8 September 2008

Poor behaviour by fellow competitor

Sadly on Sunday at the AKC hunt tests, I witnessed a competitor get very angry at his dog. The reason? His dog wanted to find/hunt birds in the woods instead of in the bird field according to one judge and his dog wouldn't come when called. Many of the quail flew into the woods after they were flushed so that's where a lot of them were roosting. This dog, a very keen English setter, could smell them there. The dog did a great job the day before, finding and pointing a lot of birds. But on Sunday, the owner/handler became enraged because of his dog's behaviour which didn't result in a pass. Near the end of their session, the dog came running out of the bird field, away from his owner (smart dog!). Someone caught the dog and the owner put the leash on him but then jerked him so hard that he slipped out again. After being caught a second time, the owner rushed the dog to his van yelling "bad dog" to him. Well, at that point, I had to say something and did.

Then I witnessed the owner pick up and throw his dog into the back of the van and yell, "no water for you" and then took his water bowl and threw the bowl and water at the dog. Depriving a hot dog of water can result in heat stroke. I began to get hot under the collar as I saw what was happening and told the owner that his behaviour was totally inappropriate and unsportmanlike and that it certainly wasn't the dog's fault. I wish I had done more for the dog. The guy was just so mad at his dog. He jumped into his car and drove off. As he passed me when I was walking down to the starting line with my dog, I told him that I had found his leash in the field which he had dropped and lost the day before. He couldn't muster any civility to thank me at all, so great was his anger at his dog. I had hoped that this comment would help to cool him down but it didn't because he just said, "aah, forget it" and drove off.

This type of behaviour puts a pall on everyone and it's most unacceptable. No matter how your dog performs - win or lose, pass or fail - it's still a great dog. Guess what - it's usually OUR (the human's) fault when our dogs fail to perform. Many times, we simply haven't trained them well enough or we haven't figured out what methods work best for them. They are "Man's Best Friend" and give us unconditional love, no matter what. Yet sadly, this is how many dogs are treated by their owners.

The club officials briefly discussed how to deal with this man's behaviour. I don't know what they decided but at a minimum, I hope he's informed that his behaviour was unacceptable.

3 comments:

  1. You did the right thing Sylvia. That man should be reported to AKC. I am surprised the judges didn't say anything to this man. I have seen many a judge respond to a handler when mistreating their dogs in the field. It is unfortunate that we require a test to obtain a license for a car but anyone can have dogs or kids. Sorry you had to go through that. It definately takes away from the otherwise awesome weekend you had.

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  2. He should have kicked his own rear end instead of taking revenge on the dog. No water? How bout no beer tonight for him either ?

    Some people don't deserve a dog.

    Barna

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  3. Barna, I certainly agree about some people not deserving to own a dog. Shame on that fellow. I'm going to follow up with the host club to see if they are taking any action.

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