DANGEROUS DOGS

I was very sorry to see the story of the attack on Caroline Bairstow’s dog on the front page last week.  I sympathise with her but am afraid I have to disagree with her attitude in not wanting the attacking dog put down. 

Many of you will have noted that I no longer go round with Big Jack the white lurcher and am now minded by Black Jack the Patterdale pup.  There is a reason for this.  Big Jack was abused dreadfully for the first 18 months of his life and taking him on was a bit of a project.  However, I persevered and in the end had almost four happy years with him.  He was attacked twice a couple of months ago and quite sensibly decided that in future he was going to get his retaliation in first.  He got to the stage where, if he was off the lead running (and to stop a Lurcher doing this is cruelty of the first order) and saw a strange dog he was likely to attack and I couldn’t stop him.  All I could see was a child in his jaws…..  even one of my six grandchildren.

I consulted with Mrs Marsh, Big Jack’s vet, and she agreed with me that he was a liability and we put him down.  Tears were shed but he had done no damage and as Mrs Marsh said, had the advantage of four happy years.  God looked after me and my friends took me to Nelson four days later and I became the proud owner of a Patterdale pup.  (Mrs Marsh likes Patterdales as well and says she wants Black Jack.  She can’t have him!)

Then came the incidents that prompt me to write this letter.  I received two poison pen letters accusing me of murder and this was very upsetting.  Evidently whoever wrote them had not thought the consequences through of owning a powerful dog that couldn’t be trusted.  It was bad enough having to put down an otherwise perfect dog without having to put up with anonymous nonsense and abuse like this.

My plea to dog-owners is that they should always bear in mind the thought of what would happen if their dog attacked.  Bad enough that it should be another dog but far worse if it was a child.  You cannot pass the responsibility on.  If you have a dog that has attacked without provocation you can never be sure it won’t happen again.  I for one couldn’t live with that responsibility.  Big Jack was a great friend, but he was a dog.  Balance this against damage to a child and ask yourself what is the sensible and safe course of action.

Stanley Challenger Graham 


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk