When man’s best friend becomes a bully (From Times Series)

When man’s best friend becomes a bully

4:21pm Tuesday 4th March 2008 in

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A month on from a savage pitbull attack on a young woman in Hendon, Kevin Bradford looks at the worrying rise in dangerous dogs

Man's best friend is fast becoming a menacing bully to thousands of Londoners each year.

Figures obtained last week by the Liberal Democrats show the number of people needing treatment in A&E after dog attacks has risen by more than 40 per cent in the past four years.

The NHS statistics reveal almost 3,800 people suffered dog bites last year, and "irresponsible owners" are being cited as the main cause for concern.

"There is a worrying trend in some areas of using dangerous dogs as fashion accessories, or worse, as weapons," said Lib Dem shadow health secretary Norman Lamb.

"Dogs often become violent as a result of mistreatment by owners, or because of a failure to train them properly.

"Irresponsible owners are more likely to make a dog dangerous than it being born a particular breed. There needs to be greater emphasis on responsible dog ownership and warning people of the risks."

Across the UK, the rise in the number of attacks on adults was 58 per cent, with the number on under 18-year-olds up by 20 per cent. In London, though, there was a rise of 119 per cent on under 18s being attacked, almost six times the national figure. Over the past two years, there have been almost 70 attacks recorded by police in Barnet alone.

One of those was on 21-year-old student, Maryam Mudhir, who was brutally attacked last month by a dog in Victoria Road, Hendon.

She was rescued by her cousin, Abdulatif Ubwa, 23, after the dog savaged her leg, and is now busy recovering after intensive graft surgery at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead.

Mr Ubwa said: "She now can't even watch TV programmes featuring dogs. She has terrible nightmares about what happened. I can't walk next to a dog after what happened to us and it has tortured her life."

He believes it is up to owners to control their pets.

"There is a responsibility for dog owners when taking their dogs out," he said."In the park you can release the dog as long as there are not children around, but they should not be allowed to be free on the streets.

"Not enough is being done to punish the owners and new rules should be brought in, because there is always a worry those dogs might attack again."

Geoff Marshall, 64, saw how savage uncontrolled dogs can be, when two Staffordshire bull terriers were set loose on his family's pet cats near his home in Cressingham Road, Burnt Oak. He says owners should be held solely responsible.

"Some people bring up dogs to be playful, but others get hold of these illegal breeds and start training them to make them nasty," he said.

"I think owners should be 100 per cent responsible - it's not the dogs' fault, it's the owners and the way they bring up their pets."

Mr Marshall believes the figures confirm more needs to be done to protect children.

"These dogs are a real risk because you never know what they are going to do, they may be with families a lot of the time, but they can turn at any point," he said.

"There has to be some way of keeping a check on the dogs, otherwise it's going to get out of control and with the summer coming up there are going to be more children and dogs in the park."

"Every time I see one of those dogs it does my head in, I can't deal with it, because I know what they are capable of doing."