‘All dogs should be on leashes’

THE fatal attack of a dog at a Sunningdale park last week has prompted heated debates on responsibilities of pet owners. It has also however, divided opinions on what should be done to prevent these types of incidents in future. Last week Northglen News spoke to Murray Staats, who lost his dachshund, Izzy to an attack by two dogs that were off their leashes.

Staats and his wife, Molly, were deeply traumatised by the ordeal and at the time urged pet owners to take more responsibility for their dogs by keeping them on leash.

Pam Naudé, a dog behaviourist and trainer, recently spoke to the paper saying these types of incidents were occurring more frequently. The Glen Anil resident added no matter how well trained a dog was, it should always be on a leash in public spaces.

“I wasn’t shocked by the incident, I was sad for the owners of the dogs. My feeling is that dogs should be on leashes in public spaces at all times, that’s the law. The argument that your dog is highly trained does not work. Even if your dog has perfect recall and you can control their every move from 100 feet away, you can’t control the world around them. I think the responsible thing to do is to keep your dog close to you.

“The leash is there to protect your dog from the world as much as it’s there to protect the world from your dog, it allows you to control the situation. Some people see this as a punishment, it s not. Bad things are simply more likely to happen if your dog is running loose. I also feel size doesn’t matter, whether the dog is small or big, they should be on leashes,” she said.