The clip of film on 'YouTube' of the desperate dog owner trying, unsuccessfully, to retrieve his dog as it chased a herd of deer in Richmond Park, has been watched by thousands of people and their total delight has been expressed on web forums the world over.  With the film shown on national television along with the witty comments from TV presenters, who could do other than feel sympathy for the dog owner at such times and laugh out loud?

But wait a moment didn't a very similar situation happened earlier this week, or did I miss something? A dog ran from its owner in pursuit of its target, the only difference being that this time the target was not equipped with the defence weapons of a deer, either the speed to out run the dog or the lightning kick to deter the predator. Sadly a six year old little girl suffered terrible injuries to her face and neck, something that I doubt she or her loving family will ever recover from.

My question has to be how on earth can people see these incidents as so completely different, believe me in the mind of both of these dogs was the desire to destroy the target but I have to appreciate that in a world that demands ridicule and trivia the first incident has elicited a humorous approach from one of the TV channels, with the light hearted attitude of 'how to bring your dog to heel', whilst the second incident has people calling for the death of the dog.

I even heard an 'expert' explaining how she prepared  dogs to accept the sort of treatment they could expect in a  home and to stay calm when a child pulls its tail and of course it will be the dog that is killed if it tries to stop this from happening with its teeth. Why not teach a child not to do this in the first place and never leave them unattended.

Perhaps Society should decide how it really should approach this very important subject. I am thinking of the next child that will be attacked if we fail to wake up, do the right thing and protect both children and dogs, preventing any more unnecessary and terrible incidents.

Jan Fennell

26th January 2012