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Firstly, don't panic. These incidents are extremely traumatic for
everyone concerned, but it does not necessarily mean that your dog should
automatically be put to sleep. Our sympathies lie of course with the
victim, but also with the dog. Most dogs who do this are victims
themselves: either of bad breeding, or a lack of proper training. Whilst
we would NEVER excuse or condone biting, we do know from experience that owners
do play a part in these problems. Whether it is through enjoying winding
their dog up, or not getting help early enough for a problem, or not putting
enough effort into training. If the Police have been informed, then you MUST get some legal advice
yourself. Remember under the Dangerous Dogs Act your dog only has to
behave in a manner to cause apprehension to be guilty, not actually bite
someone. If your dog barks at, chases or lunges at a person, they have
broken the law.
We recommend you get legal advice anyway, as victims often report
the bite later. Even if the bite happened in a private place,
the original Dogs Act applies.
Your dog cannot be put to sleep without a court order. The
Police cannot come round and demand to take it to be destroyed.
They may have the power to seize your dog, depending on the
circumstances, but only a court can say if it should be destroyed.
You will be under a lot of pressure from family and friends to deal with the
issue effectively. However it is not true that once a dog has bitten it
gets a "taste for it" and will do it again. We have retrained
dozens of biters here, some of which had been in trouble with the Police.
Do not try to rehome your dog, that is selfish, dangerous and unfair.
We won't write your dog off automatically here just because of a bite.
That does not mean that all dogs can be retrained, but we will assess your dog
fairly and decide whether it can be helped or not.
Please, do ask for help before putting the dog to sleep. Act
quickly, don't make excuses.
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