My incredible journey to acquiring a loving dog
MY JOURNEY in acquiring a dog was an incredibly fascinating one with twists and turns.
If you are a South African and lucky enough never to have been mugged, raped or had your home burgled in your presence, you will not understand my primeval fear. Some drug addicts had scaled my precast wall and one of them brazenly entered my house and stole my cellphone. I reported the incident to our WhatsApp group. Someone advised me to get a dog.
Burrowed into mind was a comment made by one of the delegates at an international railway conference in Sydney, Australia, about the new employment contract. He said employers must not expect loyalty from their employees anymore. “If you want loyalty, buy a dog.”
Incidentally, someone advertised the sale of puppies on our WhatsApp group. I called him and made an offer. We clinched the deal and he promised to deliver my puppy after six weeks. I impressed upon him that I would need more guidance from him since I had never owned a pet in my life; the only thing I know about dogs I had learnt from literature. We never spoke about the breed, my focus was more on utility than the breed.
After the puppy was weaned, the seller delivered him to me in the evening. He brought with him a morsel of puppy food and a blank vaccine record sheet and instructed me to feed the puppy once a day. I later discovered that he had misled me about feeding the puppy once a day because he was reluctant to bring a full packet of puppy food.
I saw that there was something untoward about the puppy when it was not fed. When the veterinary surgeon visited me to deworm and vaccinate the puppy, he told me the breed of puppy – pit bull. My primeval fear was doubled.
I became scared when I learnt about a North West worker who died after pit bulls allegedly mauled him at his workplace in Rustenburg. Cosatu has called for a ban on pit bulls after the incident. Some owners are opposed to the ban of the breed.
Given my incredible journey, I agree with Mark Desai’s sentiments: “I don’t advocate banning the breed. The only alternative is to pass legislation to step up policing the back-yard breeders and impose stricter ownership laws.”
I now realise that I bought a puppy from an unscrupulous back-yard breeder. This is why he did not care to make a follow up after he delivered the puppy. I am bearing my own cross and I am willing to manage all the risks.
I have bonded with the puppy and I do not perceive him as dangerous; he is part of the family tapestry. I agree with Tyron Buchholtz who said: “It’s not the dog but the owner. I have a pit bull and she is the most loving and friendly girl to other dogs and humans.” The same applies to my puppy, he is friendly to dogs and humans.
The death of the worker is squarely on the owner of the dogs and has nothing to do with the breed. This is like a person who blames God when their relationship has gone wrong. God gives us love but we owe Him the management our relationships. Animals are always loyal to their owners.
When I was in Standard 7 (Grade 9) our prescribed English book was The Incredible Journey, written by Scottish author Sheila Burnford in 1961. The story is about a remarkable relationship between humans and animals. It is notable that when you own an animal it is difficult to part with it without leaving someone to take care of the animal.
In The Incredible Journey, owners, the Hunters, leave to go to England on an academic mission. They leave Luath (Labrador retriever), Tao (Siamese) and Bodger (bull terrier) in the care of John Longridge, a family friend.
Longridge embarks on a two week hunting expedition and leaves the animals. They set out to find their owners. The animals follow their instincts and travel more than 480km. They face obstacles in their paths until the finally reach home.
South Africa should be more sensitive about human and animal rights. Like racism, we are gradually sliding into what my friend, Dr Peaceman Sopazi, calls “breedism”, or discrimination against other breeds of dogs.
Breedism may include banning certain breeds of dogs such as pit bulls and requiring higher insurance premiums for owners of certain breeds.
Cosatu should be promoting human and animal rights as opposed to promoting “breeding apartheid”.
Perhaps we should prescribe The Incredible Journey to the Cosatu leadership? I do have a lot friends who are guiding me in the process, it is my wish to be like the Hunters to my puppy, unlike the heartless seller.