Constantly taunted stray dogs will turn aggressive

Yay, it was published!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I sent an article to The Star. Hence, it was published today.

You can read it here.

Stray dogs menace or human menace?

I wrote in to The Star again and let's see if they would publish it in a few days time. The last time I wrote in to The Star was last year March. You can read it here.

This time I am writing about stray dogs. Yes, stray dogs again.

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Referring to a few numbers of recent write-ups about the stray dogs menace in Batu Ferringhi, I am compelled to voice out the other side of the story.

If you had a chance to visit Penang, please take a stroll along the Batu Ferringhi beach and chances are that you might encounter mischievous children and even adults taunting or even pelting the stray dogs unprovoked. Yes, there are even adults who behaved childishly by provoking those dogs.

So, it seems that all these stray dog abuse incidents are never reported in the press and it gave the impression that those stray dogs have to take full blame for their aggression. No, I am not saying that the victims are the one provoking the stray dogs. What I meant is that all these abuses have been ongoing for years unreported and common sense tells me that when a stray dog has been abused continuously, it has the tendency to turn aggressive and might attack unprovoked.

Thanks to us, human beings ourselves, we had moulded those stray dogs into a killer pack by continually taunting, pelting or even walloping them.

I agree that the population of stray dogs should be controlled, at least in an ethical manner but at the same time, everyone should be educated to respect animals. I just don’t’ understand why some people have to taunt the stray dogs even if those dogs are just lying down quietly. Let sleeping dogs lie, shall we?

Abandoned puppy

Somewhere in January, a cute little puppy was abandoned by some irresponsible person in my neighbourhood. The puppy (below) has now grown up a bit.

From what I see, stray dogs are naturally friendly to human. If it is a Rottweiler or an Alsation roaming in the street, well, I think you better not mess with them. They are definitely pet guard dogs. It is unlikely they are strays. Don't ever try to pet them.

I am referring to friendly Mongrels. Stray mongrels are naturally friendly to human unless they have been abused in the past. You call them and they will wag their tails, they will come to you and lick your shoes, your trousers, your leg, and sniff your butt. They pose no harm to anyone. Instead, human beings are the real menace to stray dogs.

My neighbour, Ah Beng, is a dog owner. Just a few days ago, this puppy (below) roamed into his house. To punish the puppy for coming to his house, he decided to walloped the puppy repeatedly with a stick. And yes, you can hear a very loud cry from the puppy.

And of course, he likes to whack his own pet dog as well. From time to time, you will hear his dog whine and cry from the beating. So, it beats me why they decided to keep a dog in the first place.

It was published. Yay!

My article was published in The Star newspaper today. Check it out here.

I'm glad the editor corrected some of my grammatical mistakes and typo errors. Now, I regretted not paying attention during my English lessons in school back then.

Unfortunately, the editor also 'cut' some paragraphs away, probably to allow more articles to be published as well.

There is one important paragraph, I believe, it should have been published together. However, it was taken out.

The only time when dogs would lunge and bark at me was whenever I walked past a house with pet dogs that were chained or were kept in a cage. Just like the case of the Irishman who was mauled by two dogs. Those dogs are pet dogs, not stray dogs.

This is important because I want everyone to know that it is usually pet dogs that are more aggressive than strays. Pet dogs could attack people unprovoked. This is due to how the dogs have been raised and reared by the owner. If the owner had been abusive, the dog would turned aggressive.

I sent this to The Star.

I sent this letter to The Star just now. Let's see whether it will be published or not.

Referring to the letter “Attacked by dogs on Penang beach" written by DES MM2H, I sympathise with the ordeal the writer had gone through. However, I have some questions in mind to understand the incident.

First of all, I am curious why the dogs would want to lunge at the writer. I believed that dogs would not attack anyone unless the dogs have rabies or have been provoked.

I lived in a neighbourhood filled with stray dogs and I never had any problems with them so far. Based on my own observation, the stray dogs would not bark at anyone save for a few individuals. And you would ask why of all the hundreds of people walking around in my neighbourhood, why would the stray dogs only bark at a few individuals. I came to know that the stray dogs would bark collectively at this particular woman whenever she walks along one particular stretch of road. My guess was that she must have provoked the dogs before but unfortunately, I don’t have evidence to confirm that. I was then told by another resident that she is someone who hates dogs because she had always complain to her friends how annoying the stray dogs are, although they don’t harm anyone. Either my guess is right or that the dogs have six-sense.

There was a particular time when the dogs would only bark at those who were riding noisy motorbikes along that stretch of road. It does not take a veterinarian to suspect that something must have happened earlier. To confirm my suspicion, I peeked out of my window late one night and saw a group of mat rempits provoking the stray dogs. They were revving their engine loudly directly in front of the dogs and some of them would graze their bikes against the dogs that happened to stand by the side of the road.

As a result, these dogs started barking at anyone riding noisy bikes throughout the day. Fortunately, the mat rempits have stopped hanging out at my neighbourhood and hence, the stray dogs have stopped their barking towards anyone riding noisy bikes.

Secondly, were the dogs just merely barking at the writer or were they really lunging at the writer?

Throughout my life, whenever a dog barks at me, I would just ignore it and walk away quietly. Strangely, I have seen people retaliated by making funny noises towards the dogs, showing their fists, shouting, or even chasing after the dogs instead. I have seen enough of antics among humans. Those people are only looking for more trouble and when they were bitten, they never tell the press what they have done to the dog.

The only time when dogs would lunge and bark at me was whenever I walked past a house with pet dogs that were chained or were kept in a cage. Just like the case of the Irishman who was mauled by two dogs. Those dogs are pet dogs, not stray dogs.

Hence, if the dogs lunged at the writer, the writer would have been bitten already. Hence, were the dogs just merely barking or were they really lunging at the writer? If the dogs were just merely barking, all the writer need to do is to walk away quietly. Throwing sand at the dogs would only aggravate the situation. Therefore, it explained why the dogs instead came forward barring their teeth towards the writer after the writer threw sand at the dogs.

Thirdly, are the dogs mentioned stray dogs or pet dogs? If the dogs belong to someone, I wished the owner should have been more careful. If the dogs were stray dogs, it is certainly weird (based on my own experience) for the dogs wanting to attack someone at random unless the dogs have rabies or they have been provoked in the first place.

Yes, I agree that the population of stray dogs should have been controlled through spaying, not by shooting innocent stray dogs. I am afraid that after yesterday’s letter was published, the municipal council might start killing innocent stray dogs throughout the island that are unrelated to the incident.