The License To Bite
Dogs are given the job, the license if you will, to bite intruders or attack them if they persist on entering the property. It’s a common assumption that his main role in the household is to serve as a guard. He is used as an alarm system, and sometimes as a defense against intruders; that he is expected to defend his family no matter what. That’s how humans have come to define a dog’s loyalty.
Sadly, not all guard dogs have been trained in personal protection. Most of them are merely pets that were allowed by their owners to bite and bring down the “enemy”. But who are these enemies and intruders, anyway? Are they the neighborhood kids who constantly slip their hands inside your gate? Are they the uninvited people who didn’t give you the courtesy of asking your permission before they entered? Are they the stray dogs in your neighborhood?
What we need to understand is that not all intrusions are equivalent to criminal behavior. Not all intrusive people have bad intentions. They may have just forgotten to knock or ring the doorbell. Perhaps, they didn’t expect that there’s a dog patrolling the property. God forbid it’s just a kid who wants to get his ball back.
Only cold-hearted, hot-headed, and hostile individuals would say that the act of entering their property uninvited is immediately tantamount to illegal entry and therefore, deserve the punishment of getting bitten and mauled by their dogs. When have we become a society of vindictive dog owners? Why do we have little or no regard at all for the safety of other people and other animals that enter our property? When has it become okay to use our pet dogs to bite naughty kids and ill-mannered people?
I’m not in any way excusing those people’s lack of manners. All I’m saying is that there is a difference between criminal intruders and intrusive people. The difference lies in the presence or absence of a threat. So for me, intruders only include entities who pose a threat to my life and limb. Neighborhood kids are not a threat, neither are intrusive people and non-aggressive stray dogs. They are simply rude, undisciplined, and annoying at best. We don’t need our dogs to defend us against offenses that only violate decorum. It doesn’t mean our dogs should harm them when they cross the line. Such situations can easily be dealt with diplomacy.
When we leave it up to the dog’s discretion, he will consider everybody who enters the property without permission as a threat that needs to be neutralized. You’ll then have a guard dog that attacks unnecessarily. In The Truth about Self-Defense, nationally-recognized expert on security and use-of-force Massad F. Ayoob makes these useful distinctions:
WATCHDOGS are mobile, four-footed burglar alarms. They bark insistently and steadily when an entry is attempted, and go to the entry point to pinpoint it for you as they yap.
PROTECTION DOGS are animals with advanced obedience training. On your command, they will bark and lunge at an aggressor, snapping at him without actually biting him. Also upon your command, they will immediately sit or lie and fall silent. Their training is oriented strictly toward a deterrent show of force; if your attacker persists, the animal will have to fall back on its natural protective instinct and bite him. A properly trained protection dog will also perform all the functions of a watchdog.
ATTACK DOGS have been trained to sink their teeth into people on their master’s command, or when they observe their master under assault. Once resistance from the suspect ceases, a true attack dog will let go of him. It will do the same on command, no matter how excitement-charged the atmosphere, if it has been properly trained and selected. Normally, the dog will only bite if given the proper command, or if the animal sees its owner or a family member under attack. The attack dog is at the maximum level of obedience training. After the master has ordered it to put a suspect on point, the dog can be called back, and even ordered to “make friends.” It feels no personal animosity toward the person it is ordered to attack; it is a canine technician, doing a job on the orders of its human boss.
GUARD DOGS represent the deadliest level of canine training. These animals either walk with a sentry, or patrol alone in an enclosed space. Their function is to apprehend and neutralize any human intruder. They do not stop biting when the suspect stops resisting; they stop only when the human stops MOVING. They are likely to be trained to go for the throat or genitals. Guard dogs are trained to kill and maim. A guard dog is so vicious that it will usually obey only a single handler. The only legitimate use of a guard dog is in wartime, or when guarding an area so sensitive that human intrusion could result in awesome public danger, such as a nuclear weapons facility.
You see, even dogs that were trained for personal protection have specific classifications and job descriptions. They are disciplined and well-trained. Their handlers are in control. And most importantly, they are used for defense, NOT offense. If someone is not a direct threat to you or your family members, your pet dog should not be allowed to bite and attack unnecessarily. As dog owners, we must not compromise the safety of our community. We should learn how to deal with annoying people properly without having to send our dogs to attack them. A pet dog that is allowed to attack unnecessarily for the purpose of “protecting” one’s property is not a demonstration of his loyalty. Rather, it’s a sign that his owners are untrained and unfit to own a dog.
ABOUT LESTRE ZAPANTA (LZ)
WITH 38,000+ FANS REACHED BY THE PINOY DOG WHISPERER FACEBOOK PAGE, LZ HAS BECOME AN OPINION LEADER IN THE PHILIPPINE DOG-OWNING COMMUNITY. HE REGULARLY CONDUCTS “TRAINING FOR DOG OWNERS” AND HAS BEEN INVITED ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO DO HIS DOG WORKSHOPS. HIS GOALS ARE TO OFFER A NEW PERSPECTIVE ABOUT DOGS, TO REDEFINE THE MEANING OF RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERSHIP, AND TO HELP DOGS OWNERS TO SUCCESSFULLY CONTROL AND CORRECT THEIR DOG’S BAD BEHAVIORS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LESTRE ZAPANTA, VISIT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LESTREZAPANTA.
LESTRE ZAPANTA 