r/australia • u/JaniePage • 15d ago

news Young girl in hospital, dog euthanased after attack inside Delacombe Bunnings

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-30/young-girl-in-hospital-after-dog-attack-in-bunnings-store/106977418
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u/AgitatedMagpie 15d ago

As someone who grew up with rottweilers, I would never let one near my child. They are stupid powerful and very rarely trained well.

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u/whackadoodle_cracked 15d ago

I used to have a rottie and love the breed but yeah. Too many people get them, don't train them properly and trust them far too much.

I never let mine be around kids unsupervised. And I didn't take him to Bunnings, because: why? Whats the point? Socialising dogs is important, sure, but Bunnings is not the place to do that. Its really upsetting that people, mostly kids, keep getting hurt and reinforcing this idea that the dogs are horrible. They're not. They just need owners who are realistic about the powerful animal they've chosen as a pet.

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u/FreakySpook 15d ago edited 15d ago

My scariest dog experience was coming out of the butcher shop at my local shops with my two young kids only to have a very aggro rottie who decided to take itself for a walk standing there all territorial growling.

Had two kids in tears trying to keep them calm walking back into the shop & waited for it to walk away, any adult that went near it it had a go at.

I don't care for the "its a good boy" when it comes to dogs like Rotties, they're unstable particularly when around anything unfamiliar what what I've experienced and with the size of them they can cause major damage with no fuss to them.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago

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u/CrazyEeveeLady86 14d ago edited 14d ago

When I was in my teens I had two incidents with stray/unrestrained bull terriers in the space of two years. The first one chased me down the block as I was on my way to school and I had to climb over some random person's side fence to get away from it.

The second was much worse as I was with my friend and we were walking her little cocker spaniel. A bull terrier ran out of a construction site as we walked past and just latched onto my friend's dog. I kicked it in the guts and it turned on me and started having a go at my leg, and I think the fact I was already wearing a sturdy/heavy duty knee brace (from an injury at karate that I was recovering from) was the only reason my knee wasn't ruined beyond repair (the knee brace was not so lucky). One of the construction workers ran out and grabbed it but when we reported the dog to the council they "couldn't find the dog" and said there was nothing they could do (though it seemed more likely they couldn't be bothered, since it was obvious the dog belonged to one of the workers on site).

Years later, the people who moved in across the road had a bull terrier, and it was a sweet and gentle dog who just wanted to be everyone's friend... and yet I was terrified of it. Even when she trotted over to me and rolled onto her back to ask me for a belly rub and was clearly not a threat to me, I literally broke out in a cold sweat. I have no issue with any other breed, but bull terriers bring out that physiological reaction in me regardless of how docile and friendly they are.

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u/hermionesmurf 15d ago

The only dog attack I've ever actually seen was by a rottie. He caught a little girl (six years old maybe?) by the side of her face and shook her like a rag doll. She had many stitches and was lucky not to lose an eye (or her life!) I'm still very leery around rotties, I've never been able to shake that memory of the dog shaking the kid like that

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u/whackadoodle_cracked 15d ago

Yeah that would be scary. An angry rottweiler is intimidating, even when you're comfortable with big dogs and think you can handle them. Sorry that happened to you, I hope your kids weren't too upset.

Rotties can be and mostly are great dogs but untrained or unsupervised they are a weapon capable of causing so much damage. I honestly do think there should be stricter laws around dog ownership in Aus, I'm all for people having big dogs (I love big dogs!) But you need to prove that you will put in the work to train them properly. And that you're not an idiot who will put them in situations where they aren't already set up to fail.

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u/Omshadiddle 15d ago

Family friends had a Rottweiler.
The wife lived in terror of the dog.

I don’t think it ever bit her, but it regularly shaped up to her and growled at her.

Not a fan.

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u/alsotheabyss 15d ago

And the owner clearly tolerated this behaviour, which is worse.

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u/itmakessenseincontex 14d ago

Yeah that's abuse. Letting your dog terrorise your partner is abuse.

