Yesterday my mum came to visit me and we ended up talking about millions of things over coffee, like mums and daughters should. Suddenly she told me some horrible news. My parents have a little house in a recreational park near the sea. Last week one of their neighbours came up to my mum and told her that the neighbours’ cat had been killed… by a dog… of one of the other park inhabitants….
You see, one of the park rules is that dogs must be leashed at all time. However, several people in the park seem to think that rule doesn’t apply to them. The neighbours’ cat (cats don’t have to be leashed and can walk around freely) must have been sleeping under the shrubbery near the house of the dog owner. One of his dogs suddenly felt its killer instinct, grabbed the cat by the leg with its teeth and started twirling it around. Think Watership Down but with a cat instead of sweet bunnies. Unfortunately the poor cat couldn’t be saved.
Today I sat on my own on the couch. A melancholic, ancient record of Paul McCartney was filling the air, while I was sipping a cup of tea. And I thought of that kitty again.
I wasn’t sure what pained me the most. Was it because I’m such a cat lover? Or that I don’t feel much love for dogs? Maybe the fact that this dog owner didn’t leash his dog although it was a regulation? Or the fact that he tried to deny what his dog had done when my parents’ neighbour rang his door to discuss what had happened?
In my experience this is rather typical dog owner behaviour. “My dog won’t do such a thing. My dog doesn’t even hurt a fly.” Well, apparently he does…
My mum also told me about an area near the sea where lots of sheep walk on the grassy dikes. No dogs are allowed there, with or without leash. Most dogs simply have an instinct to kill sheep and it’s better to be safe than sorry. But there are many people that take their dogs to walk there. My parents once said something about it, but (surprise, surprise) they got an aggressive sneer as reply.
It’s like some dog owners think: “That rule is for stupid people, but not for me. My dog is cute and cuddly.”
In Scandinavia, I learned during my most recent holiday, things are so different. The dogs over there are always leashed and their owners follow them around with small, black plastic bags to remove their poo from the pavement. I was there on a camping with dozens of dogs and none of them caused any trouble at all. How different things are in my home country…
Yes, maybe it isn’t typical behaviour for dog owners, but typical for Dutch dog owners. The Dutch have a way of thinking that the rules don’t apply to them anyway. They very much enjoy bending the rules. Or maybe they aren’t aware of the rules in the first place? It took me ages to find the rules concerning dogs that apply to my city, and I’m quite good in finding information. But even if they knew the rules, would they respect them? Most of them simply can’t imagine that their little fluffy member of the family could ever hurt somebody…
I must confess, I’m known for my cat-loving-dog-hating nature, so my opinion might be flawed heavily. I rang lover-of-all-animals Maia to get her opinion. We finally agreed on one very important thing: no matter if you have a cat, a dog or a child, you are always responsible for its behaviour. You should teach it how to behave and if you think it simply can’t and is a threat, then it shouldn’t be allowed outside without a leash and supervision. We lock people up for acting aggressively, but tend to think of animal aggression as instinct or natural behaviour. It isn’t. It all comes down to the right upbringing.
In the meantime the poor owner of the deceased cat has reported his neighbour to the police. The last thing hasn’t been said about it. Or maybe it has. At least he now has a message nailed to his house stating: “My cat has been lynched by a dog here. Please look after your baby / small child.”
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I can’t stand people who can’t take responsibility over their pets. Or their kids, for that matter. And I don’t think it has nothing to do with my dislike for dogs (which does not exist) or for children (which kind of is there). And there is absolutely nothing we can do about those people, except annoy the death out of them…
Left by Adorably Bitter on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008