Controlling Staffies

• IF owners of rogue Staffordshire bull terriers that run amok attacking children on council housing estates, leaving them needing hospital treatment, were charged with child cruelty and banned from keeping dogs for 10 years, or if dog attack victims were able to claim compensation from councils for failing to maintain health and safety standards on their properties, it might force councils to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to dog ownership.
Staffordshire terriers are undoubtedly a problem breed and for some unknown reason they have an instinct to prey on children – but such is their obstinate courage that one attacked a police horse in Essex last year.
JAMES REDMOND
Mornington Court, Mornington Crescent, NW1