STAR BLOGGERS

Reports of dog attacks and irresponsible dog owners have hit the newspapers once again – why does this problem never go away?

I was invited to write this blog because 65 of Singapore’s 55,220 dogs (that’s 0.12% to be precise) were involved in dog attacks in 2009. The media has now latched onto this and Singaporeans are up in arms. Make no mistake – I think 65 dog attacks is something we need to look into. But let’s not sensationalise the issue or perpetuate a senseless witch hunt.

Several people have written to the press, calling for stricter dog laws and harsher penalties against errant dog owners. Some have advocated targeting specific breeds such as the Rottweiler, Doberman, German Shepherd – the so called “dangerous breeds”! In my view, there is little sense in this approach since the statistics show that the smaller, “gentler” and “milder” breeds are just as likely to be responsible for such attacks.

So what do we do?

In my experience, dog attacks occur for two reasons: poorly trained dogs and poorly trained owners. Harsher penalties address neither of these causes – education does.

We should mandatorily educate all current and potential dog owners on their legal and social responsibilities. They should all be made to attend a comprehensive course (online perhaps?) to educate them on key issues of responsible dog ownership. They should complete this course before they are allowed to license their dog and would then have little excuse for ignoring their responsibilities.

We should also require all dogs to be obedience trained. Dogs must then undergo a nationally administered basic obedience test with their owners, to prove that both owner and dog are a competent team. There is no sense in training the dog if the owner is incompetent to handle it. Educating dogs and their owners must go hand in hand.

As a volunteer dog trainer for the last 12 years, I have seen my fair share of problem dogs and irresponsible owners. Almost every time someone walks into our Club with an aggressive, uncontrollable or a “problem” dog, we inevitably found that the owner simply never understood how to handle his dog properly. If both he and his dog were properly educated, there would be no “problem” dog to speak of.

There is little doubt that a problem exists – a serious one. The statistics show that the traditional approach of increasing penalties, and targeting specific breeds of dogs has not worked well for us. Quite simply, this is because the problem lies more with the owners than the dogs. Unless and until we force dog owners to understand their responsibilities and to behave responsibly, the problem is not going to go away.

I say resist the traditional knee jerk “we’ll fine, jail and cane you” approach and give compulsory education a chance. You may not get results overnight but the eventual returns will be well worth the investment.

Kabir Singh is president & director of training at the German Shepherd Dog Club of Singapore.