THOUGHTLESS DOG OWNERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 77

THOUGHTLESS DOG OWNERS.

Many people who are really kindhearted in most things are very apt to be thoughtless where domestic animals are concerned (observes an English writer). Dogs, perhaps, suffer more than any other creatures. Not everyone who keeps his dog constantly on the chain realises what misery such treatment entails. Nothing is better calculated to make a dog savage than this. He becomes a mass of nerves and irritation, and then one day bites somebody and is probably beaten for it. It is his unthinking owner who would better deserve the chastisement. Thousands of dogs are done to death in thiscountry every year through tjio neglect of their owners to provide them with suitable kennels. Dogs, puppies especially, which are kept in damp, dark, and dirty or draughty quarters are almost certain to contract distemper, which if not fatal almost invariably leaves behind it paralysis or some other ailment from which the unhappy creature may suffer for the rest of its life. Dogs are not long-lived animals, but the lives of many are shortened considerably ty the thoughtlessness of their owners—or in other words, by mistaken kindness. One form of this is the giving of quantities F meat, which is bad for any dog, but especially for those which do not take plenty of vigorous exercise. Overfeeding shortens a dog’s life, and no dog that is as fat as a pig can get the best of its brief existence. There are many dogs which never see a good-sized tone such as is needed to keep the teeth clean and in good order. Want of thought may occasionally take the form of actual cruelty. Only the other day I saw an Irish terrier being “taken for a run” bv its owner, who, with the inevitable flapper up behind, was riding his motor cycle. The girl called to the dog to “come on,” although the poor little beast was already straining every nerve to keep pace with Ihe machine. To ask a dog, as in this case, to do twenty miles an hour or more is sheer brutality, and ought to be forbidden by law.