LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With QuoteClearly the tight dog laws and breed specific legislation is working well. LOL.
|
|
|
||||||||
Hi all,
I found this article on page 29 of the Sunday telegraph dated July 12, 2009.
Written by Linda Silmalis.
DOG DANGER RISES
Dogs have attacked more than 80 NSW children in the past three months, with Blacktown recording 60 incidents, the highest number in the state.
The latest state government dog register report shows attacks are on the rise, with 774 recorded incidents in the past three months.
Some of the attacks involved packs of more than 4 dogs.
In more than 20 cases, the attack victim had to be admitted to hospital
The release of the report follows an attack on a policewoman last Thursday.
The officer was forced to undergo emergency surgery on her nose after the attack, which occurred in Shalvey, in western Sydney.
A police spokesman said the dog jumped up and bit the officer in the face as she was looking into a yard.
The police woman was treated at the scene before being taken to the Mt Druitt hospital. She was transferred to Auburn hospital for urgent plastic surgery.
Local government minister Barbara Perry said owners of dangerous dogs faced fines of up to $50,000 and two years’ jail for failing to keep control of their pets.
‘’The dog register is about providing key and detailed information – this is essential if we are to get a clear picture of what is taking place,’’ Mrs Perry said.
‘’The government makes no apology for having the toughest dog laws in Australia.’’
The register shows that over the past three months, 86 children, 355 adults and 307 dogs were attacked.
The popular Staffordshire bull terrier topped the list of dog offenders, with the breed involved in 100 attacks.
The next most dangerous breed was the Australian cattle dog, with 62 recorded incidents, followed by the German shepherd with 45 attacks.
The Jack Russell terrier came in at number eight with 22 attacks.
Other dogs in the top 20 included the Labrador retriever, the Siberian husky and the Alaskan malamute.
The largest number of attacks, however, were by dogs of an unknown breed.
One hundred and thirty five dogs were destroyed and 118 seized and impounded. The attacks resulted in 214 owners being fined.
In more than 200 cases, two dogs were involved. One victim was attacked by seven.
Clearly the tight dog laws and breed specific legislation is working well. LOL.
Yes they appear to be Craig
and funny that so many of these dangerous dogs chose to live in one area. l feel the poor staffy is copping a bad rep, when most l have known are so people friendly.
So much dubious content in that article, one can only shake ones head .
Tony
In Adelaide last year it was published in the Advertiser that dog bites had gone up 30%.
Here in Adelaide in the past 2 years there is a big push for "Totally Positive Reinforcement" type training methods. It's the only training really supported by the Dog and Cat Management Board. All Vets that currently hold Puppy Pre-Schools use Delta accredited trainers, who again base all training on totally positive.
I am wondering if there is a connection here in regards to the increase in dog bites? Sure for some dogs these methods are fine, but not ALL dogs in my opnion.
Is going away from treating your dog as a dog contributing to all of this?
I believe that there is a connection but its not because of the positive reinforcement in obedience training. I believe the issue is trainers, vets and dog owners believe that if the dog has good ''obedience'' (sit, drop, stay heel etc) than it is well behaved. People need to realize the difference between obedience training and behavioral conditioning. These courses, such as the delta course, don't help the situation either. People with no understanding of canine behavior go and do these courses because they love dogs and think that's a good enough reason to become a trainer (I call these puppy huggers). Reward based training is fantastic for getting fast sharp confident responses in obedience, but when proofing the behavior or fixing unwanted behavior it can fall short.
I have heard pure positive trainers tell people with highly dog aggressive dogs to take the dogs attention away with another activity or food etc. When these people get a dog that cant be taken out of that frame of mind using this method they say it is dangerous and uncontrollable, rather than realizing that some dogs defense, fight, prey drive etc may be higher than its food drive at that present time. If this dog knew its position in the pack it would respect its leaders wishes a lot easier.
It only makes sense that dogs would respond faster to methods that are instinctively familiar to them. If you watch dogs establish order they don't use food or bribery they use corrections which often appear worse than they are to humans. It is for this reason that I am openly a fan of the prong collar when used correctly. The sensation provided by the prong collar is much more familiar to the dog than other more "ACCEPTABLE" methods such as check chains, a smack on the nose or even a flat collar being used to pull the dog in line, yet some government official or RSPCA puppy hugger, in their infinite wisdom has declared that they are cruel. Is there a more open and shut case of the use of human psychology on the canine mind???????
Sorry for getting a little long winded but once I started it was hard to stop. I could go on all day.
I agree with you 100% Craig!
I have lost count of the number of clients that have come to me out of desperation due to not being shown how to correct unwanted behaviour at these puppy pre-schools. Or being told by a behaviourist to use food to redirect their dogs focus from whatever it is showing aggression, fear or anxiety too.
I have a big issue in using positive methods like this for a lot of behavioural problems, such as aggression, fear, anxiety and stress. I am a firm believer that giving a positive reinforces a state of mind. Many don't even realise that in a lot of cases dog owners are reinforcing a dogs assertive behaviour by training with food. As many do not know how to read a dogs body language to understand what state the dog is actually in when the reward is given.
I have watched so many of these purely positive group classes, and seen so many dog owners thinking they are rewarding a sit, when in fact they are actually rewarding assertive behaviour.
Sure I agree using food for training in many instances is good for shaping, and I do use it myself when warranted. However, just like humans, not all dogs are the same.
I agree we need to get back to what mother nature knows best, and treat and respect our dogs as dogs when dealing with behaviour issues, and not try to fix these behaviour issues by positive means that a dog doesn't understand. Thats how these behaviour issues started in the first place, by using methods a dog doesn't understand.
Mother nature knows best, we should take on her advice. Well she has been modifying dog behaviour for 1,000 of years
Actions : (View-Readers)
Posting Permissions
