Volume 50 Issue 2 - February 2012 : Others

 

Walking with your dog sounds like a real treat. It conjures up images of walking with an obedient companion looking up to you with adoring eyes as you pull them by hand through thickets of sweet smelling roses under a clear blue sky amidst rustling sounds of twigs from trees around you.

Until you meet Nicolaus Manewe, the reality of dog walking is far from the idyllic picture painted above. He met his fate one peaceful Friday afternoon after deciding to alight a combi along the ever-flowing Western Bypass highway from his work in Block 8.

Nico resides in Gaborone West and the best option to reach home on time was to inch through plush BKT suburbs on the western side of G-West. By the corner of plot 17630, as he vividly recalls, he came face to face with a 30kg wrinkled faced pit-bull which had not, in its five-year existence, ventured out of its territory without the company of its owner.

The meeting with Nico was not by design as the dog escaped from its owners’ leash and ran amok enjoying the experience of exciting discovery outside its usual terrains. That afternoon the owner had decided to take a walk with the heavily built canine around his neighbourhood as part of his plan to engage in light routine exercises. Because of its inherently violent temperament it tore Nico’s clothes to pieces. His loud screams summoned a security guard who sought the assistance of his colleagues to save him from potentially fatal attacks.

They hit the ferocious ‘beast’ several  times but each time the dog would retreat and renew its efforts to get at the hapless Nico. Nico’s ordeal constitutes numerous such cases of people attacked by dogs while under the watchful eye of their owners in what has now become a fashion trend, simply referred to as Dog-walking.

It’s not entirely a new phenomenon but it has become fashionable these days especially in high income areas like some Gaborone suburbs. “It is vital for dogs to engage in physical exercise and there is completely nothing wrong with training your dog to walk on the sidewalk.

 I have met some well-mannered dogs that have been engaging in walking compared to those that are enclosed in their pens in backyards,” says one of Gaborone’s dog breeders, Kenneth Matlapeng. Matlapeng posits that contrary to some popular beliefs, dogs that are chained in their pens for longer periods developed a certain degree of aggression and hostile attitude towards strangers. Botswana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) chairperson, Adele Ntobedzi, says dog walking is an exciting trend that should be encouraged.

She says it has been practiced in Europe and the US where people develop excellent relations with the canines. However, Ntobedzi cautions that uncontrolled dog walking can lead to some dogs enjoying becoming stray. She says countries such as the United Kingdom have banned untrained dogs from dog walking and hefty fines are preferred to curb incidents of harm from uncontrolled dog walking.

According to some documented information, harbouring a vicious dog such as a pit-bull in the US requires a one million dollar liability insurance policy to cover harm by the dog. Such dogs need to be confined in their kennels and securely leashed under the watchful eye of the owner. Assistant Superintendent

Banneetse Keakile of Sir Seretse Khama Police says though he has heard about incidents of bite trauma caused by dogs, his office has never received reports of such nature. Quizzed on what action they would take if they were to receive news of attack, Keakile says they find recourse in the Penal Code as determined by the Reckless and Negligence Act.

Section 240 stipulates that “any person who unlawfully does any act, or omits to do any act which it is his duty to do, by which harm or omission harm is caused to any person is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months”.

According to Wikipedia encyclopaedia, dog walking is both a past time and a profession involving the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog’s residence and then returning. This constitutes part of the daily exercise regime needed to keep a dog healthy. It also provides exercise and companionship for the walker.

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