Lack Of Responsibility

[Sarah B]

I am annoyed.

 

Actually, to say I am annoyed is putting it mildy. I am fecking fuming.

 

 

I was sat in the pub the other day, and a bloke wandered in. Now he has two staffs - gorgeous dogs, only he roughhouses with them (not in a playing way)and frequently belts them. These two dogs dont always get on - they started fighting outside the pub and the bloke was kicking them to get them apart but as soon as they seperated he grabbed the dog who he thought was the aggressor and started punching the dog in the face and head. The dog turned round and attacked him, and got kicked and punched some more. The owner then wandered into the pub apologising for the noise but seemingly proud his dogs were behaving like this.

 

There is another person I know who has a huge mastiff cross. This dog is totally out of control, but when it nips and barges the owners laugh and say "Oh isn't he naughty".

 

Another person, who has a rottie x, lets his dog wander all over town off lead. This dog has learnt to stare at people to make them move out of his way. The dog has also bitten the owner.

 

There is a girl near us who has a collie puppy - she saw the pup and wanted him as he has blue eyes, and blue is her favourite colour, after pink. She has never had a dog before and she really wanted a chihuahua but they are too expensive.

 

The estate where I used to live, there were a gang of lads who always had a different staff each week - they kept on losing their dogs and 'couldn't be bothered' to go to the kennels to pick them up. So they just bought another one.

 

So, how long are these dogs going to last with their owners? How long before there is a dog attack in my area?

 

Why will people not bloody listen and realise that dogs are sentient beings, and not fashion accessories or a scale on which the size of you dick is measured against? These dogs feel happy, they feel sad, they feel pain. Yes they are just dogs. But they are just dogs! How can you explain to a dog that their owner no longer wants them, as they are too old/young/wrong colour/no longer interesting enough? That kills me every time I see it. Knowing that a dog knows its owner doesn't want it anymore is the worst feeling of despair. Do these people have no empathy towards their pets? Dogs are not just things. They live, breathe, dream about sex, take dumps, fart and eat just like the rest of us.

 

I have a dream. I am asked by Discovery or the BBC to do a documentary on my most passionate subject. Dogs. I show the importance of socialisation and training. I show that staffs are 'nanny dogs'. I show what wonderful couch potatos greyhounds are. I show how much rescue dogs have to give. I show puppy farmers. I show backyard breeders. The most difficult shot is holding a dog whilst they are PTS because there is no room and they are unwanted.

 

How the hell do you get through to people? When I was a kid (and I'm not that old) I used to walk my huge GSD on my own. There were few dog attacks, you never just wandered up to stroke a dog without asking first, people's dogs would play in the park nicely, there just wasn't the canine neurosis there seems to be today. Is this because we as a society are trying to humanise our dogs, trying to squash them into a hole in which they don't and can never fit?

 

It bothers me so much - I lose sleep over this. I can speak to people and people will listen to me. However whether thay take it on board is another matter entirely. I have FM, I walk with a stick. I am disabled therefore I must be a bit special in the head too (OK I can be, I admit I have memory loss and fumble my words. I also have discalcula although thats nothing to do with my FM). I have my own pet sitting and walking business, but it takes up very little of my time as I have just started out so don't have a huge customer base. I have been trying to get in as a volunteer or a work placement somewhere for ages through the Jobcentre - no-one is interested because of my FM. I have contacted all the groups represented on here and other forums offering my services, again no-one is interested. I have been on the forums for nearly ten years, so its not like I am some newcomer rushing in - I know it, have seen it and done it, yet no-one wants me. I guess that put me on a par with the dogs I so deperately want to help?

 

Feeling useless because I can do nothing, feeling uselss because of my FM, I have to think of something. But all I can think of are the dogs that are suffering through the ignorance of people.

[Ian]

To answer one of your questions no, I dodn't think some of those people do have any empathy with their pet, sorry.

 

I also think you may find such people difficult to ever change I'm afraid.

