Anti do me this favor, you and I have been getting on much better.
I see another you here and am impressed, we all ways agreed men/fathers get the wrong end of the stick in Divorce/Children.
Stop calling me left! read my post history! mainstream Labor is not very left.
Now yes your point is true, but it does the dead no good.
It does not transfer responsibility for the event to the victims.
A dog is a wolf, it will pee around its territory, even on my country hat before I caught one.
Sniff another bum, to see what it has eaten its sex and if it needs interest or not.
The circling slow walking thing is about who is the top dog, do we need to find out our are we going to be mates.
You have seen it, dogs owners wash the cute little fur bundle spray it with perfume and get up set when it rolls in the pig pen, to hide its smell from prey.
We can not turn a dog into a teddy bear, live but under control.
Some, pit bulls will never ever be a problem.
Some breeds almost any breed in the wrong hands can be dangerous.
continued.

We see smaller dogs, my foxies and indeed all Terrier breeds are known to be brave.
And do we know why? faced with a big dog going straight on the offensive is their defense.
First thing, maybe the last too they get in.
That dog,the one we talk about, its instinct,its unchangeable instinct,tells it smelling fear says some thing is wrong gets its defense/attack instinct rolling.
Then the child ran.
Do we understand what a wolf would do? by now thinking kill or be killed, that some thing was wrong not sure what it too would charge that child.
Pit Bull/Roty,so many breeds , but if we had a neighbor who had a wild wolf ? we do.
Dogs we are told look and act like owners,well not,but they learn from us.
If I ever got in to a pub brawl on Saturday night out side a pub, once in fact, my dog fought my opponents dog along side.
Can we trust every dog owner? why license guns but not some cowards weapon of choice his/her dog?

Righto Belly, I'll stop calling you Left. Fair do's.

In mentioning the fact that the victim and the adults around her contributed to this incident, I'm simply pointing out that we in Australia now live in a nation in which people with very different backgrounds are part of the landscape. Some of those people are not capable of taking care of themselves in situations which you or I would have notrouble with.

The problem I see with the likely response to this attack is that it will not address the issue of making people better able to deal with a problem, it will simply ban something, pretending that the problem is now fixed.

Sadly, this is the way of our new Australian world, thanks largely to the natural sympathy felt for the victim of such a horrendous event and the enormous power of "victim's groups" acting to increase their reach, although there doesn't seem to be anybody making a living out of "representing the victims of dog attacks" as far as I can tell.

Instead, this will be driven by a political agenda, in which doing the easy thing (banning) is preferred over doing the hard one (education and regulation). which one will provide the better outcome, do you reckon?

The point about nutjobs buying these breeds as "weapons" is not a bad one, but I can assure you that Max has never been trained to bark at Africans, it's entirely his own behaviour, which is the reason for mentioning it. Max is not at all aggressive, yet some people manage to project enough fear on seeing him that he becomes excited. These people, while not intentionally getting the dog worked up, incite him nonetheless. If he was to get carried away and bite them, it would not be his fault, since he is a creature of instincts, although he'd no doubt be held to account. Training people not to be afraid would stop that occurring. That seems much to be preferred to a kneejerk ban.

Thanks Antiseptic, I am quite proud of my defiance of my past, people change.
It was 52 years ago I left communism behind, and about 40 Socialism.
Do not get me wrong, left of center is my home but center today is far from those days.
Once Fox news created the tea party right is very far right.
Ok your point is taken, and true, but.
I looked at dogs that killed,came up with an America site, based on getting rid of pit bulls.
Not posting a link, it is set on one out come, but 55 people died in its I think 2 year period, killed by pit bulls.
One year the average toll was 15, the next it went to 30.
America at first glance proves the bred is dangerous, HOWEVER! it, to me, proves owners, some of them, of pit bulls are dangerous.
Sorry, we are not all well anchored not looking for a Friend, snarling social misfits do own snarling miss fit dogs.
My mate next door, his name is Mack too, is a loverly dog.
But if such a person antisocial misfit, or lock him up the back yard, owner had him?
Control breeding, all dogs, control owners, some breeds even more so, police the laws always.
My closest Friend is a pig hunter, he would never have a problem with his dogs, but can tell horror story's about a few.

If one is unfortunate enough to be attacked by a dog or dogs, how does one defend one's self?

Belly, I take your point about the shift in political positioning. I also understand what you mean about dogs that have been set up to be dangerous, but they're quite rare and they are normally most dangerous to their owners or friends.

Is Mise, unless the dog was completely psychotic, it wouldn't have run over to the kids to attack them, but to play with them. The same applies to nearly all dogs, which either ignore people or seek them out as companions/source of food scraps.

The important thing to remember if a dog is threatening is that it won't do so unless it feels it has a need to. Therefore, it's important to avoid giving it that feeling. Don't look it in the eyes. Don't wave your arms around or make lots of noise. Don't run.

Walk slowly backwards, watching it, but not trying to stare it down. Look away frequently, to the sides rather than down.

If it attacks, kick it or as hard as you possibly can, anywhere, especially in the head. If you knock it down, jump on it hard, knee first. A winded animal can't hurt you. I've done this and it works. Basically, treat it like a pub brawl on steroids, since the dog will keep going while it thinks it has the upper hand, once its started.

The kids in this tragic case would have not been able to do anything once the dog got into an attack frenzy, but they and their mums could have avoided it.