As soon as that poor young woman in Kent was killed, apparently by the dogs she was walking, there was a huge backlash in the press and seemingly all around me. Many people were quick to condemn her for having been walking 8 dogs at once; others said that she obviously did not know the dogs she was walking and that all dogs have the potential to kill people.
It’s important to remember that we don’t actually yet know what happened. It is rare for dogs to turn on a human being, be it their owner or a walker or trainer. Something must have happened, but until we know the results of the investigation, it’s inaccurate to jump to conclusions about how she was in the wrong.
Dogs can attack their owners, that is certainly true. Dogs can also kill their owners. Yet everyday, hundreds of thousands of dogs in the UK do not do this. They live peaceably with their owners and in many cases, share a bed at night with them. Mainly, this is a safe practice, despite the fact that dogs could potentially kill humans. But just because a dog has the potential to do something, doesn’t mean it will do it. If that were the case, dogs would not be such popular pets, work assistants, therapy dogs and company.
Dogs in packs, as this group of 8 were, can be incited to do more damage than they might otherwise do on their own. Something has to have sparked the attack on this young woman. We don’t know what that was. Dogs, if left to their own devices, congregate in packs. But packs are generally peaceful social groupings, made up of a lead female dog and a lead male dog and several followers. Disputes are settled by one of the leaders, and not by means of an extended attack. Dog pack leaders are known to be the leaders, and they have a quiet authority that does not rely on physical punishment to maintain their status. The leadership of the pack is only very rarely challenged, because every dog in the pack is crystal clear about who the leaders are.
We also do not know how many times prior to her death this young woman walked this same group of eight dogs without an incident. This may have been her 20th walk with these dogs and nothing ever happened before, so why should she have expected that something would have gone wrong on 12th January?
Personally, when I walk dogs as part of my job, I gauge which dogs need walks that day, and how they get along with each other, and with me. I try to match up the dogs that get on well with each other so that everybody gets the most fun and exercise out of the walk as possible, and so that I can remain in control of our ‘pack’ as we’re walking. If I know that two dogs who need a walk on say, a Thursday, really don’t get on, I don’t walk them together. Personally, I only ever walk four dogs at a time if they are larger, and five if they are smaller. That is, however, a judgment about me and my abilities and the circumstances that enable me to feel safe, and in control of what is happening while we are out there. I have also walked only two dogs or even one dog at a time if they are dogs that I know have problems with other dogs or need some special time and attention for training.
This story was widely reported, and this young woman widely condemned, because an event that like that is so extremely rare. It was newsworthy because it almost never happens. It almost never happens despite the numbers of dogs who are walked every single day in this country, by their owners or by a professional dog walker.
In my experience, the biggest problem I have when out walking dogs (either my own or clients’ dogs) is owners walking their dogs. Many owners do not have any control over their dogs and yet allow them to run around freely, possibly threatening or scaring other peoples’ dogs. There have been countless times when I have been out with my dogs and we come across someone else with a dog who is bounding around, deaf to the calls of its handler and who comes over to greet my dogs. This is fine in principle; but if their dog takes a dislike to one of mine, it could get ugly very fast. Assurances that ‘oh, he’s very friendly’ do not cut it! Nobody can say with absolute certainty that their dog will under no circumstances have a problem with one of mine. If a problem were to begin, it is unfair on my dogs and me to have to control my dogs while fending off another dog who is ‘friendly usually’.
Please, let’s wait for the facts of the incident to emerge before we rush to judge this young woman. In the meantime, do whatever training or practice you need to, to ensure that your dog is under your control whether s/he is on lead or not.
