For a man who likes telling shaggy dog stories, I’m actually not the biggest fan of dogs. When I was a boy out walking with my family, I watched helplessly as my father had his ankle mauled by a dog – a dog that belonged to people we knew. That was a day I will never forget.
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I’ve recently taken up jogging ( … again) – well, walking mainly after the first 30 metres – and I’ve been surprised to see a third of people out walking dogs do not have them on a leash.
I saw one person with five dogs running everywhere. Where are the council rangers when you need them?
Whenever a dog rushes at me while I’m jogging – which happens often – my conversation with its owner usually goes something like this:
Me: Excuse me, but that dog should be on a leash.
Them: Oh, they won’t hurt anybody.
Me: I don’t know that.
Them: I’m their owner, so I know they won’t hurt you.
What I really want to say to them, but have never had the courage to say, is: “You don’t know that.”
While driving on the weekend I heard an inner monologue: “I want to write a column about dogs being off their leash.” “That’s not newsworthy. Get back in your kennel!” “But it’s annoying me. I’ll throw in a shaggy dog tale and…” “Every person and their dog will be annoyed. And there’s bigger issues!” “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, I’m right.”
No sooner had I finished these musings and parked when a dog started circling my car. Was this a sign?
As I got out of the car, the dog rushed at me. I shouted “Get away you!”.
I figured the dog probably didn’t understand English, but I was hoping it would understand aggression.
I was genuinely afraid of that dog. I looked over at the dog’s owner and he put his head down. I just walked off, but I was afraid and sad because I knew this event was not going to change a thing. That dog will be terrorising someone else tomorrow and the owner doesn’t care, because he “knows” his dog would never hurt anybody.
If people don't like each other, they avoid each other. However, ring a doorbell where a dog lives and the dog rushes to the door barking, jumping around you – or even on you – not realising or caring that you may not want that.
What is a shaggy dog story? The Cambridge Dictionary defines a shaggy dog story as a long joke that has an intentionally silly or meaningless ending.
I just walked off, but I was afraid and sad because I knew this event was not going to change a thing. That dog will be terrorising someone else tomorrow and the owner doesn’t care, because he “knows” his dog would never hurt anybody.
I’ll give you an example. In Queensland, if you do not keep your dog “under effective control” in public, the fine is $261.10.
In Victoria, if a dog is “at large”, the fine is $242. In South Australia, the fine for a dog “wandering at large” is $210-$5,000.
In Tasmania, the fine for not keeping a dog under “effective control” is up to $650. In Western Australia, the fine for not keeping a dog under control is $200-$5000.
In the Northern Territory, if a dog is “at large and not under effective control”, the fine is $100.
In NSW, the fine for a dog that attacks or even rushes at a person increased last year from $550 to $1320.
How many people do you think are hurt by dogs each year? Fifty? One hundred? Two hundred?
Last year, the ABC reported that about 13,000 people end up in hospital each year from dog attacks. Some of these attacks are even fatal.
However, the application of the law is a dog’s breakfast.
Nowadays, local councils have greater discretion in deciding how these fines are applied and even the amount of the penalty that is issued. And, perhaps they’ve discovered that fining offending dog owners is now a dog-eat-dog world.
Consider Kingston council, which was ordered to pay a dog owner’s $10,000 legal costs when the dog owner challenged a $149 on-the-spot fine from a council ranger for not having their dog under “effective control”.
No wonder you never see a council ranger when you need one.
Twitter: @fatherbrendanelee