7 Police officers show up to take away "dangerous" 6 inch high yorkshire terrier

Size matters?

Mugshot (or should that be dugshot) of the Perp

Hey guys, I'm going to be away this weekend for some R&R time, but I just had to share this somewhat silly story from the UK news this week and have a little rant about it.

Way back in June Claudia Settimo-Bovio; a 73 year old pensioner, had a parcel delivered to her door. She shouted out to the delivery man that her six inch high Yorkshire Terrier Alfie was excitable with strangers and to just leave the parcel on the step. Ten minutes later, she presumably thought he was gone and opened the door to retrieve the parcel. The courier was still there. Apparently he immediately started screaming "he's killing me, he's killing me" and ran down the path. He then fell over and continued to scream. He was then escorted to hospital by a neighbour (who in no uncertain terms told him "don't be such a p*ssy"). According to the elderly lady (there is nothing reported about what the driver said himself) he had a tiny scratch on his waist which looked fairly old and wasn't bleeding and he had no torn clothing or blood or anything indicating a serious injury.

Fast forward a month, and the guy had obviously reported her to the police (describing the dog as the size of a border collie) and seven police officers show up in a van to confiscate the savage, gigantic and terrifying Yorkshire Terrier. He was then taken away to the police kennels for "assessment".

So I know dog attacks are no laughing matter but there are several things about this story that stick out like a sore thumb to me:

1. No images of bites sustained. Usually when there is a dog attack we see photographic evidence of the wounds.
2. Why did the courier hang around for 10 minutes? We don't have his side of the story, but apparently there are other witnesses so hopefully someone can corroborate whether that's true or not. Presumably the courier never told the lady she needed to sign for a package, so to me if this is true it's suspicious.
3. Even for a border collie sized dog, seven officers seems pretty excessive. And it would've taken nothing but a phone call to confirm that the dog in question was a yorkie, or asking any of the neighbours. If the dog was truly dangerous, seven officers entering the home would likely goad it into a frenzy. A couple of dog handlers and a police officer to speak to the lady maybe, but seven officers?

As a dog owner, I really do know that dog attacks on couriers and postmen are a serious issue, and despite having the friendliest dog on the planet I keep him away from postmen because I know a lot of them hate or fear dogs. It is so important that any size of dog that you have remains under control. And if you have a legitimate phobia, the sight of a dog bounding towards you can be utterly terrifying. It truly is important that a dog owner remembers not everyone loves your dog like you do and it's your responsibility to control him or her. But in this case it appears the courier actually hung around, which makes me think he kind of set up the situation himself.

Mostly to me this just highlights the incompetence of policing in parts of the UK. We have seven officers showing up to confiscate a yorkie while people can't seem to get officers to show up to help them when they have been robbed or viciously attacked.

I guess we'll hear more about the antics of the savage six inch beast of a yorkie terrorising the neighbourhood in future!

Further info:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/23/seven-police-storm-pensioners-house-to-take-her-dangerous-yorkshire-terrier-6871753/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/22/police-seize-yorkshire-terrier-dangerous-dogs-act-attacks-delivery/
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/yorkshire-terrier-returned-to-delighted-owner-after-being-seized-by-police-for-allegedly-attacking-a3619596.html