Three people were bitten earlier this week, when a Doberman Cross got loose and ran around the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Cranston, June 24.
The incident came 10 days after a young Chestermere boy was bit in the face by his family pet, prompting his parents to have the dog euthanized on June 14.
Stories like this are not uncommon. We hear about dogs attacking people all the time, be it a provoked attack or not.
What is infuriating about it is that most of these cases would be entirely preventable if more people made responsible pet ownership a priority.
There are a great number of people in the world who take the task of owning and training a dog seriously and dedicate much of their time and energy to do so.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who get a dog simply because they are bored or they want a cute puppy to play with for a couple of months. These people need to remember that puppies grow up, and when they’re no longer cute, they’re still your responsibility.
I personally think that if you are not settled in a home (that you own, not rent, and preferably with a large yard), and are not able to dedicate a great deal of time to training, exercising, socializing and altogether caring for your dog every day, you shouldn’t have one.
Furthermore, don’t get a huge dog when you live in a tiny apartment, townhouse or bungalow in a high-density urban neighbourhood.
If you do choose to get a dog and are not a homemaker or someone who works from home, don’t leave your dog outside all day while you’re at work. It’s inconsiderate to your neighbours, and you’re just begging for your dog to develop bad behaviours, hop the fence or dig a hole and run rampant around the neighbourhood.
The majority of my friends who have dogs - and actually care about ensuring they are well behaved - put the dog in a kennel in the house or an outdoor dog run during the day.
Doing this greatly decreases the likelihood that the dog will get loose and you’ll end up having to pick it up from the pound or apologize to someone it attacked.
These two recent incidents also bother me because they paint all muscle dog breeds such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, pit bulls, boxers or mastiffs with the same brush.
I have met more “bad” shepherds, terriers, spaniels and other medium and small breeds than I have “bully breeds”. A dog’s temperament and behaviour rely heavily on the owner.
My friends and family members who own large dogs are very attentive and diligent with their pets. One of my cousins has two boxers - one male and one female - who are two of the gentlest, sweetest, most harmless dogs I have ever met. When I was growing up, friends of my parents had several Rottweilers, all of which were so well behaved that my parents were comfortable letting their six-year-old daughter run around the farm with the dogs, unsupervised.
Never once have I been harmed by any of the large dogs I have known.
However, my own Shih Tzu-Bichon Frise bit me in the face when I was a child (I was bothering him while he was eating), and all of the other negative interactions I have had were with lapdogs such as Maltese, Cocker Spaniels, terriers or mutts.
The only thing I can see remedying these two issues is people simply taking better care of their pets. It’s not hard, but it is important.
You don’t have the right to assume responsibility for the life of any creature if you are not fully committed, and you don’t have the right to endanger other people with your negligence.
