  
|
Gudrun Beck
The Guided Hate of a Nation
|
|
|
|
The Incident
It all began with the tragic death of a 6 year-old boy in the city of
Hamburg. He was mauled and killed by two so called "fighting- dogs" , which
had been attack-trained by their owners. At least one of these dogs has
already been known by the authorities and put under restraint to wear a
muzzle and be leashed in public at all times. However at the time of the
incident, the above mentioned dog was running lose accompanied by another
dog, similar in looks to the above mentioned one.
The accident was so horrible, that everybody was saddened and hurt by
learning about it. Immediately all hate was directed towards the guilty dogs
and they were judged as the only responsible party. People were overheard
saying things like, " Get rid of those monsters" , and naturally the media
immediately picked up on this fast developing mood an kept reporting about
more and more incidents involving dogs throughout the entire country. All in
a sudden every single dog-bite was grounds for yet another head-line in the
papers and newscasts. Reason enough for lots of citizens to begin getting
scared of dogs, and others to feel tremendous hatred towards man's best
friend.
|
|
|
The Government´s Reaction
The government and politicians felt pressured to (finally) protect their
citizens from such attacks, and of course saw an immediate chance to shine in
the political lime light by passing restricting laws against dogs and their
owners. One restriction and law after another was passed, and all parties
were in total unison about enforcing them.
Drafts of these laws have been neglected before for a long time, and now seem
to surface from the depth of some governmental drawer.
Obvioulsy, an incident like the one in Hamburg and the general uproar it
created was a welcomed chance to put these laws into effect.
Better yet - some of these laws were hastily put together and made official,
effective immediately. Whoever came up with these laws prooved themselves
totally incompetent, which becomes rather obvious, shouldone take a closer
look at the contents of those laws passed.
Out of the blue, different breeds of dogs were declared "fighting-dogs", and
there were breeds made up, that didn't even exist! (i.e. "Chinese Fighting
Dog", "Roman Attackdog" to name a few....) Now the question comes up as to
how to reinforce those laws - especially because so many people were suddenly
effected by them!
|
|
|
Get Rid of the Foreigners!!?
It's interesting to see, how many foreign dog breeds pop up on those lists.
Are they afraid of the lobbyists who call "Comissioner Rex" and St. Bernard
"Beethoven" their own?
Odd enough, St Bernard and Great Dane are not mentioned on "the list",
however, the much smaller Dogo Argentino and the Dogue de Bordeaux are listed
in the fighting-dog category as no. 1, as well as the American Staffordshire
Terrier and the Pitbull Terrier, whose headlines we all know oh-so well!
Did the remarkably strong Hootch play a role in all this? Don't we appreciate
the Dogo's ancestry? If that's the case, all terrier-breeds would have to be
put on the list!
|
|
|
The Denunciation
Just to add insult to insury, on top of the general attitude against dogs
brought on through politicians and media, there also were announcements by
housing-companies, asking people to denounce their neighbours, who own such
"fighting-dogs".
Government officials as well as police are organizing raids, which in itself
was a great success towards such denunciation. Big parts of the population
assist officials in "getting rid" of dogs. No one knows, that all
animal-shelters are overpopulated, and all seized dogs have to face death
through injection, and sad enough, many people wish for this to happen.
".....and right here lives a fanatic, crazy German Sheperd, but we can't do
anything about it, because he is not listed as a "fighting-dog", I overheard
two elderly women say to each other as they passed by my neighbour's garden.
The only thing to criticize about above mentioned dog is the fact that he
barks at strange dogs passing in front of him, while he is held on a leash.
Even our Collies had a "official visit" from authorities. One day later the
news even made it to my mother's church knitting-group, that we had a visit
by authorities regarding the dogs and they probably will have to be put to
sleep. Of course that was not the case, because our dogs are kept under the
utmost best conditions. Besides, authorities would probably have made a
different decision rather than putting them to sleep. Thank God it hasn't
come that far yet! How could my decent and christian neighbours even think of
a thing like that? My dogs are not at fault. They were brought up to love
people, and are only under certain circumstances allowed to bark around the
house and garden. Just the fact they exist ist too much for some people to
bear.
