OWNING A GUN
Originally posted May 2013
**Please note*** Since writing this blog I have relicensed to hunt, which you may have seen reflected in some of my other writing.
I am a gun owner. As a gun owner in Canada, I have to follow certain rules, and in fact, I follow even more rules than I am required to follow because I really want to make sure that I never ever allow my gun to fall into a situation where it might be used to commit a crime or to cause harm to someone. I got my gun when I was pursuing a hunting license in order to be able to hunt food for myself. Now that I no longer hunt, a good argument could be made that I no longer need a gun, but I might go back to hunting at some point and at that time, I would need a gun again, so in the meantime, I am a responsible gun owner who stores her gun in a manner that prevents people from getting the pieces, putting them together and firing the weapon.
Guns must be kept in a secure lockable containment system. Dogs with aggression issues must also be kept safely to keep everyone from harm, including the dog. Image credit: michaklootwijk / 123RF Stock Photo
My approach to gun ownership is very much like the approach I take to living with my dogs. John and I live with three dogs, all of whom in various ways could create havoc if they were improperly managed. D’fer, our oldest is not terrific with puppies. Preventing him from harming puppies is pretty straightforward. No matter how much your puppy wants to meet my adult dog, I don’t allow that to happen. I keep him crated, behind a fence or on a leash when a puppy is around and this keeps puppies safe. Would he harm a puppy? Probably. I don’t want to find out, so I will never give him the chance. This means that there are a very limited number of people who are permitted to handle D’fer. I don’t just leave him with a friend, because I don’t want to risk that they might mis-understand or put him into a situation where he might make a mistake. Deef is my responsibility, and I take that responsibility very seriously.
Eco, my German Shepherd was bred for protection work and I did a certain amount of that with him. Although he has met children, he doesn’t know them very well and he is over 45 kg. Without trying, Eco could easily harm a child, just by running and bumping into one. For this reason, Eco is not a dog park dog. He is not permitted to run loose in public because I don’t want to risk that a child or even a small adult might be hurt if he ran into them. Once again, there are a limited list of people I would leave Eco with because I don’t want to put anyone at risk. If I left Eco with someone who didn’t clearly understand the risks of handling him, and the boundaries we have to be aware of, then I would not be behaving responsibly towards my dog or the public.
Friday knows more about kids than Eco does and she likes puppies, but she is also a large dog at about 30kg, and she is young and sometimes foolish. She is a dog I could leave with some folks, but not with everyone. Not everyone is set up to deal with a young, goofy adolescent dog. She is a good girl, but she is creative, thoughtful, agile, and sometimes a little too much for your average person to deal with.
Most of the work that I do is with dogs with serious behaviour problems. Some of these dogs are extremely dangerous. I have worked with dogs who have mutilated people and killed other dogs. Some of these dogs will never ever be completely safe in public and yet they live safely in people’s homes. How does that work? On our uniform sleeves we have the motto “It Depends…” The answer to how does that work is “It depends”. It depends on the problem, it depends on where the owner lives with the dog, it depends on what risks there are in the lifestyle of the owner and so on and so forth. The bottom line when living with a dog who is dangerous in one way or another is risk analysis.
When working with dogs who are dangerous, it is important first and foremost to look at the physical premises and determine what would make the most sense when living with a dog with a problem. A dog who is predatory towards chickens should not be asked to live loose on a farm with hens. That would just not be safe for the hens and we would be exposing the hens to a significant avoidable risk. That same dog might well be perfectly safe and content living in a city in an apartment, where hens are extremely rare. I would not necessarily trust such a dog with a parrot however.
