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news
Staffordshire Bull Terrier dogs (Wikimedia commons/CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED by R4vi)Owner claims dangerous dog is triggered by bike saddlebags after "aggressive" pet attacks two cyclists, knocking one unconscious and biting another
A council in New Zealand has rejected a Staffordshire Bull Terrier owner's attempt to overturn its 'dangerous dog' status after they claimed the pet has "a problem" with bike saddlebags which explains why he attacked two cyclists.
The dog called Max has an "extensive history of aggressive behaviour", the Nelson County local authority hearing heard, and was responsible for three attacks on people riding bicycles last year. A 75-year-old woman was knocked unconscious when the Staffy jumped at her as she cycled past, while a postman was bitten on the finger having already been lunged at and bitten by the dangerous dog on a previous shift as he rode his delivery route.
While the dog's owners admitted feeling "terrible" about the incidents, and said the adopted pet had "obviously been beaten" previously and carried "quite a bit of trauma", New Zealand news website Stuff reports that Ricky and Monique Tasker suggested that "it's the saddlebags that are the problem for Max" and that, the three cyclist attacks aside, he is "one of the most obedient dogs".
The council rejected their argument and upheld the 'dangerous dog' status, which will require the animal to be muzzled in public and subject to stricter restrictions, such as higher registration fees and being unable to be taken anywhere for more than 72 hours without notifying the council.
"The dog has had a record of three attacks in recent periods, and the need to protect the public is paramount," the hearing concluded, the dog's owners claiming the measures were "over the top".
The dog was previously ordered to wear a muzzle in public in May of last year, that coming after the two aforementioned incidents with the postman. On May 18, the New Zealand Post employee was lunged at and bitten twice by the dog as he rode his delivery route.
Just over a week later he was bitten again, this time on the finger as the dog was walked on a leash. The postman used his bike to create a barrier between him and the dog.
However, less than three weeks after being ordered to be muzzled in public, the dog ran at a 75-year-old woman riding a bicycle, jumping at Julie McLintock and knocking her unconscious in the impact as she fell from her bike.
The pensioner was left "very shaken" and unconscious for several minutes. When she came round she began vomiting and was treated by paramedics. The woman reported that it "seemed to take a while" to recover from the concussion and she was left feeling "shaky" from the attack which saw claw marks left on her jacket by the dog that had "leaped up quite high".
A neighbour of the dog's owner had been walking it during this third attack, the man recalling how her head had "hit the ground, bounced up, and then hit the ground again".
Such was the impact, paramedics initially thought her neck may have been broken, the cyclist now very nervous around dogs and concerned that the animal could attack someone else.
The dog's owners claimed the cyclists' saddlebags were a common factor in all three incidents and were "what gets him". Prosecution was considered due to the severity of the third attack, but it was dropped as McLintock did not want to press charges. The panel did however decide to uphold the classification of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier as dangerous.
Main image for illustration purposes only.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- slc 27 min 53 sec ago
QUB has more than 20,000 students. Those 80 somewhat secure spaces are going to be putting in a lot of work. ...
- RoubaixCube 29 min 4 sec ago
Could it also be that the victim didnt have valid insurance/driving license or M.O.T so didnt report it in fear of themselves being investigated???...
- RoubaixCube 34 min 54 sec ago
You mean they called up one of their friends or family members to stump up the £7 to get it greenlit....
- Keesvant 45 min 45 sec ago
If the chains snap that is lack of build quality or material.....
- Hirsute 1 hour 41 min ago
"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."
- Jaijai 2 hours 6 min ago
His life was only worth shy of 7 years ,that's too lenient in every book .Let alone drugged up and leaving him to die
- webbierwrex 2 hours 11 min ago
I came here to basically write the same thing, the floating bus stop near me has a very narrow cycling lane between a very narrow pavement and a...
- AS52 2 hours 34 min ago
It wasn't an official consultation meeting - see my comment above.
- GMBasix 3 hours 8 min ago
Right, well that could be handy: I'm going round with my baseball bat to have a quiet chat about ownership. You can use their names to see if they...
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44 comments
Staffordshire Bull terriers are no more dnagerous than any other dog, probably less dangerous than many.
My little angel.
Nice. We've got a staffie cross (his father was a Jack Russell who may have been punching above his weight). He looks like a larger, more buffed, Jack Russell but with the Staffie smile.
Aboslutely love them, one of the few dogs that I'll happily appoach on the street, she was my second and I'm considering another (but I don't really have the room). I would take bones out of their mouths without problems, try that with another dog.
Not that I've had trouble with them myself, but people are peculiar in their choice of pet.
Are you trying to compare this little darling with that?
