Imagine a world very similar to ours, in which dog ownership
is a stronger part of the national culture. Almost every family has a dog and
there are dog parks in every neighborhood. Dog culture is so ingrained that
dogs are allowed to roam off leash and everyone trains their dogs to come when
they are called. Nearly all the dogs are mellow and well behaved, but some dogs
are not. A small percentage of dogs bite, but society doesn’t like to talk
about it.
So now imagine that in this same world one out of every
three women you knew had been bitten by a dog or would likely be bitten by a
dog in their lifetime. Maybe your best friend has been bitten and two of your
friends from college. You remind yourself, its still just a few dogs causing
almost all the problems. In addition an unknown portion of men have also been
bitten, but most men won’t talk about it so its hard to know how many men. Dog
biting is not only not part of the national dialog around dogs, those who do
try to talk about are often dismissed as being hysterical, holding an unfair
opinion about dogs, or as having enticed a dog to bite them by mistreating the
dog or dressing up like a rib eye steak.
Although you have never been bitten yourself a few dogs have
growled and snapped at you, while you walk down the street. Then a friend’s
dog, which you thought you knew well, starting acting strangely to you and
nearly bit you. In fact, you think that dog would have bitten you, if your
friend hadn’t been there to stop it. Later, you found out it was because the
dog was on medication and “he just wasn’t himself” that day. However, it
doesn’t matter, because you were almost bitten and now you are a little more
timid around your friend’s dog. You never allow yourself to be alone with it.
If you lived in this world, how would you behave towards
dogs? How would you feel if while walking to your car at night you were
approached by a dog you didn’t know? Or on your morning run, a dog started
chasing you for just a few blocks? Would you start carrying pepper spray? Would
you change the side of the street you were walking on if you saw a small pack of
dogs walking towards you? Would you stop wearing leather or anything that
remotely smelled of meat?
You know its not all dogs, but how could you ever tell which
dog was safe and which dog was a potential threat?
Wouldn’t you want to start to talk about it? Wouldn’t you
start trying to change the culture to reduce dog bites?
