Owners are to blame for dogs
The recent attacks on children by dogs have been horrific and the behaviour of the dogs and their owners is inexcusable, but we cannot start a lynch party for certain breeds of dogs when it is clearly the owners of these dogs who are in the wrong.
The law should be targeting how to control the owners more than the dogs. It is far too easy for someone to buy a dog - they don't have to have any prior knowledge of how to care for it - and there is no law to say they should have public liability insurance.
If there were tighter restrictions on breeding, we could cut down on the ease of purchase of these dogs and the breeders who are selling them indiscriminately.
Many young dogs are encouraged to "tug" at a toy, a sleeve or a lead, they are allowed to chew toys and the destruction of slippers or furniture is accepted as part of "growing up". All these things are encouraging a dog to use its teeth when we should be discouraging this behaviour.
Children need parenting and they will grow up undisciplined if they are not given boundaries. Dogs need a similar kind of parenting from their owners, but many of them are allowed to behave in such a way that we would be mortified if our children were as unruly.
I believe that to knowingly own a dog that is aggressive, and a potential danger, is a crime unless that dog is kept under strict control.
Allan Davison, Ames Road, Darlaston.
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