Under attack – guide dogs suffer attacks from other dogs in public

Guide dogs are coming under attack from other dogs whilst out in public, finds new research published in this week’s Veterinary Record.

Looking into 100  of the incidents, it has been found that more than three guide dogs every month are being attacked with most incidents taking place during the day between 9am and 3pm.

The majority of attacks are coming from male dogs who were not on leads at the time, with bull breeds – including bulldogs, mastiffs, bull terriers, pit bull types and Staffordshire bull terriers accounting for 46 per cent of incidents.

Researchers found that there were sometimes serious emotional repercussions for the guide dog’s owners.

They discovered most of the people whose dogs had committed attacks left the scene without even speaking to the guide dog’s owner.

In 19 per cent of cases, the guide dog’s handler or a member of the public helping them out sustained injuries including bites with around half of victims needing medical attention.

The guide dog’s handlers were also additionally upset because they were unable to check their dog to see if they needed any veterinary care after the attack.

There are around 4500 guide dogs working in the UK with each costing around £50,00 to train and maintain during its working life.

Attacks were found to affect the performance or even future behaviour of nearly 50 per cent of guide dogs with some having to be withdrawn from service.
 
“The financial implications of attacks on guide dogs should not be underestimated, especially if retraining or replacing a guide dog is necessary,” say the researchers authors.

“Most importantly, a person in critical need of a guide dog may be without one for a period of time while waiting for a suitable replacement to be trained; this will impact on their quality of life and mobility.”