The One Show and another number two peformance

Thank you to everyone who sent us links. The office came to a standstill to watch yesterday's One Show and I can totally see why everyone was so upset by it. If we're to go back to dogs being siezed because they are typey, regardless of whether they might be a danger then there will be rivers of blood and tears shed.
This disturbing and untypical item on the One Show had no editorialising as to whether this was a sensible or effective way to prevent dog bites. It was just presented as uncontroversial.
It's not average teatime viewing is it!
For police to seemingly randomly take and usually kill much loved pet dogs who the tape measure somehow declares to be dangerous - it's very much more an after the watershed subject . Expose children to this sort of imagery and you'll find the next generation grows up hating the police and the justice system.
If we accept the physicality and crime prevention angle as in any way sensible - why not lock up every foreigner to prevent terrorism? Have raids to remove all 17 year old youths from council estates.
Where does it end if we're going to cull 'just in case' a dog becomes dangerous.
What was shocking was how totally unsympathetic the reporting was. How out of tune the team were with the onlooker.
I am sure at the very least one in four households would have been equally distressed by their footage as we were. The thought of the police taking your dog away with no warning.
Milo is already PTS, he was the one who was already chipped, muzzled etc... so easy to exempt. But the legal fight to get there.
Millie is in court tomorrow. She is the sweet one that looked directly into the camera. She looked like a Choc Lab cross to our eyes - but probably the tape measure says otherwise!
BSL stinks. What a waste of police time. What a waste of life. Let's hope the latest Government consultation on dangerous dogs actually results in something that makes people safer and stops people fearing the knock on the door.
The One Show, do you ever learn? 

Can you please employ someone on your production team who even likes dogs...?

Comments

Queenie said…
I feel that if the One Show want to tackle serious issues, they should do more than just skim over it, as they did in last night's programme. They had the perfect opportunity to say how well behaved and UNaggressive these dogs were, yet they may still be killed because a tape measure says so. They had a good chance to highlight the totally sick law that is BSL, and didn't. I honestly wondered what their actual point was. Having said all that, I find the presenters rather juvenile at times and this reflected in how quickly and lightly they moved to the next topic.
Unknown said…
This dog could be Millie's brother/sister:

http://www.dogs-puppies.co.uk/PICT0144.JPG

I still can't believe it is legal to walk up to a man innocently walking his beloved pet and seize them on the spot - purely because a dog warden 'thinks' they may be a 'pitbull type' (apparently there are 57 descriptive characteristics the dog must meet - can the wardens really go through each of the 57 characteristics in their heads in the space of what...30 seconds before they decide it's a pitbull?). If this person was walking an aggressive GSD, Akita, Mastiff, Rottweiler (all powerful, potentially dangerous dogs), the dog warden would be none the wiser and would let them carry on their merry way. It's almost as if by targeting a specific breed of dog they are blinding themselves and letting actual dangerous dogs slip through the net, because they only look for a certain breed/type.

If a dog is a danger to the public or other dogs it should not be on the streets. A friend's dog was recently attacked very severely by a labrador. Yet even though my friend reported this dog, it is still living with it's family, is still walked at the park and left outside the local shop (all without a muzzle). This dog is known to attack people and yet the dog wardens are uninterested. If it was a pitbull no doubt it would have been seized already.

ALL dogs have the potential to be dangerous and seizing dogs based solely on the way they looks is a flawed and frankly dangerous approach. As the statistics show, it has done little to curb the increase of dog attacks (most of which are caused by common companion breeds such as JRT's, collies, spaniels, dachshunds etc anyway!).

http://www.dogbiteclaims.co.uk/dangerous-breeds.html
Batima said…
I too found this "article" on the One Show appalling - bad timing, bad presentation and a nasty subject too. BSL is ridiculous, any dog can be aggressive, often the smaller ones are actually more aggressive (baring those specifically trained to fight). My old lab, who was so laid back it was unbelievable, was seriously attacked 3 times: by a JRT, a yorkie and another lab. Never by the staffies, mastiffs etc he often played with
DogLover said…
I was so mad at the article I emailed the BBC! Our dog is a Staffy Lab cross and even he gets funny looks sometimes and he's big and yellow with dark brown 'guyliner'!

None of the dogs featured showed any aggressive behaviour. So sad that one is already dead and the others on the waiting list. If that awful woman had tried to take a snarling pit bull off a single bloke he and the dog would have had her for breakfast!

Bad, bad television and no good for doggy rights at all. Shame on Alex and Matt for being part of it.
Kat said…
Sara, I completely agree! My friend was bitten a few months ago by a JRT. In my experience, 'pitbull types' are often some of the nicest dogs! I don't like to generalise at all, as it all depends on the individual. This measuring thing is completely ridiculous! I'm very glad to hear about Wales' new legislation - hopefully we'll follow suit soon...

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