DanL
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- Joined
- Oct 15, 2005
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The thread about Mocha and the neighbor sparked some thoughts about how we as a forum react to different posts. Many posters here seem to have a double standard when it comes to owner responsibility. Like, if the dog is loose and someone hurts it because they are a jackass, we have to give lots of hugs and sympathy, and gloss over the root cause of the issue. If more than one person brings it up then we are harrassing the poster. But if someone lets their dog get pregnant by a stray, people jump all over them for being irresponsible, and keep beating them down until the thread is locked. If someone lets their dog run loose in their neighborhood and the dog gets killed by a car, they get jumped on as irresponsible. If someone has their dog outside unsupervised, and a roaming "dangerous" breed attacks it, we have to have sympathy, and ignore the root cause of the problem. Yes, we can say fine, the owner is remorseful that it happened so let it go, but that happens on an inconsistent basis depending on the circumstance. We can say I'm really sorry that your dog got hurt, but this is absolutely your fault it happened, and maybe by having more than 1 person tell them this, the seriousness of the situation will sink in and it won't happen again. It's not meant to harrass the person, but to heighten the awareness for EVERYONE as to what the consequences are if you don't act responsibly with your dog.
Let me make a hypothetical example.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm working on my car, so I can't watch him every second. A neighbor walks by, and my GSD bites him.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm still working on the car. He runs over to my neighbors house. My neighbor hates me so he hits my dog with a hammer because the dog came in his yard.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm working on the car as usual. He runs to greet a friendly neighbor, and gets hit by a car as he crosses the street.
In all of these examples, who's fault is it for what happens with my GSD? MINE, and mine alone. I can be remorseful that it happened but that doesn't change the fact that I have given my dog too much freedom or unsupervised outdoor time. Whether the injury to the dog is inflicted by a person with ill will, a car, or the dog inflicts injury to someone else or another animal, the bottom line is it is ALWAYS the owner's responsibility to prevent their dog from being in ANY circumstance where he might get hurt, or hurt something else.
When we stop looking at the logic of this, and rely on our emotions, we end up with threads that end up with bad feelings amongst our fellow forumites. We should all be together here- we are all here for the same reason, we love our dogs. So speaking bluntly about subjects such as this should be accepted among all of us.
Let me make a hypothetical example.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm working on my car, so I can't watch him every second. A neighbor walks by, and my GSD bites him.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm still working on the car. He runs over to my neighbors house. My neighbor hates me so he hits my dog with a hammer because the dog came in his yard.
My GSD is out in my front yard. I'm working on the car as usual. He runs to greet a friendly neighbor, and gets hit by a car as he crosses the street.
In all of these examples, who's fault is it for what happens with my GSD? MINE, and mine alone. I can be remorseful that it happened but that doesn't change the fact that I have given my dog too much freedom or unsupervised outdoor time. Whether the injury to the dog is inflicted by a person with ill will, a car, or the dog inflicts injury to someone else or another animal, the bottom line is it is ALWAYS the owner's responsibility to prevent their dog from being in ANY circumstance where he might get hurt, or hurt something else.
When we stop looking at the logic of this, and rely on our emotions, we end up with threads that end up with bad feelings amongst our fellow forumites. We should all be together here- we are all here for the same reason, we love our dogs. So speaking bluntly about subjects such as this should be accepted among all of us.
