Hypothetical Question

I have a children's day nursery and I had a conversation with a parent last week as he came to pick up his child. He said he was going to bed as soon as he got home as he was tired because he had been up at 4.30 am 'putting a door in'. I said 'that's a bit early to do DIY' and then we both laughed at my mistake as he is actually a policeman and 'putting a door in' actually meant breaking into the home of a criminal to make an arrest. It got me thinking though as I have heard of odd occasions when the police have entered the wrong house.

If the police entered my house by mistake Buster would have them. What would happen to a dog who was protecting his family against intruders when the intruders were police at the wrong house?

I dread to think Wendy.

I would like to think nothing would happen, but......  

We had a discussion on this years ago. I can't remember all the details but you could have problems.
I do know that you have to have a sign that warns people that there is a dog on the property. You have a bit more leeway then.
Just make sure it doesn't say dangerous, aggressive on guard etc.. just keep it plain.

I know Xan, Spike and Axel would definitely bite someone threatening.

I've just googled 'police break into wrong house and are attacked by dog' and was amazed to see how many times this has actually happened!

That's why we have dogs. Anyone comes into my house uninvited they should have problems.

Shisa wrote:We had a discussion on this years ago. I can't remember all the details but you could have problems.
I do know that you have to have a sign that warns people that there is a dog on the property. You have a bit more leeway then.
Just make sure it doesn't say dangerous, aggressive on guard etc.. just keep it plain.

I have no signs up to warn about a dog, but if someone smashed my door in, I would expect Dempsey to take action! How on earth can the police say that it isn't justified?

Shisa wrote:I know Xan, Spike and Axel would definitely bite someone threatening.

Dempsey would bite, no doubt about that.

Having said that, when my son came home from university at Christmas, he met some old friends first for a drink & didn't actually get here until about 2am. Everybody had gone to bed & Dempsey was fast asleep. HE DIDN'T EVEN WAKE UP!!  

I think the situation in South Africa is a bit different from in the UK, for one example we in the UK are not obliged to post a notice on our door advertising that there is a dog on the property, and there are several reasons why I would not do that.

If the police mistakenly smashed my door in a) I would not be AT ALL happy and b) Kuchar would be either scared stiff and run and hide, or greet the police like long-lost friends, or worst of all see an opening to the wide blue yonder and leg it never to be seen again.

I'd have to agree with you there, Lynda - I would not be at all happy either!  

LyndaW wrote:I think the situation in South Africa is a bit different from in the UK, for one example we in the UK are not obliged to post a notice on our door advertising that there is a dog on the property, and there are several reasons why I would not do that.

We're not obliged to put up signs, though I do have one. I hate blood and so do not want to clean it up   
This was on a British forum that the advice was given.

Oh I see Theresa, thank you for clearing that one up.

Well if the police forcibly entered our house, there would be a few less in the world scary thought!

ella wrote:Well if the police forcibly entered our house, there would be a few less in the world :(scary thought!

I can't really see Chance greeting them with wags & licks!

All laughing aside though - how many of those innocent dogs that the police took away in Merseyside were taken in the same circumstances? - how many of them protected their homes and families and have this very stance of protection used against them in court when the families complain? The police could get away with it by saying Ok the dog was taken mistakenly but it did actually attack when we entered the home and therefore it should have been PTS anyway as it was an accident waiting to happen.

ETA - I mean the dogs who the police admitted were PTS but were actually fully insured and wrongly taken.

Caryll wrote:

ella wrote:Well if the police forcibly entered our house, there would be a few less in the world :(scary thought!

I can't really see Chance greeting them with wags & licks!

Exactly Harv would of course, so let's hope anything like that never happens.

Billy would be exactly like kucher lol xx

Wendy wrote:All laughing aside though - how many of those innocent dogs that the police took away in Merseyside were taken in the same circumstances? - how many of them protected their homes and families and have this very stance of protection used against them in court when the families complain? The police could get away with it by saying Ok the dog was taken mistakenly but it did actually attack when we entered the home and therefore it should have been PTS anyway as it was an accident waiting to happen.

ETA - I mean the dogs who the police admitted were PTS but were actually fully insured and wrongly taken.

I know what you're getting at, but I'd make sure that I got a good solicitor (always supposing that the dog wasn't pts almost immediately!) and quote the law back at them - that a dog cannot be expected to know a good 'intruder' from a bad one and therefore cannot be considered dangerous for biting an 'intruder' as long as the owner of the dog (if present) takes steps to limit the damage done by the dog, and does not cheer it on.

Interesting Caryll. What would happen if the owners were not home at the time?

Again, the law says that the dog is not capable of telling whether an intruder should be there or not, and cannot, therefore, be considered dangerous if an intruder gets bitten.

However, you'd probably find that you'd have to get your dog temperament tested to satisfy the court.

Guilty until proved innocent, then.

LyndaW wrote:Guilty until proved innocent, then.

Yes, I'm afraid that's probably true!  

Frightening to think about, isn't it?

Over here, we do not HAVE to display a sign but many do such as, (beware, dog (s) on property. Here, if you have a sign... you've been warned. If you break in & there's a sign, you'd be hard pressed to be in any trouble.

As for police breaking into houses (with or without a dog sign)... they know they are there BEFORE they come to your door! It's called covert surveillance. Unless they chase you down the st & you run into a property... they know if there is a dog on the property.

In the UK part of the law allows someone to report you because you have made them frightened that they will be attacked, even when they haven't been; therefore the police advise you not to put up signs with warnings such as 'beware' or 'enter at your own risk'.

It's a ridiculous law.

Last week in my local newspaper there was a woman in the next town to me petitioning to change the law. Her 7 year old daughter had been attacked by an Akita and had lost her bottom lip and two of her adult teeth. She said the owners could not be prosecuted because the attack occurred in the owners home. She gave no details as to why the child was there. The owners had had the dog PTS but the woman is complaining that they should also be prosecuted and that the law is wrong.