Who let the dog out?

SOME people keep dogs as pets, some as house-guards while some for the mere sake of having a fourlegged “don’t talk back” object in the house to push around.

Whichever is the case, for dog owners, the essential rule is to make sure they keep their canines under control and not callously on a long leach.

Unless dogs have been through an ‘obedience’ class, they are quite capable of wreaking havoc and making a nuisance of themselves — if their owners allow them to.

There are many things inconsiderate dog owners can do at the expense of their neighbours but one of the most thoughtless and insensitive is letting their mutts out for an activity that stinks to high heaven. Indeed, few things can be as gross as dog excrement spluttered in front of your house gate — grosser yet inside your compound if the offending quadruped manages to sneak in and do its business undetected. This is not as uncommon as we think.

At some housing estates, it is nothing out of the ordinary to find some dog owners perversely inclined to treat the neighbourhood as an outhouse for their dogs to take a dump.

The nauseous upshot is unwanted widespread depositing of canine feces – on the grass by a side road, on the side road itself or near someone’s house, if not actually inside the property.

If you are not careful, you could end up transporting the muck most foul back to your house – (dis)courtesy of your shoe.

One dog owner, when asked why he let his dog out to poop around the neighbourhood, replied barefacedly: “I don’t dog waste in my garden, so I let my dog out to sh##** somewhere else.”

In some countries, dog owners who walk their dogs or let them run loose in a residential area, are required by municipality regulations to pick up the fecal matter unloaded by their dogs during such outings.

This is done with a poo bag which is thrown away after use — not down the drain or on the road but in the rubbish bin. The enforcement is strict and failure to comply will lead to prosecution. In these countries, dogs are not allowed to soil the environment nor their owners to litter it with dog-doo. The bottom line is scoop up the poop, bag it and throw it into the trash.

Perhaps the same regulation can be applied here to keep errant dog owners in line to foster good neighbourliness and raise awareness of environmental hygiene.

For dog owners who habitually let their dogs out to poop around the neighbourhood, this poem by Richard MacWilliam is apt. It’s called The Poet and the Poop:

I met a little dog On the bottom of my shoe Hello little doggy How do you do?

I’m sure you can explain This colour by your diet But is it also on your tin When your owners goes to buy it?

Why your turds so squishy When I bring them home inside What is it in your dishy – And was it well before it died?

And these little calling cards Scattered on the ground Has no one ever told you Not to leave them lying around?

If only your owner Had the brain power of a flea They wouldn’t leave these messes Lying here for me.

The moral of the story, according to the person who posted the poem, is nobody likes stepping on dog poop. Not even poets. Clean up after your dog has done it or better yet -- hire someone who will.

Unruly dog behaviour Notably, in cases of unruly dog behaviour, it’s usually the owner who is at fault, not the dog. By knowingly leaving their dogs, especially those prone to aggressive behaviour, to their own device, errant dog owners are spreading canine terror.

These people have no business keeping dogs if they do not live up to their responsibilities. They have no one but themselves to blame if they are reported to the public health authorities, or if their dogs end up in the pound or getting bludgeoned for causing nuisance and attacking people -- or in the cooking pot for riling a vicinage with a taste for dog steak.

To add insult to injury, a lot of dog owners here don’t even bother applying for a badge from the local council to legalise ownership of their furred property.

So what we have is a population of illegal canine residents in our midst. The authority concerned seems to turn a blind eye. To solve the problem, shouldn’t it be to eradicate the cause first?

Over-indulgence Over-indulging your pet dog can make it more pain than friend. Some people pamper their pooches so much that they not only allow their VVID(ogs) to indulge in the comfort of their expensive sofas but also sleep in their RM10,000 beds. Some over-doters even let their four-legged highnesses use the family house as a doggie play pen!

At the other end of the spectrum are the stray dogs. While most of these homeless mutts raid garbage bins for a living, some even “beg.”

Have you ever had a dirty stray dog “wait” on you in salivating anticipation while you were having a meal at a public eatery?

This is not so unusual, repugnant as it is. It seems the shame is more human than canine. Food operators should not allow stray dogs around their premises in the first place.

There are still stray dogs at certain areas in the city — scrawny and diseased. You can see them from a distance or close by. Certainly not a sight for sore eyes!

But overall, the situation has improved with action from the local council, and laudably, humanitarian efforts from the local SSPCA to rehabilitate these abandoned canines for adoption.

Basic rule One basic rule is that if you have no time to look after your dog properly, don’t keep one.

A dog maybe a man’s best friend but the feeling is not always mutual. Some people have no qualms about ill-treating their dogs. In fact, I dare say they rather enjoy it, cruel as it is.

If you happen to hear a dog barking its lungs out all day long, chances are it’s either caged or chained. That’s the real bone of contention – not the dog enjoying making noise for the heck of it.

Dogs need adequate living space, and like us, they are happy when they can move about freely. Forcing them to live in a space so small that they cannot even stretch their legs or sleep without getting stiff necks, will only bring out the worst in them.

A dog will protest in the only way it knows how – raising vocal hell to get the message across — that living conditions are unendurable and it wants out. And here, you can be sure the distressed dog is not barking up the wrong tree.

Unfortunately, to most people, a dog is a dog and should be treated like a dog. In fact, the majority of man’s best friends live a dog’s life.

The callous dog owners don’t care two paws.

“What do the dogs expect,” they usually ask.

Different breeds While some breeds are timid, others have become war heroes for their inspirational display of courage and self-sacrifice. These are not the Lassies, Rin Tin Tins and Air Buds of the silver screen but combatants that risked life and limb to save their handlers and sometimes a whole platoon.

If dogs only knew the difference they could make! Certainly, there are not many things that can replace the precision of a dog’s nose. Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Collies, St Bernards and bands of others mutts provide the backbone of search-and-rescue operations the world over.

The local mongrels also have their own unique abilities.

A picnicker once tossed a stick into a stream at Matang. His mongrel dog dived in after it, remaining under water for a good minute or so, trying to retrieve the stick. After some undog-like underwater manoeuvring, the mutt managed to catch hold of the stick in its mouth and dog-pedaled to the surface.

How the mutt managed to stay submerged all that time is a wonder since canines are not known to take to water like ducks.

Perhaps, it belonged to a hardy line of local canine breeds so used to the rough and tumble of the dog life that it could face adversities and challenges with the guts of a top dog.

There are, of course, good and bad dogs but generally, your dog will always bow to your wishes and wow at most things you do.

As Samuel Bulter said: The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you but he will make a fool of himself too.

No matter what you do to your dog, its loyalty is beyond reproach. You will never see a dog staging a coup de’tat against its master.

Man lets the tail wag the dog for an ulterior motive. But a dog wags the tail as a show of unquestioned devotion and faithfulness.