I have been brought up by a packs of dogs erm I have had dogs around me all my childhood: my folks, grandparents and friends have always had dogs around them. My uncle has trained police, security and guide dogs and is still one of the most known people in Denmark when it comes to dog training and keeping.
I think from what I have learned over the years from having dogs and from what I have learned speaking to my uncle and see him training, I have a pretty good understanding of how to keep a dog.
I know the sound of a dog having a good old laugh playing with its new toy or mate and I know the sound of a dog when it is about to rip your arm off.
Some of you might have seen our neighbour’s dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier. It has some play mates: two other bigger Staffs.
I have seen the owners of these dogs hitting them when the dogs didn’t walk to heel etc. The way the dogs are are walking around, either on the lead or off, you can see that the way they have been “trained” is with a heavy hand, tail between the legs, ears back and head kept low. The owners just keep shouting and swearing (not that it matters to the dog) at the dogs to get them to come back.
Today they have been running around in the garden and some of the play fights have turned rather nasty. And we then had the kids running around playing along, running about between them. And it is not just one day this is happening, quite often I have heard these fights going on in the garden and seen them.
But, by the sound today, we are just one little step away one of them biting one of the kids. In early spring two of them were playing with a ball with one of the kids. It got a bit rough and I heard the kid cry out in alarm when the two dogs was snapping at each other.
So the main question is: where can we report this? Is there a way to put this on record? As if the worst happens and one kid is missing an arm one afternoon, I would like it that there was a history of what has gone on to prove that they are not fit to keep dogs. Though they do look well fed and kept, if you look away from the hitting.
Update : I have talked to others and they say that I should record this and send to http://www.rspca.org.uk/