Guard Dogs
10 February 2009Guard dogs are a subject that I’m not sure I even want to write about, but as this site is meant for all aspects of man’s best friend, then it should get an airing. The last post Dog Toys, was more for dogs and their toys and the fun side of owning a dog, whereas this post will be a little more serious.
Guard dogs are mostly kept by people to guard property. Dogs make perfect sentinels in this respect because of their natural pack instinct to guard the members of the pack and also the den when one of the females has pups. When they become a member of the human pack, that instinct carries over to guarding the family house as well as guarding the family. In that situation, almost any dog can be thought of as a guard dog.
As long as a dog can bark loudly and cause a commotion should a would be intruder come calling, he will have done his job and seen them off. Of course the family pet doubles as family member and also intruder deterrent, so they are generally not seen as out and out guard dogs as such.
People’s general view of a guard dog is a large mean and tough dog, such as a Rottweiler, Doberman or German Shepherd sitting chained up in a builder’s yard or scrap metal yard which is capable of scaring off an intruder. These dogs live a completely different life to the family pet. While they have some human companionship during working hours, they are left alone at night. For dog, which is a social animal, this is a very sad and lonely existence, which is why I’m not happy writing about it.
When you take that miserable existence that a guard dog may face in a country like the UK, Australia or the US for example, its bad enough. But when you take a country like Spain where the general population does not view dogs in quite the same light as we do, the role of a guard dog is a horrible existence and one which angers me in the extreme. Dogs are often left alone without adequate shelter for days on end and often die young of leishmanosis, which is a common disease spread by a tiny mosquito that only affects dogs and is fatal unless expensive treatment is administered by a vet. The chances of catching this disease can be reduced by not allowing a dog out after dusk, as the mosquito does not fly during theday.
Dogs left to guard a property are exposed to this threat simply because they do not have shelter.
Ok, now I’m getting angry at a people who are ignorant when it comes to looking after animals. They’re humanitarian record in this respect is not good – the country still loves to watch a bull being slowly tortured to death by sadistic so-called bull fighters (more like cowardly tormentors) who don’t even get into the ring with the bull until it is considerably weakened by repeated stab wounds made by a small army of men on horseback. So you can imagine how they treat their dogs.
Even families with dogs are ignorant to the dangers and allow their dogs to walk unleashed along the streets, not seeming to care that their pet might easily run underneath a car. My own next door neighbour, who is an intelligent man (he’s a top heart surgeon) opens his door in the morning and lets his Spaniel take itself for a walk. Try telling him to put the dog on a leash and you get the typical Spanish shrug as if to say “what do you expect me to do about it?” One day that dog is not going to come home and his two boys are going to be terribly upset.
What has any of this got to do with guard dogs?
Well, I suppose my experience of living here in Spain for several years has enabled me to observe people who keep dogs more for the guard dog element than for an actual pet. Not all Spanish people are as bad as this, of course. There are good and bad in all races and some truly love and care for their dogs. But still far too many do not and I see some unbelievably ignorant people keeping cold weather dogs like Huskys with their incredibly thick coats here in a place where the summer temperatures can reach 40ºc.
All to guard their homes and to show off to their envious neighbours, I shouldn’t doubt.
Bah, humbug! So much for an objective look at guard dogs. I think I’ll stick to writing fun posts about two crazy little Yorkies instead from now on!
Dog Toys
23 December 2008A nice way to follow my last post Dogs on the Beach, where my two little rascals had a great time on the sand, when they weren’t really supposed to, is to look at some great games you can play with your dogs and some of the dog toys that make a good dog game into a really great dog game!
Ok, we all know that dog toys come in a tremendous range and to cover even a small fraction of them in one post would be impossible, so I’m going to concentrate on just a few dog toys and see where it takes me.
I’ve already made a big mention about the popular Kong dog toys in an earlier post Kong toys for dogs, so no need to go back and re-visit these indestructible dog toys that are probably the best on the market.
So what does that leave us with in terms of looking at dog toys? Well, there are plenty of plush dog toys around that are really popular and are great for dogs to play with and make great dog games when you join in. The downside to plush dog toys is that they are certainly far from indestructible toys and will soon be demolished by your dog’s strong jaws and teeth. My two can usually shred their way through a plush dog toy in under an hour when they’re in the mood!
So that takes us on to something a little more robust in the dog toys market. Well, what about these great dog treats – rawhide bones and rawhide shapes for dogs! They perform a dual purpose for your dog by first giving him something fun to play with that he won’t destroy quite so quickly and it is good for your dog’s teeth. That’s because they’ll chew away at it for ages which cleans dogs teeth naturally.
It reminds me of a time when Chelsea, my German Shepherd dog was still quite young. She was around 9 months, so well out of the puppy stage and starting to gain that mature adult look, although she still wasn’t up to full size. My girlfriend (who had given me Chelsea as a birthday present) had bought her a pack of two of those rawhide shoes shaped chews to play with, which she found to be a great source of entertainment. She managed to demolish it pretty quickly with those strong developing teeth and jaws of hers, so we gave her another one to play with soon after the first.
Well, she soon obliterated that one too and that was it, as there were only two. We went to bed that night without giving it another thought. When we got up the next morning, my girlfriend was not too happy with her loving gift to me…
Chelsea had got hold of a pair of her best leather boots and chewed them to shreds in the night!
There’s a lesson to be learned when playing games with your dog and the dog toys that you give them. Make sure they don’t resemble items of your prized possessions,just in case your dog takes too much of a shine to them and when the toys is destroyed, they go on to the next item that they believe should be in their toy basket…
Dog behavior is not always all that difficult to figure out when you can see the obvious side to it! On that note, I’ll leave you until next time. Oh, and have a nice Christmas and I’ll see you on the other side!
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