Cracker: Flashback
424 Responses
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take all the unregistered dogs & destroy them (or at the very least desex them). Police the owners who habitually have unregistered dogs. Confiscate all recidivist wandering dogs & fine the owners. destroy the dog if it is unregistered
Enforcement is the key I think. God, my dog is registered, well socialised (with humans and other dogs), lives in the house with a large fenced backyard, is taken every night to a dog offleash exercise park where she runs around with her mates for a good couple of hours.........jesus, I even have a bloody dog owners' licence. I'm not unusual - all of my dog's friends and their owners are the same as me and mine. And yet. And yet dog control persist in showing up in the car park of the dog park, looking to fine people with dogs off the leash who are going from the car to the entry to the park which is about 10-30 feet away. They've even fined people in an area of the park where it is off leash. What the bloody hell are these people doing? Why aren't they picking up all the stray bitey dogs? This really, really riles me up.
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I've never seen a dog control officer police leash or registrations in Wellington, and I've walked dogs a lot there.
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Jackie - that sounds pretty scandalous.
Why aren't they picking up all the stray bitey dogs?
Very good question. Fortunately, the Wgtn City Council animal control chief is very approachable & sympathetic to the plight of the responsible dog owner. That said:
I've never seen a dog control officer police leash or registrations in Wellington
About once every 5 years it seems, the Botanic Gardens staff complain to the council that there is a lof ot dog poo in the gardens (last time I'd noticed it myself, mostly near the Glen & Upland Rd entrances, and mostly during the weekends when visitors come).
The dog rangers then descend morning & night on the Magpie Lawn area where (mostly) responsible dog owners (illegally) run their dogs & pick up all the poo after them.
To be fair, I know of only two people pinged, lots warned, but not the people who don't pick up after their pets.
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Well obviously, Ben, you live in lovely Wellington which is a very reasonable place. I, however, live in Auckland, which is not a reasonable place, and which consists of four city councils, all with different dog laws.
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Sue,
the simple answer to all this is replace all dogs with kittens. when did you ever hear of a kitten killing someone?
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Errrrm me ? The last time I had a severe seizure it was because a neighbours act had climbed in through a window at night and taken a liking to the end of my duvet.
Speaking as someone who is chronically allergic to dogs and cats, if society could learn to do without both I'd be delighted. ;o)
I should point out that I regard some (not all) pet owners in the same way as smokers. That is to say I challenge pet owners rights to force their pets into shared public spaces.
I'm not sure how seriously I feel about this issue perhaps I should leave before I get ranty and Troll like.
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Shall we try cat rather than act...did press preview but for some reason this browser is picky about the scripts it implements properly. Though more often than not problem does lay between keyboard and chair.
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That is to say I challenge pet owners rights to force their pets into shared public spaces.
And that is quite fair enough. Hence there are (very few in Wellington) dedicated dog exercise areas & if not, then dog owners (in particular) have to be considerate to the dogless (keep them on leads, contained within our properties,and pick up the dog poo etc etc). We're our own worst enemy sometimes.
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And now we have a poster dog
Interesting & good to see that the Sth Taranaki District council plan a zero tolerance policy on unregistered dogs (compulsory desexing).
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I should point out that I regard some (not all) pet owners in the same way as smokers.
Yeah, although (as a smoker, and pet owner) there is evidence to show that pets are actually beneficial to those with them.
But I agree. As much as I'd hate to live in a world without pets - which I think would be a far poorer place - when your animal is in the world at large, it's your responsibility to ensure it doesn't f*** with anyone else's rights, whether that be the right to have your face unmolested or your shoes unsoiled.
Having said that, I've got no idea where my cat shits.
Interesting & good to see that the Sth Taranaki District council plan a zero tolerance policy on unregistered dogs
I'm sceptical about such claims. Laws put out a similar press release in Wanganui earlier this year, then allowed the owners of an unregistered dog that had severely (like, dozens and dozens of stitches) attacked a woman to keep their dog, and didn't even fine them for never having registered it!
Not long after the dog's owner (President of the Wanganui RSA) was made a founding Ambassador of Wanganui. Talk about mixed messages. Although arguably being an Ambassador of Wanganui is punishment enough...
I did a story on it for Close Up, focusing on the council's seeming unwillingness to apply the 'zero tolerance' approach to these particular owners.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/981371
I must've done something right, because the next day Laws issued a press release accusing me of 'shoddy journalism'...
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a press release accusing me of 'shoddy journalism'...
RESULT! I'd be pretty proud of that.
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But with out the mass-media beat-up we'd nevr get those When Animals Attack TV specials (remember when TV specials were actually special).
And lest we forget: the Summer of the Shark
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Aha, I always remember one of those When Animals Go Berko programmes, the narrator saying with regard to a guy who got mauled by a lion:
"However he realises he was just in the wrong place... at the wrong time."
It's a farking lion attack! What other conclusion could you arrive at? The Zebras had put out a hit on him? Given the lion's history of psychotic episodes, he should've known the restraining order wouldn't be sufficient protection?
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[deep breath, reminder to self not to rant]
Strong feelings on this one, partly because I was a postie for two years; partly because I visited a family friend in one of the less-well-off parts of Manurewa last year and had to fight my way past three very menacing dogs. He's an old man in poor health and they have had some real problems with the local dogs. Local council doesn't seem to have been able to do very much about it.
Menacing uncontrolled dogs with the power to kill as a problem though is at its worst in areas where I suspect most bloggers don't normally go.
Enforcement is a big issue. I live on the edge of Wellington's town belt and a few months before the last big panic about this there I reported two rottweillers running around an area a lot of kids play in. They were strays - no people supervising them at all. I rang the council who said unless I knew where the dogs were from they would not send anyone out.
