Man’s best friend…

I’m not really a dog lover, I much prefer cats, and one of the reasons for this is pretty basic; dogs scare me a little, in fact the big ones scare me a lot. There I’ve admitted it. I am more than a little nervous around dogs and will cross the street to avoid even the friendliest of mongrels. It isn’t a phobia and I’m sure that I’ve never been bitten by a dog - chased, barked at, worried by, snapped at; but never bitten.

I think my mistrust is probably instinctive. Strange dogs are just that and, as I’ve never owned a dog of my own, I’ve never bonded with one. Of course I pretend to enjoy all that jumping up and licking that some of my friends dogs insist on doing, but really I hate it. It’s all a little too much for me and I’m always aware that behind that licking tongue is a set of very sharp teeth and a powerfully determined jaw. Well, they don’t call ‘never giving in’ dogged for nothing.

Man didn’t domesticate the dog to be a pet. Dogs were trained to be our weapons and by trained I mean we took their natural killing instinct and by force used it to our own benefit. We had dogs to protect us and help us kill things, not to do tricks and wear cute little coats. Corgis, Terriers, Dachshunds, Jack Russells, all so friendly, all trained to kill for man. Just why do you think so many garden gates carry the legend ‘Beware of the dog’?

Of course some breeds are more dangerous than others, Dobermans, Alsatians, Pit Bulls, to name a few. But even the purely decorative Pekingese was originally bred to catch rabbits for their Buddhist monk owners, and those cute Mexican Chihuahuas were used by the Toltecs to keep the rats down.

With the recent spate of dogs killing babies, children, and even young adults it seems that no matter how they appear dogs remain true to themselves. Their instinct is to hunt and, where they are able, to hunt in packs. They aren’t doing anything wrong in their doggy eyes, they are just being dogs. Sometimes I think that it’s very easy to forget that if we didn’t feed our pet dogs, they would turn on us as food to survive.

It’s easy to be wise after the event, terrible to spend your life regretting. If you have a dog, any dog, and a baby or toddler I think that you should keep them apart. Dogs and babies are great and most go together just fine. But sometimes they really don't and it isn't worth taking the chance.

Always remember that dogs bite. It's what they have teeth for.