Letters to the Editor
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owners are the key
owners are the key to safe dog ownership. We have had two blue tick coonhounds. coonhounds, as a rule, are wonderful dogs to have. The first was always had a good home. Sweet dog, wonderful temperament and accepted my wife and I as alpha most of the time. Our second dog had been abused and was so out of whack we took her to a dog behaviorist who instructed us to put her on a "no free lunch" clicker training based behavior program. Within a few months she went from being a dog that would lunge at you with no provocation to a dog you could trust reasonably well in a crowd of friends at a party. Yes, we've had two or three events where she behaved inappropriately but it was always our fault for not keeping up with training reinforcement and recognizing her stress limits.
An example of a bad owner behavior I would like to highlight is dogs in public spaces. Too many bad owners let their dogs run loose. The dog typically gets in another dogs face and will not leave them alone which creates, I consider, a harassment situation. People who claim to have their dogs under voice control, tell their dog to come at least five or 10 times before the dog loses interest in the other dog and wanders off completely ignoring their owner.
careless owners, bad training = bad behavior
unfortunately, we can't stop this except through economic incentives such as significantly higher license fees unless the owner can demonstrate participation in a certified obedience class within the past few years.