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My Dog Teaches … “What If …”
 Recently, police shot and killed an
American bulldog and her puppy while they were roaming the
streets in Mississauga. Unfortunately, such incidents are not
that uncommon, although they aren’t generally widely reported in
the press.
The reactions to these shootings are perhaps somewhat
predictable. On one hand, the police maintain that the dogs were
acting aggressively and were killed for the safety of the
children in the area. Some public are outraged at what they
perceive to be unnecessary use of deadly force by the police.
Others blame the dogs’ owners and claim that they were
irresponsible for letting their dogs roam the streets.
I don’t have any further information than what has been reported
and therefore can’t comment on the specifics of this case.
However, I can comment on some general factors that may have
contributed to the deaths of these two dogs.
The case is now under investigation, but I fear that what will
be lost in the details is the general paranoia that has been
stirred up within the public, and even within the police, about
the “dangerousness” of dogs. There appears to be a general fear
of Man’s Best Friend that just didn’t exist when I was a kid. It
seems that a dog running loose is now considered to be in the
same category as a jungle cat escaped from the zoo.
Significant blame for this fearful attitude can be attributed to
Breed Specific Legislation such as that introduced in Ontario in
2005, for the simple reason that
it forwards the idea that some dogs are inherently and naturally
dangerous. Yet the fact that in many parts of the world, even
wild dogs share the streets quite comfortably with humans
demonstrates the falsity of this assumption.
In fact, a dog off leash is much less inclined to be aggressive
than one that is unable to flee from danger. It is the tethered
dog that cannot get away from a real or perceived threat that
may react aggressively out of fear.
As our society becomes more urbanized and interacts less with
animals, we lose our ability to understand their behaviors and
read their body language. Supporting this is the fact that there
are wildly conflicting reports of the behavior of the dogs in
the Mississauga incident – some witnesses say the dogs were
threatening, some that they were just wandering in the streets
and others that they were trying to get away from the police. I
have no doubt that the police involved felt that the dogs were
being aggressive, but I also believe that it is much more likely
that they misinterpreted the dogs’ actions.
Let’s look at it from the dogs’ point of view. With complete
strangers trying to capture them, I’m sure the dogs thought that
the police were the ones being the aggressors. Just as we
street-proof our children to beware of strangers, so would the
dogs instinctively try to avoid capture by unknown assailants.
In such a scenario, it is not hard to imagine the dogs
communicating the desire to be left alone in the only way they
can – by giving a warning growl or snarl. And in the final
analysis, the dogs’ wariness of the police proved to be based on
real and legitimate fears when police bullets took their lives.
Undoubtedly, the investigation will conclude that, while it was
regrettable that two family pets had to be killed, the police
were acting in the best interests of protecting the public.
“What if the dogs had attacked a child?”
“What if we had been sued for not taking action?” “What if ...
?”
And while it is always easy enough to criticize dog owners for
being irresponsible when their dogs wander uncontrolled into the
public, oversight and accidents do occur. (In this case, the
dogs apparently escaped from their yard by crawling under the
fence.) When such things do happen, owners shouldn’t have to
fear that their pets will be shot dead.
Life presents challenges and it is
sometimes necessary to harm
something for the greater good. But when we end up destroying
based only on “What if ... ?”, we can lose all sense of reality;
irrational fears can then lead us into irrational actions.
Previous "Petitorial"
articles by David McKague:
Editor’s note:
I would like to encourage dog lovers everywhere
to start a PETITION to have this law thrown out or revised to such
a form where justice prevails. SFR.
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