I frequently get calls from families who wish to add a dog to their home when the resident dog or cat either doesn’t like other dogs, or has caused a significant injury to another animal. I have helped many people make this work, but one of the first things to think about is “is this a good idea?” If it is not a good idea, then no matter how much the family might want to add another dog, that doesn’t change the fact that it is a bad idea. A lot can be done by using crates and gates with care, and avoiding the problem, but if you have a resident animal that doesn’t like other animals, is it actually a caring move to add another animal to the home? I would suggest it might not be a kind thing to do. This falls under the category of just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
When a dog is dangerous to the public at large, it is our responsibility to protect the public. There are tons of ways to keep people safe, and if your dog has ever caused harm to someone in public, be it a human or another dog, you must keep everyone safe at all times. I would like to make it cool for dogs to wear muzzles in public. If a muzzle will keep people safe, then why shouldn’t your dog wear one? Keeping large boisterous dogs on leash can help a lot too. Walking in places where other people don’t walk can really help a lot. And finally, choosing your time to walk is important too. I had a client who got up at three in the morning for four years to walk his dog because that was the one time that he could pretty much guarantee that his dog aggressive dog would not harm anyone else’s dog because other dogs just weren’t out at that time.
Owning a dog who has already caused harm to the public is a huge responsibility. It is as big a responsibility as owning a gun, but because this is a thinking and feeling gun, we often forget that the dog can cause an enormous amount of damage. Knowing how much damage a dog can do, and understanding that a dog is a thinking and feeling being requires a healthy dose of awareness, and compassion, without tipping yourself over into paranoia or soft heartedness. When you live with dogs like this, you have to be entirely and dispassionately rational about what your dog is able to cope with, and what he should not be exposed to. It is easy when you love a dog and you live with him to forget that he may have caused an incredible amount of damage, especially if you have not seen the action. It is equally possible to become overly protective and never allow your dog to live a normal life at all. The middle road can sometimes be difficult to find, and it can also sometimes be difficult to follow once you have found it.
The other issue to consider is that it is not only what YOU do with your dog but what others do too. Consider the situation where you have a dog who has seriously injured another dog in a dog park. Perhaps this happened when you weren’t with your dog. Perhaps this happened before your dog lived with you. If it happened at all, it is now your responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and this is where other people come into the equation. Perhaps you can take your dog to the dog park when no one is there. If you are able to see when other people show up, then you can leash up and leave. If you are unable to see people coming, then you cannot reasonably let your dog off leash to play. You cannot count on other people who don’t know your dog to take the kind of care that you do. Another alternative is to find dog friends who ARE safe with your dog and meet them together to keep his skills with other dogs fluent. All this falls apart though if you hand your dog over to a dog walker who doesn’t understand the risks. Or if someone comes to the park and as you are leashing up, unleashes their dog to come and molest your dog. When you cannot control who comes into contact with your dog, you really cannot take your dog into the situation.
One tragic incident happened to a client of mine many years ago. She knew her dog was not good with strangers, but it was her family’s year to host Christmas dinner. I suggested boarding her dog. Not keen on that idea, she chose instead to put her dog out in their outdoor kennel while her guests were there. An uncle, who had met the dog as a puppy decided he knew better than the owner and went out to the kennel and let the dog out. After playing with the dog for half an hour, he let the dog into the home, where she mauled one of the other guests. The owner appeared to be behaving responsibly, but she could not prevent her uncle from doing something that we knew would cause a problem. It isn’t always what the owner does, but what the people around the owner do that can cause havoc.
When you have guests, containing your dog at home may be a good idea if your dog has aggression issues, but often it is a better idea to send your dog to a professional boarding kennel where he can be safely cared for. Image credit: evdoha / 123RF Stock Photo
There are lots of dangerous dogs living in communities, and when everyone is brutally realistic without being paranoid or soft hearted, we can make it work. When you own a dog who might be dangerous, it is your responsibility and no one else’s to protect society from harm caused by your dog. As members of society, when an owner tells us that a dog is not friendly, you are not helping in any way by insisting that you know better. You don’t. You have no idea what the history of the dog you meet is and if the owner or handler tells you that the dog is not safe or not comfortable with being touched, then don’t press your luck; it is not worth it in any way. Staying safe when working with dogs is like owning a gun. You don’t leave it out where people who don’t understand it might have access, and you don’t leave it in a place where someone who might use it to commit a crime might find it. With dogs with behaviour problems proactive handling, preplanning and organizing a plan B so that you can avoid problems is just common sense. Kind of like living with a gun.