Mai ready to fight to save her pooch

A YOUNG woman vowed yesterday to fight any plans to ban so-called dangerous breed dogs in Cork.

Mai Clifford, 21, who lives in a council house off Shandon Street, owns a nine-month-old Rottweiler called S’hagan, and an eight-week-old Rottweiler bitch pup.

“They won’t be coming in to my house to take my dog,” she said. “Taking away S’hagan would be like taking away my first-born. I will use violence to protect my dog. The council will regret their actions if they go down this road.”

She said dog owners should be held responsible for their dogs’ behaviour.

“I agree there should be tighter regulations on these dogs but it should be mandatory for them to be trained properly,” she said.

The owner, and not the dog, should suffer in such cases, she said.

She agreed, however, that any dog that bites a person should be put down.

She said she had spent hundreds of euro training S’hagan — a breed she was attracted to because of its “power, sheer intelligence and loyalty”.

An untrained Labrador could be more dangerous than a trained Rottweiler, she said.

Her young nieces and nephews love the dog, and he loves them, she said.

“When you raise them with children, they are not dangerous,” she said.

“They are beautiful animals, the perfect companion. This proposed ban is a bad idea. The dogs themselves aren’t dangerous. A dog is a blank slate. It is the owners who should be esponsible.

“But this proposed ban is like trying to throw a blanket over everyone. It’s not fair to take away my Rottweiler, who is fully obedient.”