Dog mauling victim welcomes steeper fines for owners whose animals attack.

Police said they used pepper spray to hold off the dogs until a council ranger arrived and caught them.

If the attackers had been human, they would have been shot dead.

The last 20 years of my working life was spent as a tradie and as such I visited several thousand homes.

My personal thoughts and observations from my experiences is that people that own these protective type watch dogs is that they love strangers coming to their home so that they may observe how the dog reacts.
It is basically a big test.
When they are told to lock the dog away or look for another tradie some get quite indignant and the common statement is

"Oh! He/She wont hurt you"

Well, aren't they famous last words.

I generally had three employees and myself out on the road and I instructed all my employess that if they had any doubt about a dog and the owner wont lock it up then phone our office and leave if necessary.

We were all bitten at times and on odd occasions actually savagely attacked by these animals.
These owners don't like it when they receive a bill for the doctors visit, injections dressings of wounds and lost time.
My reply was that they may object all they like but a police report along with medical evidence will probably result in the dog being put down.

We recorded on client records the presence of any dog and they were asked to remove the dog from the premises or lock it away securely before we come to their property.