Dog attacks.

Well, after requesting people reply to anything posted in this blog to determine if anyone actually reads it and nobody bothering which leads me to believe I am wasting my time posting anything this post may well be my last. Ever.

More rubbish coming out saying dogs attacking humans, particularly children, are on the rise.

When are people going to realise DOGS DO NOT ATTACK WITHOUT PROVOCATION. Dogs are primal animals and understand signals given my other animals including humans. If people react wrongly towards a dog IT WILL ATTACK. And that is the problem.

You cannot blame a dog for attacking if the human child gives that dog the wrong signal. Dogs work on instinct. Give the wrong signal to a dog and on instinct it will react accordingly. If the dog percieves the signal to be aggressive IT WILL ATTACK.

Dogs are not humans. They do not, and cannot, react at the higher instinctive levels we humans work off. They are instinctively agressive anmals. When are people going to realise it is the actions of humans that cause dog attacks not the dogs fault at all. Yes, it is the actions of humans that force the dog instinctively into aggressive mode.

Understanding how dogs instinctively work or react when faced with a given situation would help people understand why attacks happen. So, instead of legislating against dog owners they should give money to organisations to raise awareness in humans and especially children.

It is not rocket science. Understanding how dogs function and realising that children especially give off all the wrong signals will go a long way to stopping 99% of this so called dog attacks.

But then, we have a media set in this country that will hang off any possibly horror stories so while I as a dog trainer understand why these attacks happen I will not hold my breath in the hope that a proper set of training FOR HUMANS when faced with a canine.

Walking the dog.

Far be it from me to claim our nations youth was any better back in the 1970 when indeed I was a "yoof" myself, but I do know we did not intimidate disabled people or cripples as we termed them in those days. Everyone and everything else, yes, but disabled people no.

I am 47 years old. Throughout my body but more advanced around my spine I am inflicted with advanced osteoarthritis. Those of you who know me know that although I suffer terribly with pain, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, as the arthritis grows inside and outside of every bone in my body I do not moan or complain, preferring instead, as much as is possible, to just get on with life as best as I can on any given day. As I awake each morning I know from that moment on what I can and cannot do during that day. That does not stop me from attempting to do something I know I should not attempt however. Obviously as the day progresses my body starts saying to me enough is enough and starts to slow down. I manage to walk only with the aid of walking stick. Soon to be two I suspect as the arthritis grows and twists my bones. I do not walk well nor very far nor often, especially on my own, so it is with some delight my dog and I take this once a week long waddle together. At the behest of my wife, and to my chagrin, I take my mobile telephone "in case you get into difficulties". This is my only touch with the rest of the world. I must admit the walks with my dog are getting harder and harder but for as long as I can do it, I will do it and bugger the pain. Who enjoys it most, myself or the dog? Who knows. But I do know that my dog knows when the time to get ready for this excursion is approaching as he displays excitement and a sudden perchant to do everything his master tells him. Typical of a dog.

Buster, as we named our dog, is a 2 year 1 month (why that 1 month is mentioned rather than say just over 2 years old will be explained later) short haired Golden Labrador Retriever. A very powerful Drakeshead. He is, as anyone who trains, properly trains, these wonderful animals, knows is very good on command. But, and this is why his age was given as 2 years 1 month, he is at that age when Labradors seemingly forget almost everything they have been taught. He still does his extensive command set but he is relaxed about exactly when or what he will do when given a command. Thankfully this state of affairs only lasts for 3 months or so after which everything is back to normal. No-one knows why Labradors do this nor if it is forgetfulness or a backlash to being controlled but whatever the cause is they go through this 2 to 3 month period at around 2 years old.

So there we was. One man and his dog enjoying the slightly cold wind brushing against his face and making the hand on the stick turn white then blue. Listening to the wide variety of bird song around him. Where was I? I was out walking our lovely Golden Labrador dog down a little grassy area next to a children's playground where we live. This strip of grassy land is approx 20ft wide and 3/4 mile long. Fenced off from the playground and children's play area down one side and lined with heavy thicket the other side. It opens up, as it does, into a large open, long since abandoned by the farmer who in years past had probably lovingly tendered it, at least he would have until our government sold our farmers down the river. Now the E.U. pays them to leave land unattended. Via farm subsidies that pay farmers to leave good arable land to go to waste. Their loss is us dog owners gain.

It is an ideal area to let ones dog off its lead to do its thing without worrying if some member of the public, who is possibly a dog hater as well, will jump up and down with indignation due to the fact a dog is roaming loose. Not that it matters to that type of person but I, and I am teaching our children to be likewise, am a responsible dog owner who not only picks up his dogs poo but also ensured his dog fully understands and more importantly does recall. Well, does recall as good as one can reasonably expect, damn near flawless in fact in so much as 99.9 (recurring) times out of 100 he will come back to base on first call. The remaining 0.1 times on 2nd or 3rd. Recall is one command I have drilled into our dogs and while one can never be certain the dog will always come back on command I m reasonably certain that Buster will every time.

Towards the bottom end of this patch of land the thick thicket that lines one side tails off as the open field beckons beyond its end. It was there that an incident with some of todays youths happened. They were stood on the apex of where th thicket ends. My dog must of been obscured from view as they shouted obscenity after obscenity in my direction. "Crippled up old bastard" one shouted. "Waste of human space" shouted another. And so on. Unperturbed I carried on walking towards where these youths had positioned themselves. Actually, unless one turns around and goes back from whence he came, thereby showing these youths they had won, whatever it is they win, one has nowhere else to go but to go towards where had positioned themselves. Being once youthful myself I know they knew this. As I was approaching ever closer the youths changed tack. "Coming to sort us are ya!" One shouted. "That stick a secret sword?" inquired another. They where becoming increasingly more violent in tone and content the closer I got. As I got to within 2 or so yards of them I gave Buster his whistle. From approx 70 yards away he came bounding towards where I was stood waiting. If you have ever seen a fit 72lbs Drakeshead Labrador in full flight you will know what an imposing sight it is.

