It never bothered me years ago when we were eliminating Hydatids as it paid for the samples taken at the dosing strip annually, and a visit administering worm tablets every 6 weeks. The costs would have been high; I can see where our money went; but now, $35 gets you a plastic tag that cost a few cents to produce. If questioned council officials would say that it pays for dog control.
Most farmers and farm workers keep their dogs confined when not in work, and when you think of the thousands of farm dogs throughout New Zealand, how many of them are impounded or cause problems to anyone other than the farmer who owns them? They certainly don’t fowl the pavements and terrorise postmen.
Why should farmers pay for the urban dog problem? New Zealand would not be where it is today without the working farm dog, and we would have a meagre future indeed if they all suddenly vanished. I suppose there would always be fruit and veg.
It seems totally unreasonable to have to register our farm dogs, after all, aren’t they really just a tool to do a job? We don’t register station-hacks, farm-bikes or chainsaws.
I would like to see everyone who owns a working farm dog, unite and not pay. They can’t take all of us to court. They can’t throw us all in jail. They can’t impound all our dogs.
Incidentally, one of the objectives of the Dog Control Act is “to make better provisions for the care and control of dogs”. Part of this act is on the registration form. Please read it. It’s item 54: Obligations of dog owner.
I would happily sign my cheque for dog registration, in fact be prepared to pay a higher fee, if there were ‘farm dog officers’ visiting unannounced, each and every farm annually, checking the welfare of our working farm and station dogs.
Sadly there is no one looking out for them. The owners answer only to their conscience. Too many don’t have a conscience, or are they in fact, stupid?
I have been witness to much cruelty over the years. Many dogs are skin and bone. You wouldn’t believe the water, for want of a better word, some dogs have to drink, usually out of containers that are never cleaned, often fouled with faeces and urine. One idiot said to me “he shits in it, he can drink it”.
We confine our farm dogs, we give them no choice as to where they relieve themselves, and as a dog’s mind doesn’t think like us, he may accidentally foul the water. He doesn’t think “if I cock my leg here, or squat there, it is going to land in my water container”. If this happens, and the dog isn’t let out for several days (many aren’t) that is all he has to drink. No dog should live like this.
I have seen horrendous living conditions. Once, I saw a line of dog motels where several of the dogs had chewed the front of the kennels so badly the rain used to drive in; on this occasion the dogs were huddled inside, standing in an inch of water. They couldn’t lie down, they had nowhere to go. The owner knew and did nothing, when questioned he shrugged and said “they chewed it”.
Please, if you see dogs being treated like this, report the owner – speak for the dogs.
• Anna Holland is teaching people dog training. For more information www.annaholland.co.nz or Ph 06) 388 1318 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
