban alcohol. What about children who are run over in driveways. Shall we say that anyone with a child under a certain age is not allowed a car (or any visitors with a car)? More people are bitten by labradors because more people have labradors – it’s just how the numbers stack up. I have been attacked by dogs on several occasions, and I agree that any dog that attacks a human should be immediately put down, but I am disappointed that your article doesn’t address the many advantages of having dogs.

Yes, the ban part really isn’t a solution. Otherwise you just have to keep increasing the ban more and more, wider and wider. Not a solution.

As for your comment, “Far more people are injured or killed by their drunken partners than by dogs. Therefore, let’s follow you’re lead and also ban alcohol”, once again a ban isn’t the solution, but in this case, we don’t blame the alcohol, we blame, and hold accountable the drinker. The OP just wants to have the same for dogs, hold the owner responsible, not the dog.

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True. Look at how many people are seriously hurt and killed in all types of equestrian events. Shall we ban horses?
Read yet another child has been run over in a driveway, what shall we ban here.
People seem to drown each week, lets close all beaches, rivers.
How many injuries are occured during rugby and also the fights during rugby, lets ban rugby! No more all blacks!

Yes, banning is not a solution.

As for your comment, “Read yet another child has been run over in a driveway, what shall we ban here”, no we don’t ban the car, but the owner is held responsible for the incident. This is what the OP is asking with reference to the dogs.