I WISH to offer a more balanced perspective than last Thursday's letter by Ms Jasmine Tan ('Don't blame the dogs'), who defended the observations made in support of biting dogs in last Monday's report, 'Small dogs, big bites'.

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Dogs are territorial and it could interpret you passing by their house as an intrusion to their space., hence it is provoked.

Obviously in this case, the owner did not train the dog that it did a wrong thing so the dog was never corrected and would keep repeating the same thing. Its the owner's fault, not entirely the dog's as it thought it was doing something the owner wanted it to do.

Remember that silly saying in British common law lore: "Every dog has one bite" ? Well in a nation which has literally thousands of dogs, there will be lots of people being bitten because of that "one bite" tradition.
Dogs are our neighbours and some Sufis used to give way to the dog along the highway because they should give way to the lesser creatures always.
What are dont understand is why we are not allowed to keep cats but allowed to keep dogs in HDB flats? This can be wrongly perceived as a pro-Chinese rule because although in Chinese eat dogs, in Sinigapore they loved them fanatically.

Problem of speedwriting again. Sorry. Correction is as follows:
What I dont understand is why we are not allowed to keep cats but allowed to keep dogs in HDB flats? This can be wrongly perceived as a pro-Chinese rule because although in China some Chinese eat non-pet dogs, in Sinigapore they loved them fanatically something that I as an animal lover envy them very much..

"Dogs are territorial and it could interpret you passing by their house as an intrusion to their space., hence it is provoked."

That's not acceptable in HDB because the "territory" is limited to the owner's home. It's the owner's responsibility to keep it on a leash if the dog is territorial. We're talking about 30m here and there's no way we have >30m apart between our neighbour's door.

I'm sorry for your predicament. It must have been a really traumatic experience for you.

However, based on your description, it is distinct that the fault lies with the owner, not the dog. The owner has brought up the dog to be aggressive to humans, maybe as a guard dog. The fact that the dog ran back to it's owner wagging it's tail shows that it is doing what it is conditioned for. I.e its expecting a reward and he HAS been rewarded previously for it! The owner is entirely at fault for the wrong conditioning and training, not the dog. In fact, I would say a well trained dog is 100% predictable.

I don't think more rules and law should be enacted as there are currently enough anti-pet laws.

It's a pity that you wanted all dogs to be leashed in public places. If a dog is well mannered, non-aggressive, sociable and is able to return to the owner's side 100% of the time on recall, it has earned it's right to be allowed off leash.

I hope some day, you will come to realize how magnificent man's best friend can be.

Blame my luck. I have been "attacked" 3 times by dogs in my life. Once I was bitten by a dog for no reason. The second time was when a pack of dogs were together (about 5 or 6 of them), let loose by their owners at night, they gathered round me while I was walking home, until another more interesting subject came about. I couldn’t remember what saved me because I was already so scared. Third by a dog on heat. (During these few episodes, I didn’t own any dog.)

Long ago before the leash rule came into effect, we do see dogs going after people cycling and on motorbikes.

I do still love dogs because I know most of the dogs will give up their lives to save the owner. We had one before that did just that.

Gabriel

I empathize your unforgettable encounter with dogs. I afraid with the HDB environment, it is even more dangerous if the dogs choose to attack. Especially if you are in a lift with them. No way to escape.

Gabriel ~ Assuming it wasn't the ST's editing, you wrote to the effect that dogs are dangerous because of their sharp teeth. So too humans if you've been bitten by one - not necessarily a baby or insane person. And having knives, razor blades or scissors around the house. Actually, cats have even sharper teeth if you've played with them and claws - just as dangerous?

You also asserted that dogs being animals are unpredictable. Humans aren't animals too and not unpredictable?

I've been bitten by larger unprovoked dogs the same way you were. But I don't HAVE TO overreact prescribing this or that restraint on dogs as if there aren't enough restrictions already. Cars hurt and kill overwhelmingly more people yearly than domestic or wild animals ever have or could. Why no calls for additional restraints like banning licences for life - on careless, reckless or inebriated drivers - supposedly with less dangerous teeth and less unpredictability to endanger others?

Is there a double standard because you belong to a 'superior' species and not a 'lesser'? If we HAVE TO take risks with billions of humans daily - unpredictably driving, crossing roads, delivering hot drinks, running, playing etc dangerously - not to mention lightning strikes and terrorist attacks, why focus on dogs? You don't need to personally experience pain to prescribe harsher restrictions against greater potential threats, right?

Med 09:59 ~ I think the official HDB reason is that cats wander and can't be controlled like smaller dog breeds can - which is asinine reasoning. I know Malays whose cats live and die fully indoors - trained to do their thing in human toilets. I'm sure cats can be accustomed to leashed walkies too. That dogs, however lap-sized can bark noisily didn't occur to HDB honchos?

You may have reason to suspect a pro-Chinese bias except that cat-loving all races - not just Muslims - are discriminated too? I don't think Islam forbids keeping dogs despite folklore that misimputes contact with dog saliva as 'unholy' for whatever hygiene rationale (rabies?) long forgotten.

Gabriel,

I have a similar experience at around your age too. Unlike your experience with a tiny dog, the dog that bit me was a huge one. I was walking past a friend's house and his dog was sleeping. Suddenly, it came from behind and caught me totally offguard. My left thigh was bitten quite badly and it left an ugly scar since.