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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Jackie Cahill: I remind members, witnesses and those in the Public Gallery to turn off their mobile phones. The purpose of today’s meeting is to undertake an examination of dangerous dog breeds and sheep worrying. The committee will hear from a canine behavioural expert and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It will also hear from officials from the Department of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: I thank the Chairman very much for the opportunity to speak on the topic of dangerous dogs and offer some assistance on the topic. It is a topic I am extremely passionate about. In 2017, my research on dog bites in Ireland was published in the Irish Veterinary Journal. This research compared the characteristics of bites from legislated dog breeds and non-legislated dog...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Lynn Boylan: I apologise to Senator McGreehan. I thank Ms Creedon for her informative opening statement. One of the key reasons I requested that we have a session on dog bites, dangerous dogs, sheep-worrying and related issues is that I want us to react with an evidence-based approach to this. We are all in agreement that we want these dog attacks to end if we can stop them, but there have been a lot...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: As for puppy farms and early socialisation with dogs, there are between five and 12 weeks to expose a dog to as many different animals and people and anything that is a social experience as possible. True socialisation has to occur between five and 12 weeks. After 12 weeks the dog has left its socialisation period. It can learn and can have lots of pleasant or negative...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: Five to 12 weeks of age. That is why responsible breeders are amazing. "Dog breeding" is not a dirty term. Responsible breeders who truly socialise their dogs during that period build solid, bombproof, friendly family dogs. If you are on a puppy farm and all you see in your early weeks is a strange person coming in, perhaps manhandling you, putting you into a different...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Sorry, I know I fired a load of questions at Ms Creedon. One of them was about the dog bite prevention body. Are such bodies running in other jurisdictions that we can examine? We have a tendency in Ireland to look to Britain because of the language comparison and because it uses a similar system with a dangerous dog breed list, but it has not reduced the number of dog attacks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: No. Britain introduced the Dangerous Dogs Acts to ban pitbulls and a small number of breeds and they have seen an increase in the number of those dogs, so banning the breeds just glorifies them. If people want a big scary dog, they will pick the one that is banned. When it comes to bite prevention setup, the Merseyside Dog Safety Partnership is run by a veterinary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Lynn Boylan: It feeds into what Ms Creedon said about responsible breeders in that with responsible breeders people nearly have to interview to get the dog. It is the same with shelters and pounds. They will gasp at the photographs of where the dog will be kept. There is no keeping the dog outside overnight. There are all those questions, and they will not re-home an adult dog with young children....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: People need to understand why these restrictions are there and why the shelters and pounds are so adamant to ensure that their guidelines are followed when it comes to re-homing a dog. They see the negative side if they re-home a dog to a home that does not have a fenced in garden. The dog disappears and ends up back in the pound and so on. When it comes to adopting a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Paul Daly: ...not being negative. I am just playing devil's advocate for the purpose of the debate. I have an issue with restricted breeds. Ms Creedon stated that uneducated owners were also to blame. All dogs, irrespective of breed or size, have a pack mentality and are hunters by nature. There are people who say that their dogs are not on the restricted list, are at home, there is no harm in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: On the Chair's first point about dogs being pack animals and joining in in pack mentality, that is why it should be mandatory that people have a basic level of understanding of dog behaviour. A scientist, Dr. Rudolph Schenkel, studied wolves in captivity in a small enclosure in a zoo in Switzerland in 1947. He continued to refer back to dogs in his study. For example, he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Paul Daly: That is where I am coming from. I am a farmer and have seen that happen. If the chase is on, the quietest of dogs will be in the middle of it. Once they get going, they can do as much damage as the dog that started the chase.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: Exactly. From a scientific point of view, other dogs are doing something, it is exciting and is getting the dog's adrenaline going. Pippa joins in on whatever the other dogs are doing and chases them. When Pippa is in her parasympathetic nervous system-dominant state – her rest-and-digest or normal, calm state of mind, behaviour, personality and so on – she...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Paul Daly: That is my point about dogs that are not on the restricted list in those circumstances.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Paul Daly: And the owner thinks that will not or cannot happen because they are okay because the dog is not on this list.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: Yes. The Acting Chairman is right. People think that if they get a dog that is not on the list then it is not dangerous. That is just as dangerous as having a list of restricted breeds because it lulls people into a false sense of security.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Paul Daly: For my information, when a dog is angry and the hair stands up, is that because -----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

Ms Nanci Creedon: What happens is that the body goes into the sympathetic nervous system dominance state. You will often see humans, dogs and Taylor Swift shake it off. When you see dogs doing a shake-off if they were in the water and they are wet, then it is normal. However, if something was a stressor for the dog and its body starts to go into sympathetic nervous system dominance and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Dangerous Dog Breeds and Sheep Worrying: Discussion (1 Feb 2023)

...A person would go off and buy a DVD or a book, or it might all be online. It is all scientifically based. It would be basic information on why punishment leads to an increase in aggression, why dogs getting hyperactive increases the risk of bites and so on. Yes, the additional cost might turn people off but if it turns people off and they do not get dogs then that is perfectly okay with...