Rather than dog licenses which are hard to police, surely it's time for all breeds of dog, dangerous or not, to be muzzled in public?

Now you think coppers have time to go round arresting unmuzzled dogs?? A relative (elderly, female, alone) called police repeatedly on 999 to report a number of persons breaking down her door at 3 am and the police arrived at 8.35. Good luck with the "seen a dog without a muzzle on" call.

Hundreds of thousands of dogs just roam free, their owners don't give a sh?t about them or any dog law, you bring the law into disrepute if you pass measures that you know in advance there is not a cat in hell's chance of remotely being possible to enforce.

It also makes as much sense as banning cars because hundreds are killed on the roads.

Terrible story, such a sad loss.

My Dad has a 6 month old Jack Russel puppy and he meets up with a couple of older chaps in the park on an evening, one particular evening my Dad was playing golf so never made it, transpired it was a good job a greyhound attacked and killed one of the old chaps spaniel and the old chap was injured trying to save his dog, was all heartbreaking and the police are involved not sure what has happened to the greyhound as yet.

I am the owner of 2 lovely staffies who are very sociable and fine with other dogs, I let them off their lead on river bank but always lead them up if other people/dogs are approaching who they do not know, I can retrieve them within seconds even if other dogs are about this is an important skill every dog owner should master!!
The problem for me is not always the dogs but stupid owners who get certain breeds as trophies and do not raise or train their animals right.

No, like I said in one of my previous posts, dogs are social animals, using their sense of smell to greet other dogs. You take away that by muzzling and you will create all sorts of problems. Dogs that can't defend themselves, dogs that can't greet etc etc. You will make the problem of unsociable dogs 10 times worse.

Our dog pulls like a train when on a lead, he's fine without one, simply walking by my side and if he does get a little in front, a quick call brings him back. He's got a Halti but I don't like using it on him, simply because the amount of control that it immediately brings must be doing something detrimental to his snout.

If anyone is still unsure of just how much a dog loves his owner, here's a simple test. Lock your wife and your dog in the boot of the car, open it again an hour later and see which one is happy to see you.

I don't need to do that - I just walk in the door every evening at 6pm and get the message every time.

I bought one of those for our German Shepherd, he only pulls on the lead when we're heading back for home or the car (christ knows how he knows), but he weighs in at just under 40kg and is a big lad so when he pulls on the lead its bloody exhausting for me, I bought a Halti to use and yes it does the trick but causes him so much distress that I don't use it anymore, as a rescue dog he already has issues with abandonment and I don't want to screw around with the trust that we've managed to build up with him by punishing him when out walking.

Suppose it's whatever floats your boat.
I could quite easily live in a dog free world.

The only one's I've ever personally come into contact with are one that bit me when I was younger.
One that my flat neighbour had years ago that barked incessantly when he was left alone..... And another that used to go fooking barmy every time I used to attempt to get frisky with it's owner.

They aint for me I'm afraid.

My Springer although not the biggest of dogs (25kg), is very barrel chested and is very muscular up front. He really pulls when approaching any area he knows is for running around on. I tried a similar lead to a halti on him and it worked like a treat, but the poor little bugger was rigid with fear when i put it on him. It robbed him of all his enthusiasm and instead he began to plod along beside me, totally uninterested and looking quite uncomfortable.

The worst thing about the lead was that it really affected his recall when on the field. He knew that if he returned to me, there was a fair chance that i would be sticking the dreaded lead back on him. Instead he used to scarper and i would end up chasing him round the field Benny hill style.

I stopped using it after about a month or so, but it took a while to get his trust back. His recall now is fantastic, which is essential bearing in mind that Springer's are not the type of dog who will happily walk along side its owner gently enjoying the surrounding nature. Instead he prefers to banzai through every bush, puddle or pond within a 200 yard area.

He is from a line of "out runner" working spaniels, and apparently there job was not to flush, but to go long range and retrieve . I am more than happy to let him roam up to 300 yards away, so long as his recall is instant. The Halti style lead caused more problems than it was worth.

I use a version of the halti called the Dogmatic. It looks more like a horses head collar than a normal Halti. I have to use them though because having arthritis is my hands and wrists and can't have them pulling me. No matter how hard and efficient you train the recall, as soon as my two see a squirrel/cat/rabbit they would be off throwing me to the ground.

I use them when we come off our field onto the road and down the old railway line where there are plenty of squirrells. All the other times they are either off lead or on extending lead.

At the end of the day, it wouldn't be my first choice of tool to use continuously, only as a training aid, but in my case I either use the head collars and we can all go out for a walk safely or I don't take them out at all.