Grrrrr...

Or, Why Irresponsible Dog Owners Should Be Beaten With a Stick Until They Get a Clue Before Their Unruly Beast Eats Someone!!!

We moved to New Zealand from Fort Collins, Colorado, arguably a dog-favorable community. There are at least three dog daycare centers, multiple dog parks, and even shops in downtown that let you bring in a well-behaved pet on leash. So it was a shock to us to find New Zealand a much different climate when it comes to canine companions.

Basically, Kiwis are a bunch of dog-haters. Ok maybe not, but when you're travelling with one and everywhere you go you see signs saying that your dog will be shot on sight, you begin to think so. Anyway, in one respect it's because of the high population density of chase-able, edible livestock that can mean financial loss to a farmer if an unsupervised dog comes on their property. Secondly, New Zealand has no significant indigenous predators, which means that the richly varied population of native birds has been decimated by introduced species such as dogs - including the iconic and flightless Kiwi bird.

The third reason, which incidentally ties in intimately with the first two, is that many of the people who do own non-working (i.e. farm) dogs here are the kind of owners you see featured on Animal Cops. They aquire dogs from breeds known for aggresive behavior for the purpose of "protection", and also because they engender fear in others. Case in point: the strutting, smirking fellow I saw in town walking his large, unneutered male on a thick, hardware store-style chain. There have been several reports in the news recently of people being attacked by these dogs, but sadly it has been school age children rather than theives or rival gang members who suffered.

sigh



All this brings me to what happened on our otherwise lovely walk with our own to kind and obedient dogs (one of which we are dogsitting for some friends).

Pals: Nala & Abby



We had just been for a ramble down to the beach, when on the way back to the car, we spotted a small boy walking a pit bull crossbreed towards us.

Seeing the potential for trouble, we each got a dog firmly in hand and walked them single file as close to the other side of the narrow path as we could. Both Nala and Abby behaved beautifully, moving quickly right along and paying no attention to the pit bull. As we passed, the dog stopped, stared, and began to growl. Nala, my own 91lb. (and by no means a pushover) German Shepherd didn't care for his attitude, but kept right on going as I'd asked. After getting by them, we heard a loud snarl, and turned to see that the struggling dog had just slipped his (far too loose!) collar and was charging for us, jaws wide open. Oddly, he did not go for Nala, as aggro dogs would tend to do since she looks the most threatening. Instead he darted straight at small, sweet Abby, who was only too happy to let Chad whip her behind himself as we bunched up and shouted at the dog to back off.

Thwarted, he stood back a bit wondering what to do next while Chad, Nala, and I faced him down with stares and growls (yes, we literally growled at him as well). This is not advisable dog safety etiquette, but suddenly he didn't like his odds very much, so he refrained from trying again. The little boy who had weirdly been given the task of "controlling" him was smart enough to run back up the path to get help from the rest of his family. Even with two adults, they had a hard time getting him collared again and under control, possibly because mom had a second pit bull with her (!!!). We waited tensely until it was reasonably safe, then passed them again, now with TWO hyped-up pit bulls snarling and writhing in their owners' hands. Chad is generally a more patient person than I am, but it was all he could do not to read them the riot act, but good.

The mom actually did apologize profusely, which doesn't excuse fostering such potential for horror in her own home, but considering I've actually seen owners of such dogs try to blame the other party for an unprovoked attack, we accepted it and just kept going. If you're crazy enough to live with a potentially vicious dog in your house with your children, there's not much I can say that will change your mind - usually until it's too late.

So I guess the moral of the story is that while you can't control other people's irresponsible behavior, if you decide to have a dog, learn all you can about how to teach them to cooperate and follow your lead. It could save their life.