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Illegal trade in dangerous dogs continues despite 2103 legislation

dogdangerousThe four-year-old girl attacked by a Rottweiler in Matosinhos on Tuesday has lost part of her scalp.

Her mother, also injured in the attack, has been discharged from hospital but later may need surgery to her arm. The girl remains at the Hospital de São João in Oporto where she is "conscious, stable and not in danger of losing her life," according to her father.

"She's always been conscious, she remembers everything, she remembers everything that happened," said Sr Fernandes who explained that he was at a mortuary to attend the wake of a friend and left with his daughter. He saw the dog walking without leash or muzzle.

The dog attacked the girl and the father then started to take photographs. The dog's owner, Márcio Lourenço, (pictured below) well known to local police for agression and violence, is alleged to have attacked Sr Fernandes. Then, the dog again attacked the child.

Due to the amount of blood, the police initially said the girl was "practically disfigured" and in a "very serious state" with scalp, shoulder and hand injuries, but the fire department later said she was not in a 'very serious' condition, but obviously was badly injured. The girl was operated on Wednesday and her medical team says she is out of danger.

The child first was taken to at the Pedro Hispano hospital in Matosinhos, along with her mother who had been attacked by the same dog: both were referred to the Hospital de São João, in Oporto.

The owner of the dog, Márcio Lourenço, aged 24, was in court in Matosinhos today to answer to charges of negligence regarding the dog, aggression towards the father and leaving the scene of the attack.

Lourenço was allowed home after his two hour court appearance having confirmed his identity and address. The dog has a chip and was legal, but at the time of the attack had no muzzle and was off the lead.

The Rottweiler is in quarantine in the Matosinhos kennel for 15 days for observation. The municipal veterinarian will submit a report and the dog's future will be decided by the court which can oder that the dog be destroyed.

There are 23,000 Rottweilers registered in Portugal, with an average of 100 new records per year, well down on the 3,000 new recoreds a year before new laws and legal definitions covering ‘dangerous dogs’.

The president of the Rottweiler Clube de Portugal said that the legislation mainly has affected registered breeders, with those breeding illegally and then selling via the internet and to friends, carrying on without regard for the law.

Many who own dangerous dogs fail to educate, socialise and give obedience training to their pets, which legally they have to, with 90% of owners unable to comply due to the lack of registered facilities - trainers are there and willing but have not been granted recognition due to government lethargy.(* see link below)

http://www.dnoticias.pt/documents/1/0/649x432/0c0/0d0/none/11506/KBMW/image_content_682430_20170426184933.jpg

The dog's owner, Márcio Lourenço (obviously, he's the one with the hoddie)

 

Rottweiler

Rottweiler, classified as a 'dangerous breed' in the 2003 legislation

 

 

 

http://cdn.cmjornal.pt/images/2017-04/img_757x498$2017_04_26_00_39_18_621714.jpg

The area where the Matoshinos attack happened

 

Seec also: 'Portugal's dangerous dogs law is unworkable and unenforcable' 

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Comments  

+1 #1 liveaboard 2017-04-28 14:40
Breed specific regulations are difficult; within a recognized breed, there can be very different bloodlines with different traits.

The trouble is that some breeders intentionally create aggressive animals. They look just like other ones that are not [as] dangerous.
Since humans mostly categorize things by appearance, we tend to regard all rottweilers and pitbulls as dangerous, which upsets the owners of dogs with no history of violence, leading them to deny that there is any danger at all.
Sometimes, they're proved disastrously wrong. Other dogs with the same appearance might pass their entire lives without incident.

No, it is not entirely up to the owner. Some dogs are just aggressive, others are very passive. There are also many in between, who will respond to the owner's aggression, or training.

The idea that dogs start out as blank sheets of paper to be filled in by training is just not true.
Ask any real dog breeder.
Dangerous dogs have to be sterilized [at a minimum], and any offspring should be as well. Siblings of such dogs need to be monitored closely for signs of similar traits.
Dangerous dogs may be thought of as weaponized animals, and people who trade in them as weapons dealers.

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