DogAid

Australia

Guard Dogs !

Guard Dogs - Please help us help them

"Guard dog" or "security dog" companies are listed in the yellow pages, just like any other company pitching a service or a product. The dogs are essentially treated like commodities that are leased and sold for profit.

As "working dogs", most guard dogs are given only the care required to ensure that they will be able to perform their so-called job. Anti-cruelty laws apply to guard dogs, but the insidious nature of the neglect which guard dogs are likely to endure makes their plight one that cannot be properly addressed by these laws. This is especially true since guard dog companies often "rotate" dogs, making it nearly impossible for anyone to closely monitor their condition. Rotation is routine practice in the industry and is intended to keep guard dogs unfamiliar with their location in order to prevent them from becoming "too friendly" towards people in any given area.

Guard dogs are placed on vacant, run-down properties where they are regularly exposed to hazards including shattered glass, rotting garbage, insecure construction and malicious passers-by. Owners of guard dog companies that lease and/or sell guard dogs are motivated by economic interests and the people with whom they contract are pre-occupied with protecting their property. The animals' interests are not taken into consideration in this business equation.

Thousands of dogs are permanently chained and isolated; they are alive but not living. Because they have no voice, they have no choice but to live in hovels and pens, on chains and ropes, in boxes and runs and cages, in basements and garages, in filth and darkness. They are forced to endure blazing heat, bitter cold and wet, fear of storms and unknown noises, taunting by humans, attacks from other animals, and the degradation of having to walk and stand and lie in their own feces and urine, and to never be clean.

Not all guard dogs are vicious killers. Many of these animals used to live with families who ultimately surrendered or abandoned them. However, the nature of the guard dog business is to promote dog aggression. Abuse and isolation can turn even a friendly dog into a biter and dangerous dogs do exist in the industry.

Ironically, when a guard dog does act aggressively, he may face punishment or even death.

Dogs are pack animals and have very definite sociological and psychological needs. Dogs suffer anxiety and depression when they are deprived of social interaction. The worst punishment for people in prison is solitary confinement. For people, this is a temporary measure and usually evoked on humans for terrible crimes which have been committed. A dog may be committed to the same punishment for its entire life, but what crime did this animal commit to deserve such a fate?

DogAid Australia is pushing for total ban on using guard dogs for security in junkyards and on industrial/commercial premises in Victoria.

In the interim we a pushing for Code of Practice to be developed in Victoria so that the dogs that are currently in the system are cared for properly. There is no code of Practice that currently exists for use of Guard Dogs that are declared dangerous or deemed dangerous in Victoria for use on commercial/industrial premises.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US - SIGN OUR PETITION ONLINE HERE - we have two online sites

Petition 1 Ban Use of Guard Dogs

Please contact us if you want to help: dogaid@hotmail.com

(Information above taken from Voice of the Voiceless Organisation website http://www.voiceless.ca/theTruth.html

Adopt- a-dog

We at DogAid Australia are starting a new program call Adopt-A-Dog. It is a program to put people It is to assist people in finding a new home for their pet. <read more>

Visitors Since 29th July 2007