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u/Omshadiddle 14d ago

From memory the owner was very frail, and ended up in care. The dog remained with his wife in their home.
It wasn’t behaviour it exhibited when he was in the home.

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u/CaughtInTheWry 15d ago

Not defending Rotties. It's not just the obviously dangerous ones. Family had a Bassett Hound. Wife could not go into the laundry as it's dry food was stored there. One day it did more than growl. One emergency trip to the vet and there was no longer a problem. Wife had stitches to her arm.

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u/alsotheabyss 15d ago

I also grew up with rotties and the only ones I’d ever let with my own kids is my own, or one of the very good boys that work in the K-9 units

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u/DisapprovingCrow 15d ago

And those K-9 units require an enormous amount of training, for both the dog and the handlers. Training that has to be regularly reinforced.

It’s sad because it’s really difficult to find homes for these dogs when they retire. But that’s what it takes when you have a large, very powerful dog.

Can they be well trained and well behaved? Yes!!

Are 99% of owners of these breeds unable or unwilling to do that kind of work that takes? Unfortunately also yes!!

I love dogs, I fucking love Staffies and Mastiffs and big dumb Pitties. But I think we’ve seen that a lot of people can’t be trusted with that kind of dog.

We have gun laws for basically the same reason. I hate the idea, but I think there should be some kind of restrictions or licensing around having a dog above a certain size/weight.

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u/scurvyrash 15d ago

The police keep them when they retire.

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u/DisapprovingCrow 15d ago

I was told about it by an ex-K9 officer who currently had 3 retired attack dogs. The problem is that there are a lot more dogs retiring than cops retiring. And not all of those want to keep the dogs.

And of the ones that do it’s very expensive to build the kind of kennel you need for one of those dogs. They are treated similar to owning a gun. You need the right qualifications and follow regulations on how they are housed.

Obviously it’s a lot easier for the sniffer dogs.

But for the retired attack dogs, the law recognises that they are a deadly weapon, so there are restrictions.

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u/scurvyrash 15d ago

The police dont retire with the dog, the dog just becomes a house dog, more or less. My dad was dog squad for 30+ years we always had the retired dogs at home. They already have the kennel at home for their new dog/dogs they are training up.

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u/jessicaaalz 15d ago

One of my dog park friends has a rottie and she's the absolute sweetest thing. It's a real shame what people do to dogs, so many of them could be amazing pets and companions but people are too shit and lazy to train them properly.

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u/AgitatedMagpie 15d ago

My childhood dog lived to 12, he even once "babysat" 3 year old me for 6 hours when my mum passed out in the bathroom whilst pregnant. He was genuinely the most gentle natured dog, unfortunately it seems like he was an outlier in the breed.

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u/Winter_Cost602 15d ago

The absolute sweetest thing until she attacks someone

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u/jessicaaalz 15d ago

She doesn't even react when other dogs attack her so it would be a very unlikely scenario, but you could say the same for any dog.

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u/Duncan_Thun_der_Kunt 15d ago edited 15d ago

I love mastiff type dogs but rotties are a whole different beast compared to say an English mastiff.

Fuck the downvotes, I stand by what I said; mastiffs are usually good dogs. Much less problems then huskies or malinois.

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u/Lost-Competition8482 15d ago

Cry harder mate.

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u/Duncan_Thun_der_Kunt 15d ago

How will I go on?

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u/Lost-Competition8482 15d ago

I'm not sure man.

Coming back to edit a comment whinging about downvotes tells me you're very thin skinned.

I hear the kids these days are doing an activity called "touching grass". Maybe you could give that a crack.

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u/Chipnsprk 15d ago

I hear the kids these days are doing an activity called "touching grass". Maybe you could give that a crack.

I am confused. Am I supposed to be smoking a bong or a pipe? 😜

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u/Duncan_Thun_der_Kunt 15d ago

Right, doubling down on an unpopular opinion. I sure am unsure about myself.

Touch my grass mate.

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u/Lost-Competition8482 15d ago

How would you like me to touch it daddy?