|
|
|
Aggressive Doghaters in the Streets and in Public Parks
Fact is, dogowners have become welcome victims of fellow men and groups who
are out, looking for trouble. Children and families owning pitbulls get
attacked by individuals, throwing rocks at them until they have to be taken
to the emergency-room having suffered serious injuries. Retirees attack
dogowners with their crutches, when they find dogs tied up to trees for the
duration of a discussion, and adolescents try to be as challenging and
provocative as possible. The war begins!
|
|
|
Whatever Happened to Interior Safety
Conclusion: Do I need a gun in order to walk my dog? Or, do I have to wait
until my big, tall and strong other half finds the time to escort me? I
guess, WOMAN better stay home in the kitchen instead of braving the great
outdoors? I shall never forget the headline in a Bochum Newspaper a few years
back, which told about a young woman walking along a lake with her baby in a
stroller, who got attacked, sexually assaulted and killed. That wouldn't have
happened, if she would have been accompanied by a big dog! As long as there
isn't enough law-enforcement to protect us, we are forced to protect
ourselves somehow, right? 'But how? They can't undo the wrong that happened
to one person, by making everybody else suffer. Those enforcements which were
supposed be so great for our well-being and security achieved exactly the
opposite:
War in the streets, people who hate dogs against people who love them and all
animals. Neither force and aggression against dogowners, nor treats spiked
with rasor blades laying around in the parks are in the interest of politics
- or at least , so I hope...And bye the way - those abandonded
"fighting-dogs" in the streets don't really add to public safety either.
|
|
|
The Dog - a Weapon of Self-Defense?
There have been situations, when I felt well-protected being surrounded by my
dog/s. There have been women like me, who have felt protected by their dogs,
mostly whilst being attacked by male aggressors.
I am afraid for my dogs these days - I hope we will never be in a situation
where , God forbid, they would have to use their teeth in self-defense.
Especially, if there are no witnesses, or only the opposition provides
"their" respective witness. In cases like that, it will be extremely
difficult to prove that the dog has acted in self-defense.
I am sure I do not have to go into detail what will happen to a dog, once
he/she has bitten a person.
On the other hand, I have to admit that every method that's good enough for
defense, can also be misused for the offense a.k.a. attack. Therefore, there
will still be criminals who continue to feel strong with their aggressive
dogs behind them, and they will not hesitate one moment to put those live
weapons to use.
In those cases, laws should be enforced and the punishment for those
criminals should be severe - it should be treated just like any other capital
offense!
|
|
|
The Dog-Owner's Mind
And still - a dog, even a big one, is so much more than just a "weapon for
self-defense": I don't insist in saying that all dog owners one time or
another had bad experiences with OTHER HUMANS, however I can say, that the
joy of unconditional love, honesty,joy of life, the daily routine and
sensitivity of my four-legged friends helps me a great deal to overcome
depressed moods and personal lows. The dog as a family member can help to
eliminate loneliness, depression and heartproblems and help greatly in the
healing-process.
Many families see in their dog the best friend for their children and the
elderly.
|
|
|
How About Integration of Dogs Instead of Banning and Prosecution?
One would expect a smart politician to take steps towards integration of
dogs, rather than supporting the press in driving the issue to the point of
mass-hysteria.
Humans have been living with dogs for more than 14,000 years, if not for
300,000 years. That makes our fourlegged friends an important part of our
cultural heritage and not just some bothersome little hobby of some chosen
few.
It can hardly be the intentions of modern politics to make dog-owners get in
their cars to take their animals to deserted places for a walk. Just picture
what that does to the environment -- all the pollution caused by added
emissions.
In addition to the damage done to the environment, picture the lack of proper
socialization of dogs, who never get a chance to meet "strangers" and
therefore never get to learn to consider them a normal occurrence of everyday
life.
Due to these facts, incidents of dog-bites can surely become a fact of daily
life.
It's scary how many people don't know how to act when confronted by a dog,
and therefore send out the wrong signals to the animal, which of course will
react accordingly.
To prevent accidents caused by canines, we should not only prosecute the
criminals, we also should encourage education in kindergartens and schools
through teachers. They should have demonstrations and have discussions about
"how to behave around an animal/dog" as a part of their curriculum, and make
children understand about establishing positive contact with the animal.
Children do have to understand that a person, who does not show fear will
most likely be left alone by an aggressive acting canine.
I don't want to deny the fact, that most accidents that involve dogs are not
ALWAYS the owner's fault, unless of course the dog has been tortured and
actively driven into aggression. Still, even in such a case one will have to
question those owners who obviously missed to supervise their dogs.
|
|
|
Dog Ownership - Will It Be a Hobby For The Wealthy?
