Home Pets
Articles about the life of pets
№3

Why You Shouldn't Keep a Large Dog in the City

Big Dog

Drivingidea.ru LogoArrow For some time now, residents of apartment buildings have begun to have huge dogs.

A large dog's complete confidence in its
power superiority over a random passerby

Not only their neighbors in the house and yard, but also their relatives and friends who came to visit them, had to learn about this rather strange hobby, willy-nilly, and who, having waited for the elevator, suddenly discovered that not only people had arrived in it, but also, for example, a huge dog on long thin legs, with an elongated muzzle and an attentive look. Such a "pet" reaches the height of an adult's chest and therefore does not feel any awe in front of him, does not feel respect for him, and it is not at all a fact that it intends to observe any rules of good manners in relation to him.

Such a dog is not at all afraid of a stranger, understands well its superiority in strength over him and perfectly feels the fear that its very appearance causes - even if it is not fierce, but neutral or even friendly. At the same time, it is not at all necessary that the powerful jaws of such a "friend of man" will be covered with a muzzle - on the contrary, the owners, completely and utterly confident in the harmless nature of their "pets" the size of a calf, are most often complacently confident that "he does not bite", "he will only sniff you to get to know you", "he will never attack anyone in his life", "he is only so scary in appearance, but in fact he is kind", "he is as harmless as a teddy bear".

Alas, the cruel and gloomy reality every now and then refutes these misconceptions, and from time to time the press reports that toothy muscular dogs living in the city attack not only random passers-by, but also their owners right in their apartments and maim or kill them or children left at home, sometimes without any apparent reason.

Well, what can we say about sports enthusiasts living in megacities who jog around the park in the morning? It is quite possible that they suddenly felt a strange touch of something warm and wet on their hand, which was lowered in motion, or more precisely, the muzzle of a tall, strong dog, who in the heat of the chase did not pay attention to the strict orders of the owner walking him: “Heel!”, “Sit!”, “Lie down!”, and was much more obedient to the call of instinct, prompting them to begin pursuing the “two-legged prey” running away somewhere.

And, it should be noted that the amateur an early morning jog in the fresh air will again be very lucky if the "harmless" pet of one meter height that catches up with him is limited in the manifestation of its instincts by a muzzle. And the athlete's fate will be much worse if this saving device is not on the "pet" - for example, for the simple reason that its owner is firmly convinced that at six in the morning only he and the dog will go for a walk in the park and there will certainly not be any "moving targets" nearby that awaken its predatory nature.

Sometimes the owner, having noticed the attack in time, manages to call out to the animal and, if fate smiles on its potential victim, it will stop its attack. But it is also quite possible that the owner of the enraged dog will be drunk and therefore will either simply not pay attention to its enthusiastic pursuit of a person or, not realizing the consequences of what is happening, will simply not attach any importance to it.

Against this background, the opinion that the dog perfectly senses that its owner has had a little to drink looks especially alarming, and then, realizing the lack of proper control over its actions, begins to allow itself what under the supervision of a sober owner it would consider forbidden and unacceptable. A bull terrier is especially dangerous in the company of a drunk owner, who, like an infernal machine, is just waiting for an opportunity to release the ferocious nature poorly hidden in it.

That is why, once, walking along a country road and noticing a tipsy man walking towards me, who was being pulled forward by a long leash with great force by this terrifying creature, who showed genuine interest from afar and was clearly going to at least "sniff" me, as naive people imagine, but in reality, most likely, to sink his teeth into my leg, I asked the drunk dog handler to slow down a little, decisively turned around and went in the opposite direction, ultimately making an impressive detour, just to avoid meeting the creepy couple.

I must admit that the very drunk owner tried with all his might to hold the bull terrier, who was taut on the leash like a string, and even shouted the command: "Sit!" - but these measures had no effect on the dog, who was suddenly flushed with freedom of action. He showed such genuine interest in me that for another hundred meters after this extremely dangerous meeting, walking in the opposite direction, I was seriously afraid that the instantly wild toothy beast would nevertheless break free from the hands of the owner weakened by alcohol and rush after me in pursuit.

In his book "Man Meets Dog" Konrad Lorenz, an outstanding Austrian zoologist and zoopsychologist, one of the founders of ethology - the science of animal behavior, - winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, - in the 15th chapter, entitled "A Dog's Mood", describes in detail a beautiful summer day spent on the Danube with his favorite little chow chow Susie.

Despite all the affection she evokes in her owner, Susie manages to catch and eat one field mouse on the way to the river, tries to catch a wagtail on the other bank of the Danube, almost catches a huge musk rat, then tries to catch a frog and even makes a small swim for this, and on the way back in a mouse meadow she catches three fat voles in a row. Thus, almost all the time spent in the wild, the famous scientist's pet dog spent hunting, and four field mice became her victims.

In other words, even one trip of a medium-sized Chow Chow into the wild was enough to become a real disaster for it. It is not surprising, therefore, that much larger and more ferocious dogs, constantly living in the concrete jungle, suddenly feel the desire to hunt from time to time. And for the reason that cats, sparrows and pigeons do not always fall into their field of vision, and they behave, knowing well what to expect from dogs, rather cautiously, the object of the hunt, alas, becomes a person.

This means that you shouldn't keep a large dog in the city, which is dangerous for passers-by, and for the owner and his family, needs abundant food and, as it grows and gains strength, will feel less and less desire to obey all sorts of commands and prohibitions and will increasingly take power into its paws, and what is especially scary, teeth and jaws. Drivingidea.ru LogoArrow