Following the growing interest of Nigerians in keeping dogs, some of which they don’t know their character traits as pets, OMIKO AWA writes on the usefulness of the animal and the necessary steps to take to ensure that man’s best friend does transmute into an enemy as had been recorded in the recent past.
“I watched as the two dogs devoured my baby,” Nafisat Muhideen, the mother a five-month-old Mariam recently mauled to death by two dogs, agonised to those who came to commiserate with her. The experience of how the dogs dragged down her daughter from her back, killed and guzzled the hapless baby at the Unity Estate in Halleluyah area of Ido-Osun, Osun State, will remain ever fresh in her memory.
A few months ago, a three-year-old boy was similarly sent to his early grave in a dastardly manner in Umuogodo community of Etche Local Council of Rivers State by dogs meant to secure their house.
Two years ago, 11 dogs feasted on a two-year-old boy whose parent took to Global Growth Academy, Amokpo, Umuanunwa in Nteje, Anambra State to enroll into the school. The dogs belonged to the school proprietor. The incident happened when the child wandered away while the parent was perfecting his registration. Sighting the toddler, the dogs attacked him and ate up his flesh. There was also the case of a 36-year-old man that was attacked and killed by two dogs at Orile Agege in Lagos recently.
Also in Ajah area of Lagos, seven dogs attacked one Mr. Saturday Akpomose while on a visit to a relative and inflicted multiple injuries on him. However, the 45-year-old commercial bus driver was lucky to get help, hence, he is alive to recount the story.
In other cases, dogs have bitten and infected their victims with rabies, which eventually led to their death. There are countless unreported stories of dogs attacking their owners, children of their owners and sometimes visitors. Irrespective of the fact that these dogs live in the same building with their owners and interact with the people around, they become aggressive at times and attack anyone in sight.
Known as man’s best friend for their faithfulness and loyalty to their owners, many Nigerians engage dogs for different duties, including hunting, checking farm animals and guarding houses. In some climes, dogs have been trained to serve as guides for the blind, disperse crowds in public spaces, run after thieves and even run errands such as getting things in a mart for their owners.
For their high sense of smell, security operatives at the various airports and borders use them to sniff out hard drugs concealed in travellers’luggage or hidden in human body, and sometimes to discern criminals that have been on the run or are trying to flee from one country to the other.
Of late, science has discovered that dogs could be used to ascertain people suffering from different internal ailments. Indeed, dogs have been very dependable allies to man.
However, the rising spate of dog attacks on their supposed human friends in the country tends to blight their age-long attribute as man’s best friend, thereby causing a lot of people to rethink the desirability of keeping it as a pet.
Nevertheless, Mr. Friday Nwokolo, the manager of a security outfit that deals in dogs, maintained that the relationship between a dog and the owner would remain cordial as long as the owner maintains his/her limits with the animal and understands its characteristics. He added that the days when local African dogs could be stampeded and they would run away were gone. Nwokolo noted there are now more belligerent dogs like the German Shepherd, Pit Bulls, Dachshunds, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, Wolf-dog hybrids, Cane Corso, Saint Bernard, Dogo Argentino, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Boxer and Bullmastiff that are imported into the country from Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and other parts of the world.
According to him, dogs, like human beings, have their own fears, which could be translated into aggression and attack. The aggression might be defensive, food guarding/conflict, fear-based, status related or possessive. He said dogs that use aggression to change a situation would continue to do so.
Nwokolo revealed that one of character traits of dogs is that they like challenging their leader to subdue him/her to do their bidding, emphasising that if the owner of a dog or the people around it are not friendly with it, the dog may feel threatened and launch an attack in self-defense.
“Dogs naturally live in packs with each dog trying to challenge the perceived head of the pack to become the head. But in the house, they see the owner as the leader and may want to challenge his/her authority. So, always ensure that you are in charge by rejecting every move made to defy your orders. This starts when each time you try to give your dog food, it refuses it and rather barks at you. It is a form of rebel; do not take that from the dog. To curb this, you have to chain or put it in its kennel.
“If your dog has threatened or displayed any signs of aggression, then the problem is likely to continue until appropriate steps are taken to stop it or identify the cause of aggression. Therefore, the first step is prevention and avoidance of further incidents. Not only is this essential to ensure safety, each aggressive behaviour display may actually serve as an incentive to do more.”
