Today I was out on a walk with my sister and my dog. Alfie was behaving himself and we were having a lovely little stroll, when another dog appeared that Alfie ran off to greet. We're used to him running off to see other dogs, and he's learnt to come back when we call him, so we carried on walking as normal. However, Alfie and this other dog were having a right good sniff of each other, and wouldn't return. The other owner was shouting orders at his dog, and he sounded like an angry army commander or something the way he was snapping at his dog. It definitely wasn't a way that I'd talk to my dog.

But the most shocking thing was that when Alfie returned to us, and we were praising him for returning, he got his dog to sit then whipped its back with its lead.

I don't know what made this man think that he has the right to hit a dog, but it actually really upset me and disgusted me. Its in a dog's nature to run up to each other, and whenever dog owners act like my dog is badly behaved when he runs up to their dog, I have to laugh. All Alfie ever wants is to sniff at another dog, and he immediately comes back to us when he is called, so unless the dog is vicious, then I don't understand what the problem is. Alfie and this other dog were happily having a sniff at one another, neither growled, nor jumped up, so why this dog deserved to be beaten is beyond me.

It makes me worried about what that dog has to go home to, and it really upsets me that this won't have been the first nor the last time that it was beaten. Every dog deserves a good home, and beating a dog is not going to make it feel safe.

I really feel like a dog should never be shown violence, and by beating it, surely that encourages the dog to be have a violent nature too. We would never ever hit my dog, sure he is badly behaved, but we reprimand him by putting him on his lead, or he doesn't get his bone at the end of the walk and he learns not to do that again. Alfie knows the difference between play fighting and violence, and we have never had a problem with him being over vicious, and I believe that is because he has never been shown violence, and doesn't have a reason to resent us.

Not only do I think that it could encourage the aggressive behaviour in a dog, it could also do the opposite and make the dog a quivering mess. It could become so scared of its owner and the outside world, that it won't enjoy life. How is that fair for a dog? Why does it deserve that kind of life? I honestly don't understand how anyone could hurt an animal, they don't fully understand what we want them to do- they don't speak our language. Sure, you can teach a dog to react to certain commands, but I honestly think positive reinforcement is the best way to go. I know that there will be people out there that don't agree with me, but I have such a happy, loyal and well behaved dog and the thought of hitting him never crossed my mind.
It just angers me that some people think that they have that right to hit an animal just because they are bigger. Tables turned, and that dog could do much more damage, but chooses not to. Animals should be respected, and violence as a means of teaching that animal is not the way to go.

I realised that this post is a serious topic, and not a light hearted read like most of my posts have been so far, but what I saw really angered me today and I felt the need to post my views on the matter, because it provoked a lot of emotions in both me and my sister, and we had a deep discussion about it after we witnessed it.

Feel free to post your opinions on this matter, because I'm really interested to know what people think too.
As always, love and hugs,
Emily
xxx




Disclaimer, these are just my thoughts, and I haven't done research or what not, I just felt like writing on this, feel free to disagree. Also, I tried to lighten the mood a little with the picture (source http://www.elephantjournal.com/2009/03/dog-disciplineor-abuse/) but I do understand that this is a serious and important issue.