The next dog complaint I made, about a year later and after that 'dog attack summer' - there was a much more interested response.
So I don't have a problem with the media making a big issue of this. It has already had a big impact on how councils enforce the laws.
This is one of the jobs we have the media for.
Attitude of owners defintily a huge problem, and this is independent of registration or not. A lot have an animal owner version of 'my little johnny would never do that' when little johnny is a little horror.
I was assured by one dog owner in Lincoln Street her dog attacked me because "he's been under a lot of stress" I said "I suppose he had a fucking deprived childhood as well" which resulted in a complaint to the postmaster about my language.
At the same time: dogs who attack do not necessarily have bad owners. Firstly, good pets do go bad. I often wonder if its just a city thing: the problem dogs are large energetic animals and really should not be confined to a small sections in cities.
The other thing is packs. If even a normally well-behaved dog gets in a pack all bets are off.
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I often wonder if its just a city thing: the problem dogs are large energetic animals and really should not be confined to a small sections in cities.
Nah, it's not an urban/rural thing, it doesn't get reported all thqt much but there are still an awful lot of dog attacks on sheep & cattle happening around the country.
And some dog owners... "My little tiddles would never take a dump on the footpath, she always goes behind a bush."
Yeah right, and how would you know as Tiddles is off her lead & half a mile ahead of/behind you.
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Yeah, I know rural dogs go bad (I'm a farm boy origianally). But they tend to attack animals. Farm dogs seldom, in my experience, attack people.
But I do wonder whether keeping - for example - a large Alsatian on a small urban section isn't just asking for trouble.
And I actually like Alsatians, once I get to know them. I found, when I was a postie, that if the owner introduced me to the Alsatian, that dog would not usually worry about me delivering the mail. They'd usually keep a wary eye on me: there would be this 'Oh, well, the boss says you're ok, I suppose, but I'm watching you' attitude.
There was one section on the corner of Cowan St and a small side road which had two Rottweillers behind a high fence. They would always kick up a huge row when they heard the mail shoved in the box. One Saturday the owner was home and had left the gate open...they heard/smelt me coming across the middle of the crossroad and came barrelling out the gate in full fury.
You know that saying 'my bowels turned to water'? Not just a saying.
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Rob, I totally agree with what you're saying - all of which seems to be about enforcement of existing laws. It seems disgusting (and slightly surprising) that Dog Control wouldn't act to pick up stray dogs - especially stray Rotties running around kids.
And yes, this blogger does occasionally stray into such neighbourhoods - I have relatives in Conifer Grove where the boy was attacked, in fact I used to help my cousin deliver papers around there a couple of decades ago, and surprise surprise there were dangerous dogs roaming the streets then too.
So I don't have a problem with the media making a big issue of this. It has already had a big impact on how councils enforce the laws.
Yes, while it can be the role of media to highlight something with a view to influencing behaviour, I don't for one second believe that's why the Herald (et al) is reporting every single dog attack. It's a beat up, it serves their purpose in making it seem as though all of a sudden, dogs have started attacking all over the place.
I guess what I'm saying is that the Emperor has always had no clothes. He's still naked, we should definitely do something, but let's not pretend we're shocked by his sudden nudity.
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Damian,
Of course they're running with dogs as the cause of the week for their own reasons. I've long since stopped expecting pure motives from newspapers (or anyone else, pretty much)
Let's not forget what starteed this round of concern was someone got killed. And its 'raised awareness' of the issue. As it should have done.
If its a good outcome I don't care about the motives of the Herald On Sunday for running the stories.
It still won't make me buy that paper, mind you. I've given up on the Sundays.
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At (slightly) the other end of the scale, I thought it was most odd that the family of the woman who was killed in Murupara started off, according to the Herald, calling for the dog owners to take responsibility for their actions (I'd post the link but have no idea what I'm doing - the story is dated 23 April and titled "Family grief turns to anger over killer dogs") and then the following day the Herald reported that the family didn't want the owner prosecuted because "he is the family's nephew" (story is dated 24 April and titled "Relatives of dog victim don't want charges laid").
I would have thought that taking responsibility would have included being charged.
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here's the link
Family grief turns to anger over killer dogs -
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Strong feelings on this one, partly because I was a postie for two years
I am not a dog person. I had problems with a pack of dogs wandering (not wondering) at my place a few years back. It came to a head one day when there were five of them in my yard and they would not allow me to leave the house, bared teeth, growly tones, so I was trapped indoors for an hour or so till they left. Don't ask me why I felt it necessary to pull the curtains during all this! My imagination was rampant- my own Stephen King horror playing in my head. I was actually quite scared. I rang dog control and they came up and set up "cage trappy things"; the only dog caught was an adorable little dog from down the road, that I don't think would hurt a fly but however had wandered into my yard. I did feel rather guilty about that.
Funnily enough the dogs never came near my place again and no longer wander, I am not sure whether dog control had anything to do with this or not. I am just glad to see the back of them.Enforce the current laws I say!
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I would have thought that taking responsibility would have included being charged.
Not all the time. The family discovered who owned the dog when a relative showed up at the house with two large bags of watercress. The relative was invited in for a cup of tea, but declined. People have different ways of dealing with things within their families, then when dealing with strangers.
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Many thanks Riddley.
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People have different ways of dealing with things within their families, then when dealing with strangers.
That makes sense, and I can understand it/have seen it happen within my own family - but for some reason I'm just having a little trouble getting my head around it.
Different cultures have different ways of dealing with things too and perhaps that's where I'm struggling.
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