On the dogs that one should be mindful of when kept at home, Nwokolo noted that Pit Bulls and Rottweiler should be handled strongly, as they have very short temperament, are not usually friendly and have a high level of prey drive that make them to be aggressive and attack children. He added that these dogs may appear quiet and harmless, but they are dangerous and could attack one at the slightest provocation. He disclosed that Pit Bulls have a lockjaw mechanism that enables them to pull out a large chunk of flesh at each bite.
“Some people keep dogs for security reasons without knowing their character traits or level of temperament. They just want to keep dogs without knowing that some are very aggressive and have a high level of prey drive that could make them attack and kill even their owner at any slightest provocation. Some of these dogs are the Filla Brasileiro, Pit Bulls, Dogo Argentino and even the Japanese Tosa.
These dogs, you may not believe it, have been banned in some countries, including the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States, but they are still in Nigeria and some dog owners do not even know this,” he said.
Danger and usefulness of keeping dogs
WITH the dangers associated with keeping dogs, is it still necessary to have them in families? Opeyemi Olawale Owosibo, a sociologist, human management and business development consultant, answered in the affirmative, adding that in Nigeria, people keep dogs for reasons ranging from companionship to security, cultural and traditional beliefs, health benefits, training and assistance.
A research carried out in 2018 by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAIM) in the United States also found that dogs can make persons living with depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to feel better because of the happiness and unconditional love these dogs radiate around their owners. The research further revealed that dogs are antidotes for loneliness and could help to control blood pressure and heart beats, thereby reducing the intake of drugs, cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Another study carried out in 2011 by researchers at Medical Detection Dogs revealed that dogs, if properly trained, could detect Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) or odorants that signal the early stage of ovarian cancer in human urine, adding that they can sniff out hypoglycemia (low blood sugar level) in diabetic patients as well as other internal sicknesses. The research revealed that dogs have about 300 million scent glands, while human beings have about five million, which makes this canine creature’s sense of smell to be 100,000 times more than any human. The research added that this puts dogs in a better condition to sniff out human diseases, thus making people living with these diseases to find a solution and live longer.
According to another researcher from the University of Missouri in Columbia, published in 2015, children living with autism show greater assertiveness if they live with a dog.
A veterinary doctor, Sanusi Adaramola, also told The Guardian that apart from sniffing out, smelling and unearthing things, dogs can discern a friend from an enemy. According to him, many dogs can read human minds to know their intentions, human body language and feelings, show empathy, know when humans are in pains or sorrow and even understand human languages.
Avoiding aggression from dogs and keeping safe
The most vulnerable groups dogs attack are children, most times toddlers, and the elderly. This does not mean other age groups are not susceptible to attacks by dogs, but children and the elderly are usually hapless.
To ensure the safety of everyone in a family or residence, which has dogs as pet, Adaramola advised the owners to identify and remove situations that could trigger aggression in the dog/dogs, if allowed to wander in the compound.
“But identifying the risk factor becomes herculean, it would be better to confine such dogs into their kennel, muzzle the mouth, engage head halter control, leash or tie down,” he added. Adaramola noted that head collar and leash are good ways to control and prevent aggression within and outside the home, and that a well-fitted muzzle would restrain the dog from biting people.
He called on dog owners to be mindful of their dogs, saying whenever there are accidental bites or new bites occurring in new and unforeseen circumstances, the dog must be kept away. He also cautioned dog owners or handlers to desist from being harsh to their dogs, saying such attitude could make them to be aggressive not only to their owners, but also to people around. He enjoined owners to consistently teach their dogs the behaviours that warrant rewards and the one that will attract punishment, adding that doing this will reduce conflict-induced aggression to the barest minimum.
On how best to train a dog, the veterinary doctor disclosed that it is better to start the training when the dog is still a puppy. He stated that this would enable the owner to know the individual temperament and genetic predisposition of the puppy and determine how best to ºtrain it and then become the dog’s true leader and gain control over its behavior. The dog on the other hand gains control over its rewards by offering the owner the behaviours expected from it.
“It is important to recognise deference when your dog displays it. When your dog looks away, lowers its head or avoids you, especially when you are reprimanding it, this is deference, appeasement, submission and an attempt to end the encounter. From the dog’s perspective, the encounter is over and if the human persists with reprimands or punishment, the dog may respond with fear and defensive behaviours, which could be fatal,” he said.
However, Thompson Adoji, a dog handler, believes it is counterproductive to force a dog to behave in a certain manner, saying doing so could lead to resistance and aggression. Adoji advised that the owner of the dog should rather evaluate how to achieve compliance in each situation, and if not possible, change the situation so that he/she can easily achieve the desired result.
