Untrained dogs can become danger to society

[bigdoglover]

The Indianapolis Sun

Stacey Coleman

As an educated and experienced dog owner, I would like to remind the community that unlike songbirds and squirrels, dogs do not occur naturally in our environment. People have dogs because they make the conscious choice to buy, adopt or breed them.

If a person chooses to have a dog, the person is assuming the responsibility to care for and properly train their dog. Problems arise when people choose to get a dog for the wrong reasons resulting in neglect, abuse or abandonment. It has become commonplace in our society to treat our dogs as accessories or possessions rather than living creatures who, left to their own devices, can behave badly.
It is essential for anybody with a dog to take responsibility for their choices and properly train, contain and maintain their pet. If such measures are not taken, the dog can prove to be a danger to society as we have tragically learned in the past few days. In each of the recent dog bite incidents, irresponsible dog owners are to blame. In each incident, the dogs were not properly trained or contained, resulting in the injury of a child.

Dogs are not humans and cannot be expected to behave as such. Each and every dog should be obtained from a reliable source that has had the opportunity to monitor and test the dog's temperament and behavior. No dog should be treated as an object having never received proper training and then be expected to know how to behave in an environment that is not familiar.

Regardless of our ZIP codes, we are responsible for the choices we make regarding our dogs. Dogs run loose in all communities in our city. It is irresponsible, it is illegal, and it needs to stop. It is time for the citizens of Indianapolis to step up and support the agencies charged with enforcing the laws and prosecuting the offenders.