Now that dog-owners have become more and more dependent on using their own
backyards to enable their dogs to play and run, and now that they have to
take out their cars to find places where they can enjoy exercising their
dogs, the question arises, if in the future dogs will be the privileged
possession of the rich.
The "social tasks" dogs fulfill for the majority of not-so rich people will
have to be taken over by professionals like doctors and therapists. It will
be quite expensive and is also a sign of lesser quality of life for persons
involved, as proven through conduction of a survey amongst some nursing home
facilities. Even those facilities promote the keeping of animals for
health/therapy reasons!
On the other hand we see the often badly sozialiced dog some wealthy people
call their own, compared to the dog next-door, which is exposed to many
different things throughout the day. Some privileged chose to use their dogs
as some sort of "lawn-ornament" beause of it's beauty and fail to provide
adequate living-conditions and proper keep.
An estranged dog, who sees himself as the alpha-animal has potential to
easily turn into a danger to public life!
|
|
|
Is There Hope for Getting Life Back to Normal
Suddenly there was the news about the next soccer-world championship being
held in Germany!
Oh what joy after the defeats at the European Championship. Happy faces
everywhere and that's all the media talked about and nothing else.
The morning after, while I was out training my dogs to pull their cart,
everyone I met in the street seemed to be in a friendly mood. Easy going
elders who are interested in striking up a converstion about my strong
harness dogs - then there are a class of school-children and their teachers,
politely getting out of my way as I am approaching, and smiling old ladies at
the bus-station. Is it true? The war hasn't started yet? Did the mood of the
German people turn for the better? I sure hope so! Quick, let's get the
latest anti-dog "Stern" magazine, which of course includes a recipe on how to
prepare dog-meat, and then hopefully it's back to different headlines in the
news. Did it finally dawn on the politicians of the FDP (Free Democratic
Party) that it's the dog-owners of Westphalia who could help them get the
votes they were missing during the last election, where they lost against the
Green Party? Their suggestions for an alternative legislation regarding the
"dog-laws" sound promising - I'd say let's wait and see, better yet, let's
get involved and help make them come true, provided we get permission to
interfere!
I doubt that another political mishap will be seen as permissable by most
dog-owners, and they won't forget about it that easily, even though the last
elections are barely history.
After all, we are forced to live with those permanent restrictions that have
been put upon us and our dogs - leash-law and muzzling of our dogs just to
name a few.
There are also voices to be heard demanding a "dog-handling license" to track
down potentially dangerous dog-owners and to try to put an end to them being
a danger to the public.
All of this is not really a new subject which was brought up just now. What's
new is, that all in a sudden authorities seem to be very quick in passing
policies/laws and also, it's astonishing how judgemental they have become
about something they don't know much about.
|
|
|
Conclusion: It Is Possible to Influence Hate and It Can Be Driven in Any Direction Desired.
It is a terrorizing thought how an entire nation can be pushed into this
hysteria and how a minority is willing to act out their frustration and their
hatred. They don't hesitate to use matters of legal or illegal powers, that of
course depending on the mindset of the participant.
In cases like these all the hatred centralized towards our canines and their
owners.
Verordnungen und Mitteilungen der Länder:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hallo Hundefreunde,
sicher hat Euch in der letzten Zeit auch das Thema "neue Hundeverordnungen"
beschäftigt. Wir haben für Euch einiges zusammenstellt. Links neben dem
eigentlichen Beitrag
seht Ihr Querverweise zu passenden Beiträgen, die ins Forum geschrieben wurden. Die
Auswahl ist relativ zufällig getroffen. Es könnten sehr viel mehr Links dort
stehen. Unter dem Beitrag
erreicht Ihr die neuen Verordnungen, offizielle Stellungnahmen und
Pressemeldungen.
In unserem nächsten Magazinbeitrag würden wir gerne von Initiativen
berichten, die etwas
gegen die Hundeverordnungen bzw. deren Folgen tun. Wir bitten um Eure
Mithilfe!
Ihr könnt uns Infos über entsprechende Aktivitäten an redaktion@hunde.com
schicken.
Wir möchten die Initiativen bekannter machen und auf diesem Wege
unterstützen.
Vielen Dank im Voraus für Eure Hilfe!
Gudrun Beck,
Redaktion www.Hunde.com
|
|
|
