Fri 25th March: A sunny weekend ahead

Tai Po volunteers out last month

I kept thinking it was Saturday today because I had a day off, and now I'm going to be working on Saturday so that's even more confusing.  Easter Sunday is Whiskers N Paws day of course, and as I'm typing this the sun is out and the dogs as excited about it as I am.

Nattie is one of the dogs you can meet at Tamar Park on Saturday

It's good news for the Tai Po dogs too, as there are a few group volunteer outings planned for the Easter holiday period, as well as the now-regular "PAWsome Outreach" Saturday playtimes at the Tamar Park.  We've had lots of ex-HKDR dogs visiting since these Saturday afternoon outings started, and although I only get to see the photos rather than the dogs themselves, it's still lovely to know that they're happy and doing well in their respective homes.

Fans and followers of dog trainer Victoria Stilwell (Positively.com) will have read that she was bitten the other day by a K-9 police dog during a training exercise.  After the initial flurry of inaccurate reporting, Victoria herself has posted a factual account of what really happened, including the fact that she was simply an observer and was not involved with the dog or the training at all.  In this case the dog was simply doing what he had been trained to do and mistakenly thought that Victoria was there as the target.  I hope I am right in thinking that nothing bad has happened to the dog.

My own experience of being badly attacked was also a situation when I was not interacting with the dog, and in fact had my back turned to him when he sunk his teeth deeply into my hip.  That first bite was followed by several others until the dog could be pulled off (by his back legs) and pushed into his kennel.  The dog was subsequently put to sleep as being far too dangerous to have around, and could certainly never be considered as suitable for homing.  It was a combination of breed and early life experiences that had made this poor animal behave in the way he did, but whatever caused it there was nowhere for him to go without putting other people at serious risk.

Likewise the Jack Russell terrier that I wrote about recently, the one whose owner had taken to AFCD to surrender because of his unpredictable biting.  Again, this was almost certainly due to the fact that the dog was rarely taken outside of his home, and the pent-up energy and frustration over six years was too much for the dog to be able to handle.   When behaviour like that has become part of a dog's normal life and is so established, it is very hard to change.  Everything is possible, unless the problem is an actual brain defect, something that is seen in breeds like cocker spaniels and even golden retrievers, but where do you keep a dog that is known to have such serious biting issues?  No responsible rescue organisation would re-home such a dog, so having it put to sleep is the only realistic option.

The cases of a genuinely dangerous dog, however, are very rare, although sadly too many are categorised as such and subsequently destroyed.  I have lost count of the number of puppies that were adopted as perfectly friendly little characters, and who have apparently turned into snarling monsters (my words).  I am tired of hearing about how the local mongrels are unpredictable and dangerous, when if compared to the inbred behaviour characteristics of many "pure" breeds the mixes are sweet and easy in comparison.  It's all down to how a dog is treated, trained and exercised.  If you think that yelling at a puppy is perfectly acceptable, then you must expect it to think that "yelling" back at you is also fine.  Smacking will be returned as biting, and so on.

Of all the dogs that I have had to have put to sleep over thirteen years for being too dangerous to re-home, or even keep at our Homing Centre where volunteers and staff would be at risk, these are the breeds: golden retriever, labrador, French bulldog, English bulldog, bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier (although that was for out-of-control aggression towards other dogs), cocker spaniel and one mongrel (which was a borderline case and the hardest decision of all).

Although, just like human children, every dog is born with its own personality, the way that individualism is moulded is up to the owners.  A puppy learns very quickly and those early experiences will result in a happy and eager-to-please adult, or a suspicious and defensive one. A dog's whole life is in your hands, so please handle with care.