A friend had one which may have been the product of something like Brooksby described, but the opposite way round. She had the boxy Staffie head on a more svelte body. Really nice dog and had huge stamina, just looked a bit odd. Could go through a thick branch like a hydraulic splitter though, always made me take thought.
In essence, that's the difference. I have been lunged at by numerous Collies and consider them the most dangerous breed I come across on the paths, I am aware that once a Staffy starts, they are capable of a lot damage. It's a good job they have such a calm temperament and unfortunate that the aggression has to be trained into them.
"He's triggered by saddlebags" is as relevant as "I like drinking sarsparilla, and playing Scrabble".
It could imply that as they know one of the dog's triggers, they can train the dog to not be aggressive around them, but it doesn't sound to me like the owner is any good at dog training.
Sounds like some councillors / MPs I could think of...
The problem is that people even have dogs as pets
No, the problem is that some people should not be allowed to be responsible for anything living beyond themselves.
Dogs can be fantastic animals for living with, but both dog and owner require adequate training.
The problem with dogs is that a lot of them have the ability to kill or at least seriously injure people, and their owners take them to places where there are lots of potential victims. That's not something that applies to most pets.
Wolves?
In fact, probably most cars, even well trained ones - and they do tend to be brought into public places...
Do you take the wolf with you when you go to the shops or when you take the kids to the park though?
Pretty sure people drive to the shops, and drive their kids to the park. They don't usually drive around in the shops or park, I grant you - even using an Alpha Wolf.
Yeah... I know I wrote that, but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_0DgnJ1uQ
The problem is people.
Humans are 15x more likely to kill than dogs. 10/ 13M Vs 696/ 60.2M - 2022 UK Dog related deaths ¹ per UK canine population ² Vs England and Wales homicide numbers ³ per England and Wales population ⁴
If you want to dig even deeper, 9 of those 10 dog related deaths were by fighting breeds, descendants or crosses of fighting breeds. Those breeds were created by people (as are nearly all breeds) but importantly, they continue to be chosen by people to keep as pets.
¹ Wikipedia
² Statista
³ ONS
⁴ ONS
People who are not able to look at things with nuance are a far bigger problem.
"The dog was previously ordered to wear a muzzle in public in May of last year"
The owner had already been ordered to muzzle the dog so what use is another order? Something effective needs to be done such as removing the dog from the owner and either destroying it or putting into care. And banning the owner from owning dogs.
In any case how can a dog be ordered to wear a muzzle? A staffie doesn't understand instructions from a court. It is not a collie, which of course would.
I don't think there's any suggestion the dog owner hadn't complied with the muzzle order. But claiming the measures are over the top seems nuts given what the dog has got up to so far.
That'd be the biggest aggravating factor, right? The owner clearly isn't taking the problem seriously, therefore isn't taking adequate steps to protect other people. Putting a muzzle on is one thing, but allowing the dog to be walked by someone who is either unaware of its propensity to attack cyclists or unable to physically restrain it is a ridiculous dereliction of duty.
Agreed. Or maybe who is just too fixated on looking at things from the dog's point of view. Maybe the dog is very sweet-natured and just suffering from traumas, but that's hardly relevant if it occasionally goes beserk and injures people.
Agree 100%.
Either prevent the dog even having the opportunity to attack people in public (putting a muzzle on an aggressive dog is simply NOT good enough) or have it put down.
And the bloke should be banned from owning or being 'in control' of a dog. Should be told he will be kneecapped if he's seen with one.
Having been bitten while on (and off) bike and another once when I was forced to make an abrupt change lane without looking because of dogs attack, I believe that dog ownership should somehow be controled as with gun ownership. There is no hope otherwise.
To me having a dog without a responsible owner and a leash, is like giving a two year old infant (the rumored intelligence of an adult dog) a shotgun.
I'm a dog owner and perhaps more aware to dog behaviour than many cyclists. There are some dogs that just don't like people on two wheels. One dog I know well and who knows me and which is very good pals with my dog absolutely hates cyclists. When it sees me with my dog it's super friendly and comes and looks at me for treats. But when it sees me on my bike it runs after me and growls. If I get off my bike it then recognises who I am and is ok. But as soon as I get on my bike it begins chasing and growling again. Neither me nor the owner who I know well have got to the bottom of this as it's not as if the dog has ever been hurt by a cyclist.
Since when has a cyclist having hurt you been a prerequisite for threatening, aggressive or murderous behaviour towards cyclists?
Dogs can get triggered by all sorts of things. I recall seeing some dog training show where a dog reacted extremely aggressively to skateboards - possibly due to the noise they make. There's some dogs that don't trust men in hats or with beards, but ultimately, dogs can usually be trained to get over that behaviour if the owner is determined enough.
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