To him, dog owners can achieve immediate and effective control if the dog is fitted with a remote leash and head halter that can be used to take the dog for a walk, and that each time the dog refuses any command, the leash and head halter can be used to get the desired response.
“However, you cannot say you have the total control of your dog until it starts responding to your verbal commands without the need for leash pulls or the muzzle. This is why children or people living around the dogs are killed; the dogs do not understand them or identify their voices as the voices of their leaders,” he said.
On why dogs attack human beings, a veterinary doctor, Benson Yahaya, disclosed that dogs have different character traits and levels of tolerance. While some are confident and daring, others are timid or nervous and would bark and run into hiding at the mere stampede of one’s foot. He noted that a dog mauling its owner or children of its owner or any other member of the family shows that the dog has either not been properly socialised with members of such family or most of the family members are hostile to it and as such there is no mutual relationship.
The vet doctor revealed that many dog owners intentionally isolate their dogs so that they will not be friendly with people and lose their confidence, adding that when such dogs see people, no matter their age and stature, they would take them for enemies and attack.
“This is usually the case when toddlers out of ignorance stray into such a dog’s kennel or attempt to touch them or even take the plate for its meal. Because the dog has not been properly socialised, it will perceive the baby as a prey that wants to attack it. This is one of the major problems with some of the larger working dogs,” he said.
According to Yahaya, to avoid these larger dogs from attacking newborn babies in a family, it will be proper for the parents of the baby to introduce the newborn to the dog and let the dog socialise with the baby. He, however, warned that each time such socialisation is taking place, someone that can control the dog must be around in case the dog may want to attack the baby. This, he noted, is to make the dog see the baby as a member of the family and not as a competitor.
“The introduction will make the dog see the newborn as a member of the family and a person to work together with, do things in common with and share bonding. This is not limited to the baby, but also any new person in the family that the owner wants the dog to know,” he said. Yahaya advised that the introduction must not be a one-off thing. It must be a continuous process until there is a positive relationship between the dog and the child, while still not leaving the child alone with the dog.
Explaining that dogs do not just attack human beings instantly as portrayed on social media, Nwokolo disclosed that many dogs give warning signs before attacking their victims. He added that many people either for the dearth of knowledge about dogs or for mere recalcitrance ignore the signs and are then attacked.
“Dogs growl in different ways; those noises are all warning signs that you must leave them alone. Many people cannot interpret these signs and because of failure to restrict oneself, they will then see you as an enemy and attack — most times the attack is fatal depending on the nature and the breed of the dog.
“The Pit Bulls, by the character trait, would not give its victim those long warning signs; it attacks immediately it feels threatened or when it perceives an infant or anyone as a prey,” he said.
The dog handler enjoined those attending to or caring for dogs to treat them separately, saying a simple action of aggression of just one dog in a pack could attract others to attack human beings. The natural instinct of dogs is to attack, defend, protect and survive.
On what to do when a dog bites people, Nwokolo advised that the victim should immediately see a qualified medical practitioner for treatment, especially against rabies.
On attacks on children or innocent persons on the streets by dogs, Owosibo called on the government to reintroduce the licensing system that requires all dog owners to register their pets with relevant authorities.
According to the sociologist, this will call for proper identification of dogs through microchips or tags and also trace the owner of a dog involved in any untoward incident.
He also called for the adoption of breed-specific legislation, which will identify and regulate specific breeds known for high aggression. This will also restrict the ownership of highly aggressive breeds such as the Pit Bulls that has been banned in the U.S. and UK for use as domestic dogs but are found in Nigeria.
“This will also help to regulate breeding practices to prevent the proliferation of aggressive dog breeds and promote responsible breeding. This can include mandatory health screenings, genetic testing to detect aggressive traits and promote responsible breeding practices through education and incentives,” he said.
He enjoined the government to impose strict control and leash laws in public spaces, including parks, playgrounds and residential areas, mandating that dogs should always be under the control of their owners. “This should include penalties for owners who fail to comply with these regulations,” he added.
The human management specialist also called for the establishment and promotion of dog training institutes, adding that socialisation programmes for dog owners should also be organised.
Noting that this would encourage responsible dog ownership, he urged the concerned authorities to sensitise the public, especially children about safety and responsible interactions with dogs. Owosibo also called on the security agencies, especially the Police Force, to partner with veterinary professionals and animal welfare organizations to monitor and enforce dog-related regulations.
