It’s not dogs but their owners who should be held responsible for mauling incidents, dog trainers said Tuesday, responding to public outcry after several reported dog attacks in recent weeks.
Dog trainer Fabian Blackman, owner of Shireoaks Kennels which breeds and trains German Shepherds, also blamed a dog culture of lax dog handling, resistance to dog training and the absence of enforcement of laws requiring the leashing of dogs in public.
Blackman, who has over ten years experience in training a variety of dog breeds, said the public instinct would be to ban certain breeds of dogs, including German Shepherds, Akitas and Rottweilers. But he insisted the fault for the attacks remains at the feet of owners who often refuse to seek out the necessary training for the animals.
“We don’t really have a culture where people like to train their dogs,” Blackman told Barbados TODAY. “They don’t want to undertake formal training with the dog even if the dog becomes problematic.
“The thing is, it’s not for the lack of trainers; there are at least ten professional dog trainers in Barbados who actually go to persons’ homes, and in every vet office there is a list of these dog trainers, so you can call any vet and say: ‘Hey I need a dog trainer, can you help me?’ And they will provide you with several numbers for dog trainers out there.”
Blackman referred to one incident at the Botanical Gardens in which “irresponsible owners” continued to demonstrate a lack of awareness of the best procedures for allowing their dogs to roam freely in public areas.
He said: “People generally take their dogs to the Botanical Gardens to walk. The issue, obviously, is that it’s a wide, open area, and dogs should never be off-leash. We need more stringent leash laws in Barbados, especially for a place like the Botanical Gardens, where because it’s so vast, people have picnics [and] other events. There are going to be loads of kids, loads of stimuli for the dog, so to have a dog off-leash, I think, is really irresponsible. That … goes back to irresponsible dog ownership and irresponsible dog handling.
“The other issue that you are having is that persons don’t socialise their dogs, so they don’t take their dogs into public spaces and they don’t sensitise their dogs to various stimuli around. They don’t adequately secure their dogs in their home. If you have a dog, let’s say a Rottweiler, and you have a [small] fence, that dog can scale that fence or jump that fence if they want to jump. So Barbadians need to properly secure their animals. I’m not saying you need to chain them up, but they need to properly secure their animals at their homes.”
Adrian Ward, president of the Barbados Working Dog Association, had similar comments, noting that regardless of whether or not a dog is well trained, owners must recognise that dogs must always be leashed when in public to avoid unwanted incidents.
“I believe that all dogs should be on leash, don’t care how trained they are. My dogs are super trained and when they go out in public, if we are not actually doing something where our dogs have to be off-leash, they are on leash. A dog has its own personality, its own mind, and the same way we can get up one morning feeling off, a dog can get up one morning and feel off and feel sick, and some person may come up to it and the dog just wants to be alone, but it can’t speak, and it can’t use its paws and say move away, so it uses its teeth.
“That then becomes serious because the dog is getting power out of that. So yes, I do believe that all dogs should be on leash in public areas.”
He also charged that certain dog breeds, including pitbulls, have received negative publicity because of these attacks, maintaining that the dogs were well known in dog training circles as gentle animals when raised correctly.
Ward said: “Pitbulls are one of the most loving dog breeds out there. Unfortunately, a lot of people, because they [pitbulls] were game dogs, trained them in the fighting area and this gives the dog a bad name. Then people call for bans. What we should do is ban the persons, not the dogs.”
Animal rights activist Gail Hunte added that pitbulls are typically “good with people but can, if trained to, fight other dogs”.
She added: “We have to be careful using the term ‘pitbull’ as in what type of dog we are referring to since it’s an umbrella term. We need to address the reasons behind dog attacks and not entertain dog bans. Instead, focus more on public safety, such as muzzles when walking a dog that can be reactive in an aggressive way. There’s always a solution to a problem if approached correctly.”
Trinidad and Tobago’s Dangerous Dogs Act categorises pitbull terriers as well as Fila Brasileiros and Japanese Tosas as dangerous dogs. The legislation also allows the Minister of Local Government to declare any other type of dog as dangerous.
In the United Kingdom, pitbull terriers have been banned for more than 30 years under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Also banned are the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro (Brazilian Mastiff).
In the United States, pitbull terriers are also subject to breeding restrictions and muzzle requirements in some communities but no outright state or federal bans.
