"Leash" is not a Fighting Word!

Okay, so I’m reading this news story today about a 1-year-old who was mauled by a neighbor’s dogs (between 5 and 7 of them) as the boy was walking to his parents’ house from his grandparents’ house.

The whole dog owner debate is such a hot one and I hate to enter into it since dog owners can be so defensive about it.

Hear me out, here. I speak as someone who has a decent amount of experience in dog ownership.

We had many dogs throughout my childhood. Now that I think about it, we had quite a few, but none for very long. No, not all at the same time; my dad would “get rid” of a dog when he was tired of it for one reason or another, which usually meant he took it to a distant field and let it go free.

Fast-forward to my last year in high school, when my dad got this great dog. She was so smart. Not that the breed matters, but she was a Rottweiler-Shepherd mix that loved to play hide and seek with me, pull the squeakers out of her toys before playing fetch with them, and she was so full of affection.

I moved out and got my own dog….an Akita. When he was a year old and 70 pounds, the veterinarian said he was "the biggest lap-dog" he had ever seen. He apparently did not like to be alone, so when I’d get home from my classes on campus or from work, he’d have dug a new hole under the fence and was running through the neighborhood to play with the kids (he had been neutered, so I know it wasn't about neighborhood dogs in heat).

Once I found him I would try to catch him, telling people “Don’t run! He just wants to play, and I can’t catch him if he’s chasing you.” I admit, I was overly confident in my dog’s ability to reason like a human. He was being a dog, whatever that meant at that moment for him, and it wasn't his fault.

That was very irresponsible of me. I didn’t realize how terrifying it must have been to see a 70-pound Akita running through neighborhood around kids riding their bikes or playing ball. They didn’t know my dog was a big softie. More importantly, I failed to recognize the possibility that he could actually hurt somebody.

I took action: I lay cement under my fence so he couldn’t dig out anymore. And he didn’t. I lay the cement for the wrong reason, though: I simply didn’t want him to get hit by a car. I still hadn’t realized my neighbors' feelings of safety were more important. I eventually gave him away so he could have a bigger yard to run in.

Well, a few years later I started having children. Although my husband had been her favorite person for three years and I had been her buddy for five, my dad’s Rottweiler-Shepherd mix (then 85 pounds) began to show a side of her I never expected: she was very, very unpredictable and would sometimes snap at our kids’ faces. Our two young children were maybe too unsteady on their feet yet, maybe too clumsy or loved hugging her too much (she loved hugs!), or maybe she was jealous. Yet, when we were in the swimming pool, she would jump in and swim around us to make sure we all -- including the kids -- were safe. These extremes in her behavior became concerning to me, and my eyes were opened: dogs will be dogs, and our young children do not have a fighting chance against her if she suddenly turns on them.

Animals have always been very special to me. A pet owner can best demonstrate love for the animal by being a responsible pet owner. Responsible pet ownership benefits everyone: the owners, the pets, and the people they encounter. Why would anybody have a problem with that?