Saturday, April 14, 2007

Saturday's Dog News

An 8-year-old boy was hospitalized in satisfactory condition Friday night after he was attacked and bitten repeatedly by a large dog while he walked to school with his two brothers. Police said DeVonta was attacked just before 8 a.m. after the Akita, which weighed about 140 pounds, got off its chain in a nearby yard.

Dogs should NOT be left unattended in the yard on a chain. It makes them hyper-territorial, being trapped in a specific location on home turf. It also allows them to learn to keep lunging at passerbys, which intensifies the motivation over time. Further, it makes the dog vulnerable to teasing by passersby, which would also increase the dog's motivation over time. Here is the result.

Horrified residents looked on helplessly as a snarling dog mauled a cat to death in a city street. Some people were so fearful that the dog might turn on them, or children who had been playing nearby, that they armed themselves with pieces of wood.

OK, a few thoughts.

Dogs kill cats. Watch Tom & Jerry and Sylvester cartoons sometime, and tell me what a lot of those episodes were about. We all know this... except today, when cartoons have become real life, and animals act like little politically correct beings in the stories. This dog shouldn't have been out roaming the town unsupervised.

I feel sorry for the cat. But, not the cat owner. Why would you allow your cat to roam the streets, to be killed by a car or dog? The cat owner should be found and fined.

And dogs that kill cats aren't necessarily going to be dangerous to people. Dogs are predators, and have been living with people for thousands of years, being used to kill rodents and other small animals, even bringing down big game for hunters. Then, the dogs were brought home and kept as pets. If a dog isn't raised with cats, then the dog is going to be more likely to kill cats. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

A driver on Kapa'a Quarry Road in Kailua was killed yesterday when he became distracted by a dog in his sport utility vehicle and collided with an oncoming tanker truck, officials said. Officials said a 64-year-old Kailua man was taking a dog to a veterinary appointment when he bent over to pick up the pet.

This is a good reason to a. TRAIN YOUR DOG; b. have the dog in a crate or seat belt when driving; c. pull over and deal with the dog instead of trying to manage the dog's behavior while going at traffic speeds. Why did this dog need to be picked up while the car was moving?

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