Dogs of SOJ

This article is intended to address the most common concerns around stray dogs (friendly, politically correct words = street dogs) who live around SOJ and often found all over in community spaces all over India. Residents are often scared of dogs, their most common sentiment. They are disgusted by mere existence of them. Whether or not an incident has happened in the community, residents often generalize situations, read news on dog bite cases, watch viral videos from other places, which increases the scare, and want the dogs out of their premises. A select few people are compassionate and can offer care to them who often formally become part of the local volunteer networks. Like many other social issues in India, residents are often unaware of government undertakings and volunteer networks and the right ways to approach their problems. This article hopes to address these issues.

I hate dogs, I panic at the sight of them

Its never too late to get over any fears. Since childhood it has been taught that dogs are man's best friends. That has been said for a reason. Our parents teach us to get over our fear of darkness, how to be careful when we cross roads, how not to talk to strangers etc. This is one such teaching which if not home grown, can be acquired over time. It is not necessary that you must love dogs, but because of your fear, existence of dogs cannot be challenged in your area, your community or our country

What if the dog bites me

For starters, a dog does not bite just because it has to or just because it has teeth. Just like humans, a dog may bite happen because of trauma that it must have been through. The aggression and insecurity and threat that a dog feels from a human, is why a dog attacks. Which means, it is best to humanize dogs and get them used to human touch and smell, so they feel safe and in turn make our surroundings safe. When you read about dog bite cases in India, also evaluate the people who live there. Dog behavior in an area is often an reflection of how people treat them.

I hate when volunteers feed dogs in my area

The most commonly identified reason for dog aggression is hunger. The majority life of a stray dog goes into finding food, water and shelter. In absence of its basic necessities dogs often wander into residential premises where chances of finding leftover food is very high. This increases animal-human conflict. Dogs also are not interested in entering private spaces and humans in majority, of course, don't want them. Thus to keep the dogs sane is the single good enough reason to continue feeding them. Let the volunteers do that.

So volunteers feed and assume no other responsibility?

Other than the primary purpose of feeding dogs, it is volunteers responsibility to ensure they are vaccinated and sterilized. You should question the volunteer network in your area on the same. There are various NGOs which work on this cause and you should also help facilitate. Feeding the dogs helps gain trust and in turn helps them catch easily for these tasks, hence it is pivotal that volunteers who feed must also vaccinate and sterilize. Volunteers must keep the areas clean after feeding. They must choose a spot which is not frequented by a lot of people and children. A designated area can be offered by the community to do so.

Feeding dogs increases their population

Biologically also this isn't true. It is a common perception that just because volunteers feed dogs in an area dogs keep increasing in that area. Dogs multiply if not sterilised. Hence sterilisation is mandatory. Feeding keeps the hunger away and hence keeps them sane and human-friendly.

I have lot of dog poop in my parking area

Like all other urban waste, stray dog poop has to be cleaned, by yourself or your staff. The best way is to clean it and discard it in a location where its okay for you to dogs to poop. Dogs will poop where they get their smell. So leave the dog poop in a corner where you want the dogs to poop again. Clean the area with disinfectant where you don't want the dogs to poop. This takes some repeat cycles, but works effectively.

I want volunteers to stop feeding in my area

Never. It is a social and moral responsibility to feed dogs. The Hon High Court has recognized this - it is our fundamental duty to do so. The court recognizes you as a compassionate human being. So you cannot ask volunteers to stop feeding stray dogs. Plus for all the reasons above feeding is essential. For anything else, stopping the feeding can increase your woes, not reduce it. Volunteers must keep the areas clean after feeding. They must choose a spot which is not frequented by a lot of people and children. A designated area can be offered by the community to do so. By stopping feeding, dogs are not going to go away. Dogs can feed on rodents, birds, anything else carnivorous and can stay hungry for days together. In fact by cutting their food supply, who can be held responsible for a hungry-angry dog ?!

I get scared when dogs chase my car or my scooter

Its important to understand why dogs might do so. It is because some car or some vehicle has killed one of the dogs from their pack. As such they chase and bark to ensure their own safety. They might look ferocious and scary when they do so. But the best you can do is slow down your vehicle and stop if needed. The dogs will automatically stop chasing when they know they have nothing to fear from you. Also a biscuit a day can go a long way to befriend dogs. Once they know you come in peace, they will naturally welcome you with wagging tails instead of barks. Is this too much to ask you would say? And the response stays - be inclusive in your living spaces. If not in your community, these tips will help you elsewhere in the country. Dogs are everywhere.

I am scared for my child

As a parent it is natural for you to be worried for your child. But are you sure that fear does not originate from you? A child in fact is born with no fears. Over time we build their sensibilities and they take some for themselves. You could seek help from a local volunteer in your area in order to ensure that your child knows how to approach dogs and how dogs can approach your child. Its like every other relationship which works both ways. Make this a part of your child's upbringing who learns to love animals as much as he loves his human beings.

Dogs are unpredictable, I don't trust them

In fact dogs are far from being unpredictable. Humans are much more unpredictable than them. They are the most expressive of all animal species after the Orangutan. Yet, they have limited set of emotions. They are happy, sleepy, hungry, sad or angry. You can take care of the 4 emotions easily to ensure the 5th emotion never gets exposed to you or your near and dear ones. You will have to take some time (much less than reading this article) to learn how to befriend dogs, and how they can be approached - a nice compilation can be read here

Human life is more important than dogs

The most common argument a volunteer hears is human safety is more important than life of a dog. Of course there is no denying that.

But this is not about humans versus dogs - its about choosing love for animals or treating them inhumanly.

What use is an evolved human being who can think and talk and express - if that human being is unable to offer care to an animal who cannot talk and express? Time and again, it has been proven that loved dogs are a gift to mankind. All they need is some food, water and love. They dont want diamonds, they dont want 3BHK houses, they dont want SUVs. If you see to it that the dogs in your area are looked after - incidents of animal-human conflict can definitely be waned off. Cooperation however is the key. 1 person pelting the stones are dogs can overrule all efforts of 10 other care givers.

Why can't we relocate dogs elsewhere

Dogs are social and pack animals. When you move one pack out of a premises, another pack of dogs will fill its void. No amount of gated protection can be made. They will find ways to enter the areas in search of food, water and shelter. The law recognises a dog's domicile. Also relocation of dogs is against the law. The right way to go about it, is to ensure every dog in the pack is sterilised so the pack population never rises and stabilises over a period of time. Yes - this is a continuous effort and not a one time job.

So why are dogs increasing all over the country

The animal birth control program (ABC) is not as effective as it should be. The local government alone cannot do this job by themselves and they need strong resident volunteer network to help them run this effectively. There are strict guidelines as to which dogs can be picked up for sterilization. And also after operation the dogs must be left behind in the same area, where they were picked up from. If every mohalla committee joins hands in making sure every stray dog is sterlised in this country, the dog population will definitely go down.

Dog population can also come down, if Indians decide to adopt 1 dog in every household - this can solve the problem overnight technically, but an impractical one. However the best we can do is say NO to back door dog breeding, illegal sale of dogs and always encourage people to adopt strays.

AWBI guidelines for societies and gated communities can be read here

Visit www.awbi.org for more details

Song of joy

Census in April 2017: 12 dogs

Census in September 2018: 9 dogs

All vaccinated and sterilised

Security guards in Song of Joy have already been instructed to:

1. Stop the dogs from chasing cars, two-wheelers or pedestrians

2. Stop the dogs from entering children play areas, common amenity areas

3. Report any case of dog aggression in the community so that immediate action can be taken

Meet the dogs of SOJ