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Is it ok to own a dog

Is it OK ... to Own a Dog

Dominic Murphy’s guide to a good life

1    I grew up with dogs and loved    
 them. Like many households, we 
 gave them soppy names such as 
 Candy and Rupert. We shared 
 holidays with them and 
 sometimes they slept on our beds. 
 Then I moved to London and 
 began to hate the brutes – or so 
 I thought. 
2    My problem, in fact, was with 
 their owners – and the way they 
 indulged in antisocial habits 
 through their pooches. I’m not 
 just talking about fouling parks,7    There is some comfort for the
 pavements and other public animal rights lobby in new
 spaces. No, there are the legislation coming up. The new
 boneheads who keep vicious pets animal welfare bill in effect lowers
 as trophies. And don’t forget the the burden of proof of abuse of
 otherwise normal types who say, animals by including a welfare
 “Don’t worry, he won’t bite,” when offence. This will oblige animal
 their darling creature leaps on owners to keep their pets in a
 your two-year-old and slobbers in suitable environment and give
 his face. them an appropriate diet. It
3    The owning of a dog can affect means the police can threaten
 your sanity. How else to explain a prosecution as soon as they can
 weird new trend in dog-turd prove neglect.
 disposal where an owner will8    But there is still no barrier to
 scoop their poops into a carrier owning a dog, other than the fact
 bag, then throw them into a that it will cost you food and
 hedge? Eccentric? Barking, veterinary bills of around £1,000
 I reckon. a year and that it’s a big
4    Perhaps this kind of attitude responsibility. The dog licence
 makes doggy types oblivious to a was abolished in the 1980s and
 much bigger ethical problem – the there is little enthusiasm for
 suffering that many dogs (and bringing it back. You’ll still be
 cats) go through so that we can able to get a puppy from the litter
 keep them as pets. There are 6.5m next door, or the doggy in the
 dogs spread across 20% of UK window at the pet shop. Animal
 households, making them the campaigners hope that secondary
 nation’s most popular pet. Even legislation planned as a follow-up
 so, a large number end up to next year’s bill will bring in
 unwanted. According to Dogs codes of practice as to who can sell
 Trust, more than 100,000 strays dogs, and that they will be sold
 are rounded up by animal welfare with a guide to looking after them
 charities each year − 7,800 of – washing machines come with
 which end up being destroyed. instructions, so why not dogs?
5    Dogs keep the RSPCA busy. In9    So much for bad owners, but
 a report last month, the charity what about dogs themselves?
 detailed some of the horrific acts of [id:77655] they have a lot going for
 cruelty inflicted on our four-legged them. Sniffer dogs arguably keep
 friends. It also described last year us safer, and save many lives in
 as one of the most ‘violent’ years it disaster zones and conflicts by
 had experienced. finding injured people in rubble.
6    And what of the breeders who Dogs improve the quality of life for
 insist on certain characteristics in many. The blind are an obvious
 pedigrees? So many traits that are example, but don’t forget the
 considered desirable by breeders elderly and housebound who rely
 cause suffering in the animal. on dogs for companionship. Dogs
 British bulldogs, for example, have are often involved in daily
 been bred to have very short noses. organised visits to children’s
 “Virtually every British bulldog is wards, nursing homes, hospices
 deformed in one way or another. and mental institutions.
 They can’t breathe properly,” says10    Many studies suggest that dogs
 Chris Laurence, veterinary director have therapeutic benefits. So, there
 of Dogs Trust, “and they have legs are many excellent reasons for
 like Queen Anne chairs so they having a dog. It’s the owners you
 can’t walk properly.” He adds that need to worry about.
 larger dogs are more prone to 
 bone cancer, and long dogs such 
 as basset hounds and dachshunds The Guardian
 have back problems.