Bad Dogs or Bad Owners?

By Amy Fernandez

One of the few benefits to emerge from pandemic life has been the revival of dog/owner relationships.  Legions of lonely, bored and housebound humans suddenly rediscovered the pleasures of walking the dog. Man’s best friend has become the ideal alternative to overabundant family togetherness and general tedium. Zoom time or dog time…there is no comparison. As a consequence, regardless of weather or time of day, dog walkers have taken over the streets. From my perspective, it’s definitely been a mixed blessing.

Every day brings brand new hair-raising encounters with canine marauders attached to oblivious owners. The standard rationale of “he just wants to visit and say hello” is instantly contraindicated by one brief glance at the business end of the duo.  At this point, I have given up any attempt to calmly or politely redirect these dangerous situations. The owners become instantly offended while the yo-yo part of the deal continues bouncing out of control.

Then I came across this February 7 story in The Times. Susan Craig, a NYT reporter shared her recent horrific run in with a local canine renegade. She outlined a scenario that sounded almost scripted. Two friends walking their calm, well mannered, leashed dogs in a peaceful, rural setting. “For many dog owners, part of the allure of country life is wide open spaces where their pets can run free.” First off, I have to give her credit for admitting her newfound perception of canine reality. “I used to be one of these people. But over the years I learned the hard way the importance of a leash.” Craig’s article offered a blow-by-blow description of that newsworthy life lesson.

And if you want my personal useless theory, I attribute much of this belated wakeup to last year’s revival of human/canine quality time. Quarantine life has forced owners to reacquaint themselves with the realities of dog think. Unfortunately, most of it seems to be happening the hard way. Even so, this reckoning is long overdue. The real question is why should it need reviving, never mind learning it the hard way.

However, back in ancient pre-pandemic 9 to 5 times, busy owners routinely delegated daily canine management to dog walkers, puppy minders, day care centers, etc. Yes, it was convenient way to ensure that dogs received sufficient care and attention. Unfortunately, that convenience came with a big price tag, the resultant detachment made it very easy to accept a boatload of propagandized beliefs about dog behavior. Specifically, I’m referring to the ever popular song and dance about “no bad dogs, only bad owners” and the horrors of leashes and crates. Well guess what, those tools are here for a legitimate reason as Craig’s article confirmed.

Craig described a crime scene that I refer to as the moment they accidently grab the third rail. That’s when dog owners are abruptly confronted with the full force of canine menace thanks to their profound inability to interpret the canine signals that have been blaring like a fire alarm. In other words, they steadfastly refused to acknowledge a brewing problem until things have gone dangerously out of control.

So, this pair and their dogs were passing the house of a well known canine ruffian named Jasper. Craig admits that this dog’s reputation was common knowledge throughout the neighborhood. On this fateful day good old Jasper was on his porch scoping out his territory with that unmistakable staccato bark and predatory tail wag that should have told them what was coming. Even so, they opted to pass by him “as swiftly and softly as possible.” To put it plainly, Jasper was sitting on his porch with the canine equivalent of a loaded shotgun daring them to take one more step. They did.

“He shot off the porch and across the sprawling front yard as if launched out of a slingshot.”

They coulda, shoulda recognized the imminent threat. Unfortunately, mainstream ideas regarding dog behavior have become hopelessly refracted through an AR lens of misinformation. And that disconnect has made very easy to aid and abet canine crime sprees like this. Sounds harsh, but that is exactly how and why this stuff happens constantly.

And when it does, you can probably guess the next step…someone blindly sticks their hand into the middle of the fray, the proverbial third rail moment. I realize that I’m preaching to the choir here, but it is basic protocol to have a game plan to separate dogs just in case something happens, because human body parts never seem to work that well.

As Craig described it “I have encountered a few dogs like Jasper, the unsupervised ones that can turn vicious in an instant.” Technically, that’s not true. In contrast to sneaky, unreliable humans, dogs always state their agenda. The problem is that people have lost the ability to read these signals. Based on my personal experience of the last five minutes, I know for a fact that dogs can read us like a book. Nothing escapes their vigilant surveillance. On the other hand, too many owners have apparently lost the plot.

And that is mainly because they have many been lulled into a dangerous fantasy about how dogs think and operate. And like I said, the AR ideological push to humanize animals has done them no favors. As much as that idea may appeal to the pet loving public, dogs are NOT buying into it. The canine rule book has served them well since prehistory.

There was no question about how this particular dog saw things that day. In a split second, Jasper chose his target and clamped on, blood was flying and the collective human hysteria just ramped up the adrenaline. The thing is that when a dog gets into that zone, the situation is way past the point of peaceful negotiations. Screaming, crying, or hand-wringing only wastes time and energy. Dogs are impervious.  Which is why so many owners end up getting bitten by their own dogs when they try to intervene. Eventually, Jasper’s owners were roused from their house; he was forcefully extracted from the melee, and everyone adjourned to the hospital.

Craig’s article continued with the aftermath. “In the days after the attack, I heard from friends who felt that Jasper’s being a pit bull was to blame.” Predictably, she devoted plenty of ink to the merits of pit bull rehab. I’m going to skip the pit bull discussion because that particular aspect of Jasper’s genetic origin misses the point by a mile, that being the simple fact that dogs are dogs. Under the right (or wrong) circumstances, every dog has the potential to turn Cujo. And that metamorphosis doesn’t conform to any hackneyed human rulebook.

As you probably guessed, Jasper was impounded by Animal Control and ultimately put down. Afterwards, Craig received a teary email from his owners, describing how they had rescued him as a puppy and “he was a kind, loving pet, but not so with strangers and other dogs…” Jeezzz….what kind of a strange personality quirk is that?! A territorial, protective dog….yes, in real life that is how lots of dogs perceive the world, which is why sensible owners don’t permit them to prowl the neighborhood. Craig concluded her account by saying that she was devastated by the outcome. “It made me sad for everything that didn’t have to happen.” That depends on how you look at it. Dogs like that are bound to make trouble if they are not under control. So, Jasper was basically an accident waiting to happen.

However, if and when he happens to be out there looking for trouble, primed and ready to do damage and broadcasting his intentions loud and clear, it’s equally true that it’s wise to pay attention. Walking into that situation and expecting a different outcome defies logic. In that sense, Craig also bears some responsibility for the tragic result.

I agree that none of this needed to happen, mainly because dog owners need step up their game when it comes to interpreting canine signals. Territorial aggression is not an aberration. It’s actually a fairly common canine response that runs the gamut from mildly annoyed to what happened here. You might say for the sake of comparison that although all dog people are all crazy, a few of us really bat it out of the park.

Unlike humans, dogs do not blindly flip the switch into psycho mode. The Marine Corps could take lessons from dogs in that respect. They do not deviate from their rule book. Good or bad, that ingrained neurological roadmap dictates their behavior. It is very predictable, just pay attention. Maybe we need to start something like Defensive Driving lessons for dog walkers. Of course, that is exactly the kind of priceless advice that comes prepackaged with a carefully crafted purebred from a real dog breeder. Dedicated breeders spend generations cultivating proper temperament, training their puppies, and evaluating potential owners to ensure that their dogs never become weaponized through incompetent management. Here’s my favorite example. Typical dog show features maybe 2000 dogs in close quarters. How many dog fights? Zero. Typical neighborhood street maybe ten or twenty dogs maximum and there is always something unpleasant going on.

Maybe the message is starting to sink in that canine quality control starts at the beginning. Purebred strategies have resulted in hundreds of years of happy dogs and owners. Like Craig said, this collateral damage doesn’t need to happen.

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Posted by Liz on Aug 29 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.