So many issues, so little time! This recent incident in Palo Alto (below) inspired a long overdue BR Blog and webpage on Dog Law
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A Palo Alto pit bull owner found herself in the headlines when her dog fatally injured a small dog during a routine on-leash walk. This tragedy played out in the media as a vicious pit bull attack on an innocent victim. The pit owner swears up and down that, although she called out several warnings to keep a distance, the small dog owner willingly, unwittingly, marched her tiny pet right within the reach of the offending dog, and right into a train wreck - so to speak.
While we’ll never really know exactly how/why this tragedy played out the way it did, many large dog owners are using the opportunity to confess: Poorly managed small dogs scare the crap out of us. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have shifted to a new society that thinks all dogs should be chummy with all other canines. The problem is, Mother Nature doesn’t agree. She’s written some pretty tough laws about predator/prey relationships, and try as we might to rebel against her motherly wisdom, she keeps reminding us that a dog is STILL a dog - That is, an animal with teeth and some 10,000 years of hardwired instincts; Hardly a small and saintly mini-human. Denial of this nuts and bolts reality has created a very untidy epidemic of dog owners who insist on rushed nose-to-nose greetings and forced kisses between pets that are strangers to each other, including the small dogs that look like prey and large dogs that might agree that they look like prey. Talk about setting our dogs up to fail!
At a recent Pet Fair, BAD RAP volunteers experienced a climate where forced dog-dog greets were the name of the game. Dozens of dog owners rushed their pets up to see the 'nice pit bulls' again and again. Thankfully, our demo dogs have been conditioned to calmly tolerate a certain amount of rude dog behavior, although even our most rock solid ambassadors were hard pressed when a Chihuahua owner unexpectedly thrust her tiny squirrel-imposter friend into their noses while cooing “Want to meet the doggies?” Praise be, our dogs were steady. But just imagine how the 6 o'clock news would've reported things if instinct had taken hold and our dogs had decided to accept the kind gift of the tiny animal sacrifice?
BAD RAP’s legal beagles have written an info page on Dog Owner Rights: What you need to know to stay out of trouble with your dog and what to do if trouble finds you. We need it. Bad.
Stay smart and enjoy your best bulls in peace.
