Wyn Drabble: Aggressive dog owner warns me off

Wyn Drabble thinks vicious dogs learn their behaviour from vicious owners. Photo / File

I have always adhered to the view that, in general, there are not vicious dogs, just vicious owners. It was just a gut feeling without empirical evidence but an event on the weekend – while still not empirical – fuelled my belief.

I took Madam Dog – and, if you are a regular, you will know she has used up two lives – to a regular beach spot for a walk and a (dog-only) swim.

As I exited the vehicle, a man approached.

"Are you letting your dog out?"

"Yes, but she'll be on a lead."

"My dog'll bite your dog's face."

"Then why isn't it on a lead?"

"My dog was here before your dog, bro."

Faced with this sort of logic, it's amazing how quickly you can run through the options and formulate a strategy to combat it. You could, for example, hold up your fists in a challenging way. You could ask the gentleman whether he is a visitor to our planet. Or you could quietly retreat.

We took the third option. Wordlessly.

Wyn Drabble

What makes people this aggressive? I'm afraid I can't answer that. But I think it was easy to see why his dog might bite my dog's face. Owner, not dog.

We drove to a different part of the beach and were rewarded for our passive retreat. We were treated to the sight of a baby seal sunning on the rocks mere metres away from us. Then we were treated to the sight of the same baby seal playing in the water – twisting and turning, ducking and diving, being a baby seal.

This marine creature did not approach and say, "I was here before your dog, bro."

Of course, we left baby seal well alone, just revelled in the sight of its aquatic amusement. I took a couple of photos on my phone but they won't be reprinted here because their lack of quality wouldn't get the newspaper's seal of approval.

An early example of aggressive dog behaviour happened when our boys were but toddlers. One suddenly started crying just at the entrance to a supermarket. Turned out he had patted a dog and the dog had bitten his hand.

As we went to his aid, we noticed the dog was wearing a sign around his neck: "This dog bites". If I'd had the materials available, I could have made a sign and hung it around my child's neck: "This toddler can't read yet."

Seals bite too but not if you keep your distance and respect their existence. They shouldn't need a sign around the neck.

I thought I'd try to lighten the aggressive dog theme by finding some clever dog warning signs. I launched into some (as always, limited) research.

" Beware of dog. Cat is also a bit iffy."

This one featured a silhouette of a fierce dog: "I can make it to the fence in 2.8seconds. Can you?"

"Dog okay. Beware of owner."

"Please don't feed fingers to the dog."

This one had fake chomp marks cut into it. All that remained of the wording: "Beware of D."

And one with a silhouette of a dachshund on it: "Death from the ankles down."

So, it is true to say that some dog breeds get bad press but I have just found a study from the University of Bristol School of Veterinary Science that suggests a good predictor of a dog's aggression level is what its owner is like. At last, some empirical evidence for my gut feeling.

Finally, to end on a slightly lighter note, a little joke worthy of a Christmas cracker.

Q: How do you stop your dog from barking in the front yard?
A: Put it in the back yard.

- Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.