TV Programme Send in The Dogs – Should it be Send in the Men in White Coats?Submitted by
Freelance Writers on September 14, 2009 – 9:22 am
http://www.dogmagazine.net/archives/3879/tv-programme-send-in-the-dogs-should-it-be-send-in-the-men-in-white-coats/
I watched a recent episode of ‘Send in the Dogs’ on
ITV4, as a person who has an interest in dogs being used for working
purposes. I suddenly realised that quite apart from the hype generated
by certain sections of the media, some members of the Metropolitan
Police appear to have presumably personal views similar to those of
Lord Baker of Dorking, who as Kenneth Baker the Conservative MP
introduced the moronic Dangerous Dogs Act.
The police seem to use the standard operating procedure of using a
fire extinguisher on a dog that to the Police Dog Handlers is
‘fighting’, maybe it could be down to the fact that 20
members of the Met Police riot squad is kicking the door down at the
time all shouting to distract any occupants that may make the dog bark,
would any other breed of dog bark at such an event, or only Pit Bull
types?
The opinions of the featured officers, the gloomy and foreboding
voice over of ‘the most fearsome breed of dog known to man’
– really? any dog of whatever breed or size that may be attacking
a person or causing fear or apprehension must at that particular moment
in time be ‘the most fearsome breed known to man’, if it
was trying to bite me it would be!
The build up to a raid on a drug dealers flat had the fire
extinguisher used straight away, a police officer shouting ‘it is
fighting’, before the dog was locked in a room, we do not see the
drug dealer/dog owners face, was this because the drug/dealer/dog owner
was not guilty of any offences?
The dog that had been ‘fighting’ is then seen moments
later being led out quite happily on a lead and it jumps into the back
of the police van, we then see it very scared and whimpering being
double poled out of the van? Before you think I am knocking the police
or being a bleeding heart fluffy bunny hugger, I have been involved in
the difficult seizure of dogs that did fight and were later identified
as being of type and I have been there when some of these dogs have
been euthanized because of the law introduced by Lord Baker of Dorking.
With programmes such as this portraying dogs that may or may not be
Pit Bull Terriers or of type, the public are led to believe that all
such dogs are ‘evil devil dogs’, what scared me however was
the Police Dog Handler PC Tozer driving his police van while wearing a
bite sleeve?
The shots of the waiting police dogs and the voice over that
‘they wouldn’t be dealing with Pit Bulls tonight’
inferred what exactly, that they are used to fight with other dogs? As
specialist tracking and man work dogs, no handler would ever use their
dog to fight another dog? If the police used their dogs to
‘fight’ Pit Bulls, surely they would be guilty of dog
fighting (wildly off the mark I know, but inference for dramatic effect
does what exactly for the storyline?)
Am I being far too cynical to allege that programmes such as this
fuel and produce the resources for forces such as the Metropolitan
Police to increase the size of its ‘dangerous dog unit’ to
the biggest type of unit in the country? There are police forces away
from London that do not even have a Dog Legislation Officer? The DLO is
an appointment that can help dogs and their owners as there is a
dedicated specialist officer available to examine dogs that may have
been initially identified as Pit Bull type which are later identified
as not being of type and the officer is also on hand to advise on
incidents involving dogs, because unlike the commentator on ‘Send
In The Dogs’, we all know that any dog can become the most
fearsome known to man if they do not receive responsible training and
care from their owners and become a risk to people, dogs and other
animals.
Surely if there is a time that the dog owner test as advocated by
amongst others the Coalition For Improved Dog Ownership Standards
(C-fidos) was needed it is now. Rather than calling for the destruction
of a whole breed of dogs and their variants/types, Lord Baker of
Dorking should be calling for improved funding for local authorities to
use education and enforcement to deal with the problems of
irresponsible dog ownership.
Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:35 pm by Lorz
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thats what i said Shelley 
