Abuse charity gives women guard dogs

LONDON: An anti-domestic violence foundation has opened in Spain to provide women with specially trained guard dogs to protect them from abusive partners.

Security Dogs, a non-profit organisation, is run by veteran dog handler Ángel Mariscal and gives “protection dogs” to abused women – a scheme that counts on the natural instinct of canines to defend their owners. Twenty women are using the service, with a further 16 on the waiting list.

The purchase and training of each dog costs up to €8 000 (R122 000), but is provided free by the foundation, paid out of profits from Mariscal’s private security firm. The project receives no funding from the Spanish government or authorities.

Both the animal and the new owner must undergo a course of up to 200 hours before they are allowed to leave together, and women who approach the foundation are first assessed by a psychologist.

The woman’s home environment must be deemed suitable, followed by a further 20-hour course under police supervision to match the woman with a dog that suits her.

“These dogs do not bite and they don’t go in for the kill. They are not aggressive, because we need animals that are very sociable, able to live in homes with children and behave perfectly normally until they are given a specific command to protect their owner,” Mariscal told El Pais.

“We prefer it if the courts have already issued a restraining order, but we will look at cases where women are too frightened to report their aggressor.

“These dogs do much more than protect their new owners. They give women a new sense of self-confidence: women feel empowered.” – The Independent