The looks on those youths faces as Buster came running at full tilt, barking that gruff excited bark as he does, was a delight to behold. Suddenly they had gone from a stance that can only be described as intimidatory to one of resignation that not only was this 'crippled old man' not scared of them but he had with him what one of the youths described as "a big fuck off dog." I was not about to tell them that this big dog was as soft as a soft thing from softland.

I smiled to myself all during the rest of our walk together.

Now when Buster and I go for this weekly romp these same youths, when there, play with Buster and treat me as one should treat their elders. With respect. In return they get respect from me and Buster who even though he is gong through the temperamental stage he is going through right now does some of the commands they give him.

My youngest child

My youngest child is at the time of writing 9 months old. He is a delightful little chap who is just discovering he can stand up aided by the settee or T.V. stand etc. He has been crawling now for about 1 month so trying to stand has come pretty quickly. We, that is my wife and I, think he will be walking proper before his first birthday.

He has slept throughout the night since he was 6 days old. He is always smiling and rarely cries. He can be a little demanding when his feeding times are due but otherwise he plods through life as only a child of that age can and does.

One of the things that is a joy to see is when he smiles back at our dogs. A dog is said to be smiling when its bottom jaw drops and the tongue lolls out. When our little bundle of joy sees either one of our dogs doing this he assumes they are really smiling and smiles back. He has taken a shine to our border collie but our Labrador is his guardian.

Nothing annoying in this blog post. It is just a blog from a proud father about his youngest child.

Dogs

As humans speak, dogs bark.

Dogs bark for all sorts of reasons. As a way to communicate with other dogs and their human handlers. As a way to signify their excitement. As a way of warning other humans not to get too close. As a way to signify to other humans that the dog does not like you. As a way of warning their handlers that something or someone is encroaching their on their space. As a way to communicate. They will bark out a greeting to other dogs. They bark out to ask
"Hello, is any other dog out there able to hear me?". They bark to
answer another dog barking that question. They bark as a way of
communicating with other dogs. In fact, dogs bark for a lot of things!

As an example. Our dogs are trained to sit at a family members feet and bark twice if they need to go outside. They are trained to sit at one of the family members feet and bark once if they want feeding. They are also trained to bring us their food bowls or water bowl if they want feeding or a drink etc etc. They are trained to whimper and bark for a wide variety of things so we know what they want.

The fact they bark, and the deeper that bark is the more other humans fear the sound, should be seen as a good thing as it gives their handlers time to act on whatever it is the dog is barking at or for. The bark also gives out a clear warning to would be intruders. The fact that a dog barks not only protects their handlers and families but also protects near neighbours as well. Plus of course their are the trained barks that help them communicate what it is they are wanting.

So, why do people hate a dog or dogs because they bark? It is no different to humans talking. Granted a dogs bark can be loud but so can a pensioners television that is on way too loud because their hearing is going.

The next time you think about moaning because a dog nearby is barking consider this. A dog cannot talk like us humans but they are intelligent and need to communicate so they bark.

So, don't look down your nose at the barking dog they are just trying to communicate with other dogs and with humans.

Neighbours

We, that is, my wife and 3 children plus myself, live down a closed off terrace that has 12 houses and a wide variety of age ranges and ethnicity amongst its residents. Of those residents only one complains about our two dogs (one a Golden Labrador the other a Border Collie).

Our two elder children are well liked amongst the residents. The youngest is only 4 and a half months old and has not yet revealed himself. We are, as a family, well liked and we in return like them all. We are a close knit little community who do almost nothing to affect others within it. Granted some of the younger set make a noise when returning from a night on the ale as do some of the older ones, but none of this is a bother to anyone else. Except one.

Our dogs, like all dogs, bark. Sometimes when playing, sometimes when they hear something unusual and sometimes at seemingly nothing. All dogs bark as humans talk.

This one resident that complains about our dogs admits he hates dogs of all kinds. That is fair enough but his complaints are to anyone and everyone which makes it sound as if our dogs are ill behaved which they are not. All they are doing is doing what comes naturally to them.

The other night both of our dogs started barking and running around. They where running to the back door and back to where we was sat. We let them out and found 3 young boys attempting to climb our neighbours wall (the naighbour that complains about the dogs no less) no doubt to attempt entry to his house. Of course as soon as the kids saw our Labrador (who is approximately 68lbs) they ran off. I highly doubt those kids who where not from anywhere around this area will try it again as our Golden Labrador at 68lbs is a big heavy dog with a deep rough bark to match. Our neighbour was out at the pub when this happened.

The following day I, and another neighbour, took great delight in telling him what had happened and how that if the dogs had not barked we would not have known those pesky kids was climbing his wall. His reply went something along these lines. "Thank you. I still hate dogs but will grudgingly admit that in this instance their nuisance barking was worth it." So, will you stop your complaining now? I asked. "I suppose so." he said.

Moral of the story? Well, there isn't one but he has stopped his complaining and even told the postie what had happened and said to him that if it had not been for those dogs no doubt I would of come home to a house with broken window and several things missing.

BTW, those kids, whoever they were, have not returned.

Dogs, especially big dogs are worth every peny they cost to keep alive.