Dogs have been in the news recently for undesirable reasons, namely an alarmingly high incidence of attacks on guide dogs and other assistance dogs by other dogs. Most people’s reaction to hearing this is likely to be something on the lines of, “That’s appalling! Something needs to be done to stop it!” Fair comment, but what exactly is to be done about it? Well, apparently about half of these attacks occur when the aggressor is actually on a lead. This would indicate that the human handler is either incapable of controlling the dog properly or simply doesn’t care. Assuming the latter category only accounts for a very small minority we are left with lack of training on the part of the handler and probably the dog as well and lack of experience maybe.
HM Government’s response, in common with authorities in other parts of the world, is to introduce new legislation with stronger sanctions against the dog owners involved. These are probably about the only sort of measures they can take, to be fair to them, but will they solve the problem? We know there are people, fortunately not many, who will take a sadistic delight in watching their aggressive dog attacking a defenceless guide dog and actually enjoy the distress being caused to its unfortunate blind or partially sighted companion. Few would have any regrets at seeing such people locked away!
For the benefit of the responsible and well intentioned majority we can’t really do much better than reproduce below the content of an advice leaflet produced by the Borough of Palmyra, New Jersey. Interestingly its existence tells us that these attacks are a growing problem, not only in the UK but Stateside too. That in turn indicates that it is happening wherever assistance dogs are employed. If anyone knows why the number of attacks should be increasing, let them share their knowledge!
Here is the leaflet. It is issued in the USA but is equally relevant everywhere.
http://boroughofpalmyra.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NJ_Awareness-Flyer_GuideDogProtection.pdf