 

I was a little saddened by your post though, both for the dogs and for the fact that, whilst you may have FM (basically rheumatics?) etc, you appear to be very passionate about animals & it therefore seems a shame no one has taken up or at least shown an interest in your offers of help

Edited April 24, 2010 by Ian

[Sarah B]

It just seems that people with this attitude are becoming more and more common

 

FM (Fibromyalgia) causes chronic pain and fatigue, memory loss, digestive problems, problems with co-ordination including musclular spasms and a host of other wonderful symptoms that I won't bore you with. FM can be developed at any time, but it is usually after an illness. I just developed it over a few years. People who are always on the go are apparently more likely to get it then those who are less active. I find it really frustrating - people seem to see the disability, not the person

 

I am passionate about animals - my OH and I keep exotic invertebrates; we have both been on expeditions to find new species, he has found varies species of stick insect and has also had a species named after him. I have found a male of a species that only had the female described (it could be a new species but I don't think so - the type specimen is in either the Natural History Museum or the Museum of Vienna, we need to track it down to compare specimens).

 

But back to the dogs - I find it frustrating. Not a lot else I can say really. I want to help but am unable - I try and do my bit from home but find people won't listen.

[owl]

Seems to be that a proportion of us humans don't have much consciousness in the mental makeup. Yes, they can talk, drive, go to work, go on the internet etc but they are only pretty well doing what everyone else around them does. They haven't woken up. It's nothing to do with IQ, as people with learning difficulties often have great awareness. I don't know what the heck it is and I guess we have always been like that.

 

I do notice that people with a throwaway attitude towards companion animals often have the same view of their partners and children. They get bored or are disappointed with the one they have and just dispense with or ignore them and get another.

 

You would have thought we would as a race have got past rejecting people with disabilities, but we seem as bad as ever

[GoldenOldie]

When I lived in Lancashire on a relatively modern estate near a country park new families would move in, often young professionals with young children and within weeks would have acquired a status dog - not a bull breed but Weineramers, GSDs, labradors and collies, all working breeds requiring training and exercise.

The pups would be strutted round the estate by proud owners and walked in the fields at the back of the houses for a few months until they got bigger/dirtier/noisier and generally more demanding, at which point they disappeared, sometimes to be replaced by poodles, yorkies or bichons - what a message to give their children - pet owners of the future.

A young engineer from British Gas was at my home recently and made a fuss of my 4 dogs; he has 2 Vizlas. On the estate near his home a teenage lad has a young staffie which is never on a lead or muzzled and which is now adolescent and showing aggression to other dogs, egged on by his owner.

He has been spoken to and now sets his dog on cats, particularly those belonging to anyone who has challenged him. So far nothing can be done about him until something happens. What a world we live in.

[K9Fran]

White people used to treat Black People the same way, but a small section of society kept 'banging on' about it not being right, and eventually the majority of people realised it was wrong - we can only keep 'banging on' about animals...

[ranirottie]

Well said x

[suzeanna]

Only just seen this thread...I have to agree with the comment that people who are like this regarding dogs, are often the same re people. Basically their "empathy" wiring isn't connected, or something! They are the sort of people who will tell a child it's stupid, or ugly, without stopping to consider that their throwaway remark will stay with that child for years to come.

 

Oh...Ian...I have fibro too and I wish it was just rheumatics! Imagine how your legs feel if you've done a ten mile uphill walk. Then imagine that your legs feel just like that when you've only gone for a ten minute walk on the flat. Arms and shoulders that feel as if you've been working out with weights that are too heavy, when all you've done is lift a kettle. Add arthritis to the mix and what you get is about as far from rheumatics as a heavy cold is from malaria. You have my sympathy, Sarah.

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

. I have been trying to get in as a volunteer or a work placement somewhere for ages through the Jobcentre - no-one is interested because of my FM. I have contacted all the groups represented on here and other forums offering my services, again no-one is interested. I have been on the forums for nearly ten years, so its not like I am some newcomer rushing in - I know it, have seen it and done it, yet no-one wants me. I guess that put me on a par with the dogs I so deperately want to help?

 

Feeling useless because I can do nothing, feeling uselss because of my FM, I have to think of something. But all I can think of are the dogs that are suffering through the ignorance of people.

 

 

Dogstar would be delighted if you wanted to volunteer with us , although our field work is in another country we have loads of vital volunteer work in the UK from fundraising and internet promotion to writing positive ownership leaflets and care sheets ( that we translate ) for owners and Monks etc and leaflets for children on bite prevention

 

please drop me an email if you are interested [email protected]