Get ready for a racket if you dump on bad dog owners
Column gets some barking mad — and showcases a lot of denial
Woo hoo, such a wuss when it comes to man’s best friend.
That would be your idiot, freak, scaredy-cat, sensationalizing, pooch-hating columnist, of course, squarely in the crosshairs of the righteous dog-lovers’ judge, jury and firing squad.
The verdict of this guilty-until-proven-guilty show trial has little to do with logic and much to do with denial, romanticism, anthropomorphizing, affirmation bias and breed stereotyping. A few exhibits in self-defence. “I stopped reading when I saw ■ two Yorkshire terriers lumped in with aggressive dogs.”
Exhibit 1: An out-of-control Yorkie killed a child in Britain last summer. Another Yorkie sent a kid to hospital for facial surgery. Cute little dogs; not so cute little teeth when running amok. All dogs will bite. All bites can be dangerous.
Do I tremble at a yapping off-leash Yorkie? No, I don’t fear what can be punted — but why should that possibility ever be remotely necessary for a small dog just because its owner is too lazy and self-indulgent to control it?
“Bounding over and jumping up ■ is just the way dogs socialize.”
Exhibit 2, from another reader: “Recently my 83-year-old friend was pushed over by an off-leash dog who was apparently in a training session with a trainer and owner. After being knocked to the ground, upon which she suffered torn ligaments in her knee, she was reproached by the ‘trainer’ not to approach an offleash dog. They didn’t even help her stand up.”
Big dogs suddenly socializing with seniors can have its downside.
“My Belgian Malinois is 90 ■ pounds of pure happiness, yet people like you immediately think he is aggressive ... the best thing to do is be proactive and teach your child how to behave around dogs in order to prevent dog attacks, not to blame dogs for being dogs.”
Exhibit 3: In Calgary just a couple of weeks ago, a 12-yearold was savaged in his own back yard and sent to hospital when a Belgian Malinois escaped the neighbour’s yard. In February last year a Belgian Malinois attacked a four-year-old California boy. His leg was amputated. In December, a seven-year-old girl in Virginia was savaged by two Belgian Malinois.
Everyone was shocked. Everyone is always shocked. Such friendly dogs, so good with kids — “I couldn’t imagine in a million years being in a situation like that,” said a stunned neighbour.
Exactly. Failed imagination is not the dog’s fault. Don’t blame dogs for being dogs. Blame owners for being so narcissistic they’ve lost the capacity to foresee the possibility of their dog going into attack mode and then being unable to control it. “A Labrador being aggressive?” ■ Exhibit 4: In 2014, a Labrador ripped the face of an eight-yearold Florida girl. A “gentle pooch” of a Labrador in South Carolina dismembered a baby. Everyone was mystified. Everyone is always mystified. “A very gentle dog,” the neighbour said to the local news- paper. “A beautiful dog. I went over to say hi one day, and he came right up to me and stopped. I rubbed his head, then he left.” And tore the baby apart.
Everyone was shocked in England, too, when a friendly lab abruptly seized a three-yearold by the face at a family picnic causing what the Daily Mail called “horrific injuries.” And labs aren’t ageist; last spring in Quebec a lab jumped a fence and attacked a 75-year-old man.
Dog enthusiasts denounce breed-specific stereotyping of dangerous dogs. But they enthusiastically stereotype breeds — the breeds they own — as harmless. The Argument: All dogs of all breeds, large or small, can be dangerous, just as all loaded guns can fire unexpectedly. Big dogs are more dangerous than small ones, just as a 12-gauge shotgun does more damage than a .22 — however, if either hits you in the right place, you won’t know the difference. Responsible gun owners know only a fool takes the safety off a loaded weapon until the moment it’s intended to be fired.
Why does this precautionary principle elude some dog owners? Some dog owners, I reiterate. Responsible dog owners understand: All dogs can bite; all dogs can maim; all dogs can kill wildlife, pets or people.
Conclusion: Dog owners have a duty to keep their pets under control at all times. If they can’t, they deserve to be held fully accountable.