Dangerous Dogs in the Media – Questions Need to be Answered
By Cuthbert Jackson, National Dog Warden Association | All rights reserved.
I sat down for a nice quiet evening on Saturday 15th of March to watch of my long time favourite, semi-soap programmes, ‘Casualty’, only to find that most of the programme portrayed a ‘dangerous dog’ situation. Worse was to come as the programme makers had somehow got hold of a dog which I am reasonably certain, from the images shown, physically conformed to PBT ‘type’.
That leads to my first question, how were they able to use a dog of ‘type’ un-muzzled and off lead in a public place for the purposes of filming without being prosecuted, when this ‘type’ (for which conformity to physical standards can be sufficient proof) was deemed in the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to be dangerous (without further incident or ‘deed’ being necessary proof) and was prohibited?
Second question, which is even more important; why did the owner of this particular dog (who, with some clever ‘defence expert’ as they like to call themselves, may, for all I know, have proved to the satisfaction of the court that his or her dog is not of ‘type’) then allow their non-dangerous dog to portray a dangerous dog for the purpose of a television programme? Especially when over-dubbing was clearly used to turn non-aggressive behaviour into ‘staged’ aggression.
The public watching the programme will have easily identified this dog to be of the ‘type’ which they understand to be dangerous, and now they will have had their stereotypes reinforced having seen it portrayed as a ‘top’ fighting dog that goes on to savage three or more people seriously (in one case to the point of exhibiting the severe post traumatic stress). What owner wants that badge to be given to their breed even by a fictional drama?
Of course had the programme used a Jack Russell or a Border Collie or even a Great Dane or Dog de Bordeaux or even an American Bulldog or a Boerboel (all perfectly legal dogs) it would not have been as ‘topical’ as the use of the ‘type’ already prohibited yet still able to be identified, rightly or wrongly, as responsible for public nuisance and alleged attacks on people and animals; which I suspect speaks volumes about how ineffective breed specific legislation really is at dealing with the real problems.
Then I heard that on another channel what were clearly Staffordshire Bull Terriers were used in reconstructions of Pit Bull Terrier (‘type’) attacks. A bit of ‘dramatic licence’ perhaps, and at least using a perfectly legal dog in front of camera, but ultimately totally confusing the general public viewing it, especially when they are then confronted in the same programme with dogs which are accused of being of ‘type’, whose owner denies they are of ‘type’ by denouncing dogs of type as dogs she would never have in the house; and yet from those experienced people who have told me about the programme the dogs were clearly of ‘type’ – and she had them in the house. So what is a Staffie and what is a Pit Bull? The public are certainly no wiser now!
So, in one dreadful weekend without any person actually being injured the public’s misconceptions about breeds and their behaviour, about owners and their behaviour and about the law which can be used to control it has been totally confused. I just don’t understand how the people who own the dogs or participate in these programmes think that they are doing any good whatsoever to public perception. It is not a good subject for the media even if treated relatively intelligently and I recommend that anyone invited to participate deflate their ego and think very hard about what the programme makers are proposing before doing so.
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- Dangerous Dogs, BSL, Media and a Rottweiler who Bumped Her Head on TV
- Dangerous Dogs & Status Dogs Look Past The Hype & See The Truth
- 9 Months Locked up Under Dangerous Dogs Law – Now Duke, the Lurcher Cross, is Back Home
- Questions Unanswered in Kennel Club BSL Controversy
- The Dangerous Dogs Act: It’s Time For Breed Specific Legislation To Go & Go Now
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Cuthbert
Typical, the old, do as I say, not as I do mentality from whoever worked and advised on these programmes. I heard that some of the offences such as livestock worrying in the ‘Death Row Dogs’ or whatever it was called were dealt with under the DDA? I thought that livestock worrying was dealt with under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953. If this legisltion was used by the police, then it would be a cheaper and faster use of existing legislation to deal with out of control dogs attacking livestock. Who advises these programme makers about legal matters and what dog owner would let their dog be ‘portrayed’ as a PBT type ‘top fighting dog’, oh, yes, thats right there was money to be made, that explains everything!
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All questions many people who are involved in trying to educate the public on the whole ‘dangerous’ dogs issue, would have asked themselves. It seems we take one step forward and then twenty steps back when it comes to trying to put over a responsible, acurate image of what is and what isn’t dangerous dog ownership. The BBC and Casualty on this occassion have some questions to answer.
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I didn’t see Casualty but I did watch the Virgin programme and confess that I spent half of it groaning and getting quite worked up. What was a good chance to put across the confusion that surrounds dogs and the law, in my mind simply created even more confusion for the public and dog owners.Statements such as a livestock worrying case and a dog on dog attack were dealt with under the DDA plus, as Cuthbert points out, the use of legal SBT’s to portray ‘Type’ dogs is just going to create more confusion and misinformation. Oh well, carry on battering heads against a brick wall.
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