dogs

dogs have been a bit of a news item recently. on the one hand there are a couple of feel good dog movies coming out and on the other hand a couple of dogs have been chowing down on a baby. ying and yang there.

when i was a kid i always had a dog. my parents used to joke that their two black labradors looked after me as if i was their own pup (so i was an ugly baby). i had no fear of dogs and most of the time dogs just seemed to like me, or perhaps it was the chocolate i always carried with me (so i was a fat kid).
at some point in my teenage years i stopped owning a dog, and aside from a few years of owing cats, i have been petless since.
the dogless years has seen me become more cautious of dogs. there are times when dogs can be dangerous and so you have to treat them with a little respect.

the recent case of the baby being killed by two dogs is a case in point.
baby left alone with the dogs, the family is left grieving.

the dogs are humanely killed and there is the usual public outcry for dog licensing and more education about dogs.
hold on a minute here. why are the dogs getting the blame? they are animals after all. sure the adults involved have to live with the knowledge of what has happened, but it seems responsibility falls on the heads of the two dogs.
the quick call is for all dogs to be licensed – the argument being that if you have to pay to get a license you are more likely you are to be to take responsibility for the dog (and of course be linked to the dog if it causes damage or harm).

having children is seen as a right.
as i get older and further away from the possibility of ever becoming a father more and more i think that having a child is too easy, after all it is not like you have to take lessons, it is not like it requires much skill: a bit of bump and grind a few moans and the chances are you are going to be a parent in nine months time.
fortunately most of these bundles of joy are wanted and are loved. sadly too many are just facts of life to be tolerated or coped with.
walk down most high streets and you will see young mothers who have trouble dealing with their kid(s) much preferring to be on their mobiles or you can see the parents whose only method of talking to their children involves shouting.
if there is a problem with “feral” children it has little to do with lack of facilities or a lack of education but with a lack of parenting.

so here is a radical thought for all those shouting that there should be dog licenses and that there should be pet classes why not have parent licenses and parent classes? perhaps the license idea smacks too much of a totalitarian state to be tenable, but the classes could easily be made compulsorily, and while the ultimate sanction of taking a baby away from parents who failed the classes is probably not going to work at least through the attending of classes there is a good chance that the parents to be would learn something that would be useful to them in the bringing up of their child.
to those that say but i won’t have time because of work i say well if you don’t have the time for the classes you are probably not going to have time for the child.

this is not about being anti-children this is about making sure parents are responsible for their children, that they bring their children up to the best of their abilities. true the state has to provide a certain level of support for parents and children, but it can only do so much and the rest has to fall on parents.

like puppies children are not just for christmas.