Alfie – The Cocker Spaniel

In the many years of operating the kennels we have come across some delightful characters- none moreso than Alfie. Alfie when hes good and Alfred when hes bad. His owners got Alfie to replace the loss of another cocker spaniel who died of old age- Tess who was also a bit of a character.

Alfie when he comes in surveys the other occupants with disdain- inspects his pen throughly and looks in his bed to make sure it is ready for his occupancy then having checked the water supply to make sure its up to his standards plants his little rotund bottom in his bed and we dont hear from him until walktime. Now if for some reason the bed isn’t made up (it is a fairly large plastic dogbed with a mattress and two blankets) i.e. the two blankets aren’t there yet- wobetide the person on kennel duty- Alfie will stand and grizzle until the two blankets are placed- of course supervising the whole action- then jump in the bed with a look that only dog owners understand.

The reason I find him worth writing about is the extraordinary way he dealt with what he perceived as a problem. Alfies owners periodically had a house sitter- a competent lass- but for whatever reason Alfie had decided this particular day that he definately wasn’t going home with her. I had loaded him into the back of her hatchback -walked away-looked back to see to my amazement Alfred (definately Alfred) out of the hatchback lying on his back on the ground with his legs in the air defying the housesitter to get his collar by snapping the air as she tried. I marched over and told him to get up and he just lay there with his legs in the air and a mutinous look on his face and when I tried to grab his collar he snapped at me also. The only answer was to loop his head with some difficulty-pull him up and bundle him back into the hatchback. I might add that he didn’t try and snap once I had him right way up- but what got me was the way he had thought it through -lying on his back he was nigh on impossible to deal with and normally that is a submissive pose from a dog not an attacking pose.What made it more remarkable is that Alfie isn’t snappy or difficult normally.Whats more it was yet another instance that left us pondering just who are the dumb animals on this planet

Dog Attack- WDC Explaination

The WDC explaination of the release of the dog that so badly mauled me came by way of a reply to a letter (Debacle)which I had published in our local paper .

Selfish Attitude

The recent dog issues further illustrate to me why a law change is required.

I believe the court needs to be removed from the equation and councils empowered to make decisions over destruction just as they do on classifications. Councils have a dog policy but the court is able to, and often does overturn it.

As hearings committee chair in the previous council I adjudicated the mediation process over one horrific attack that severely maimed the person looking after it to the point where hospitalisation was required. I am sure this is one of the cases Carol Jones refers to in her recent letter.

The absentee owner of the dog refused to voluntarily put it down and could not be persuaded to change this selfish attitude.

In this instance if the law was followed and prosecution sought the person charged would have been the person attacked. they were the temporary dog owner. How fair is that?

The decision that I had to make was to seek destruction and risk a judge declining allowing a dog to go free ( subsequent legal opinion indicated this would have been extremely likely) or make a decision that endeavoured to give the public some protection.

The latter was chosen and the offending dog given virtual house arrest by being confined to the owner’s farm.

This dog must never be allowed out in public and the house arrest decision removed any risk of the court possibly releasing it. Council officers must enforce this ruling.

It was not possible to speak out at the time as committee members must not have an opinion but judge cases on the facts presented. To speak publicly on issues could be deemed predetermination or bias putting future hearings at risk.

MURRAY HUGHES
Westmere

Footnote: The owner referred to here is
Graeme Pleasants President of the Wanganui RSA and one of the cities 12 ambassadors- the dog was unregistered at the time referred to in this letter!
The registered owner is Dot Pleasants -his wife!

Yet Another Dog Attack

The Wanganui District Council has let yet another dangerous dog loose on the community. Three strapping young policemen doing their job couldn’t contain the dog and one was extremely badly hurt. The Courts refused to put the dog ( a pitbull) down but fined the owner and at a subsequent hearing of the dangerous dog qualification the hearings committee rescinded the dangerous dog qualification and left the dog as menacing. The fallout of this stupid decision has been immense but at the end of the day there are now two very dangerous dogs in our midst. It really boils down to the fact that Council officers are not doing their job- this dog could have been put down at the time of the attack and the action would have been well within New Zealand law. The other point of concern is that the owner of this acknowledged menacing dog has been receiving a good owner rebate – has the world gone mad.
Links:Neither court nor council ruled the dog dangerous

Two rulings, same outcome … the dog is still alive

Laws promises changes to council’s handling of dangerous dog cases

Dog Attack -The dogs story

My My How the WDC worm doth wriggle

Posted below is the letter received from the WDC CEO. I am sure the viewer is astute enough to work out the justification for my response or otherwise also posted below. What is of concern to the ratepayer is the fact that we are paying these people wages and sometimes in extremely healthy figures. Now the obvious thing to ask yourself is if they were in the real world would they earn their keep- I think not. The other point of concern is if the WDC can’t follow their own bylaws etc., then when it comes to outside contracts etc., where does that leave the poor old ratepayer- paying through the nose as always whilst the WDC operates on Glidetime Bigtime.

Wanganui District Council – Black Hole?

The Wanganui District Council continue to dig themselves an even bigger hole with their ineptness. Posted below is the letter recently received from David Warburton- no surprises – followed by my response – all self explainatory. Anyone who is familiar with the privacy laws will no doubt have worked out where I am about to dump the WDC.

Dog Attack and the Wanganui District Council

Posted below is the e-mails I have sent to the Wanganui District Council requesting copies of the correspondence they claim to have sent me. A reasonable request I am sure. To date I haven’t had a response from them. I wonder why? Im sure the viewer will get the gist. Now the fun thing is that the Privacy Commission is more than happy once the 20 working days have passed to enforce the handing over of the correspondence
as they see a nil response as a refusal to comply with my perfectly reasonable request.

Dog Attack- Council ineptness or corruptness

You decide. Posted below is the questions I asked the Wanganui District Council and their responses

Cat Attack- a lighter moment

The photos below I dont think really need a lot of explaination. The cat – Simon- and the dog – Shamrock are both rescue animals but unassociated until they met here. They have formed a bond and it is nothing to find Simon in the kennel block sitting in an adjacent area to Shamrock, patiently waiting for us to let Shamrock out.

Synopsis of the Dog Attack

On the 16th July 2006 I was badly mauled by a German Shepherd dog that I was exercising. The dog bowled me to the road and continued mauling me until my husband arrived on the scene and pulled the dog off. He was exercising the second dog owned by the same owners Dot and Graeme Pleasants (President of the Wanganui RSA and one of the 12 ambassadors to Wanganui City).I ended up in hospital for 3 days with 85 stitches.The medical care I received was excellent but it still took 7 weeks for the wounds to heal.A subsequent “hearing” held by the Wanganui District Council released the dog to the community with a robust agreement which if it had been enforced would have been adequate. Unfortunately the agreement was never enforced.( something I am determine to change)The main requirements of the agreement included the requirements of the dangerous dog act including some extra restrictions such as the dog was only ever to be handled by the owners and never to leave the property except under extenuating circumstances. The Wanganui District Council are satisfied with the dog being secured by a 1.2m fence- Ive dealt with pugs and foxies that would make light of a fence that height never mind a very dangerous dog.Both dogs were unregistered. The fine for not being registered was never charged ($300 per dog) The requirements of the existing agreement also listed a registration of 150%-mysteriously a normal fee was charged with a neutered rebate being given before the dog was even neutered.The owners were given a good owner rebate on the second dog -they weren’t entitled to it.

The interesting legal situation is that as the dog in question was unregistered and therefore did not have an owner it could have been easily euthanaised by the Council- a fact they never acquainted me with at the time.(I wonder why). I might add that I would still have waited for the owners decision and believed that they would do the right thing .How wrong can you be. After the hearing when I rightly made it very plain that I was disastisfied with the Councils inaction they then went and got a legal opinion which stated that I was the owner – something voluntarily disputed by the ombudsman who has yet to give a full legal opinion on the actions of the Wanganui District Council. The question of ownership has also been disputed by the Associate Minister for the Enviroment Nanaia Mahuta

The legal opinion proffered by Wellington firm Kensington Swan also included the very sound advice that the dangerous dog act and the agreement must be enforced and their opinion was actually based in good part on this premise. For reasons that now may be dawning on the reader the Wanganui District Council had chosen to ignore this advice. I wonder why?

Since then Nanaia Mahuta has become involved and as a result the WDC now have to check on the dog in question every week for the rest of its life. Now you have to ask yourself how much money has the WDC actually saved the ratepayer. If the dog attacks someone else other than the owner and there is fairly good chance of that as the owners refuse to recognise that the dog is dangerous not only will the owners then be liable for a fine of around $20,000 and/or 3 years in jail but the Wanganui District Council can expect to become embroiled in it all also. The other interesting aspect is that as the dog is registered in Dot Pleasants name and not her husbands ( he distanced himself rather promptly- I wonder why?) it will be her that will shoulder the charges- what some husbands will do to their wives.

Footnote: All postings and proof are still present on the site- albeit archived

Sharkaar -The Pitbull

Since the last post we have had a young crossbred pitbull come into be boarded which demonstrates clearly how problems so easily errupt with the breed. Sharkaar is about 8 months old and very very bouncy- not very disciplined . When walking him he is constantly on the go and focuses immediately on any sudden movement- this unfortunately is a constant trait we see in pitbulls-moreso than any other breed.
I have set out to teach him what I consider are safeguard manners i.e. sit when he has the lead put on, when hes asked to sit to remain in a sit until I give him the next command -always preceeded by praise. I’m also working on getting him to walk quietly beside me- not necessarily at heel. The reason being that in a boarding situation any dog is excited about a walk and as exercise is more restricted than when the dog is at home its a big ask to expect them not to want to have a good sniff and stretch.The larger dogs are always walked on a horse lead for exactly this reason.
Sharkaar also unfortunately exhibits the tendency to want to attack other dogs and stock- in a boarding situation he cant reach either- quite a difference when hes at home and loose. We will be recommending to his owners to take him to puppy school or obedience where he will meet other dogs and good behaviour can be encouraged and the meeting of other dogs is not something unusual. We will also be recommending to the owner to walk Sharkaar heaps around the small village where they live so he can get used to seeing stock and its not something unusual.
Sharkaar is a rescue dog and as a consequence he and his new owners are starting on the backfoot- if they had had him from a very young puppy the very necessary socialisation would have been taken care of- more so than with any other breed but really this applies to any of the guard breeds- socialisation at the very earliest possible is so essential.
Anyone who gets a new puppy should once it has been vaccinated start the socialisation process and continue with it until maturity. What I think is happening with a lot of dogs in the present day society- the dog is locked up a lot more- not taken for that walk morning and night and as a result that essential leader of the pack-owner in charge- whatever you want to call it is lost. Sadly if our recommendations aren’t followed this will more than likely become yet another example of a pitbull gone wrong.