A Dog's Life

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday March 26, 2005 15:35 by Sean Crudden sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 042 93 71310

Why is there so much Restriction on Dogs?

A few weeks ago I took a walk with an Irish Setter belonging to my son who lives in Maynooth. On Holy Thursday a young Golden Retriever moseyed up to my back door and stayed for a little while. I don’t know about huskies and Dobermans - and I know that some small dogs (like some small people) can be quite vicious - but the two dogs I met were lovely.

"Pepsie" age 1 puts her paw up to owner Colleen Mc Govern

"Lo the Indian whose poor, untutored mind
Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind.
He thinks that in that other Sky
His faithful dog shall bear him company."

Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)

What with pooper scoopers, Dog Wardens and lethal injections the dog as a household pet leads a threatened life. Who is responsible for the raft of restrictive legislation making a monkey puzzle of a dog’s life in Ireland today? The answer as any child in a civics class could tell you is "The Oireachtas." (As every child knows the Oireachtas comprises The Dáil, The Seanad and The President). However the technicalities of enacting legislation are not really what I am driving at - what really I want to know is what is the political motive force behind the Acts controlling dogs?

If I looked up the days and the dates (perhaps some younger reader of indymedia with more patience than me might do that) I could find out in specific detail who proposed the legislation and who supported it. But even that would not answer the question that is in my mind. In my feeble and paranoid mind the legislation is Blueshirt legislation. My own conclusion does not surprise me because my opinion is that in the benighted world of Irish politics all politics for the last half-century or more is Blueshirt politics. For all I know the only politics possible now (or in the future) is Blueshirt politics?

I often think that in Jenkinstown it would be better if there were all dogs and no sheep rather than all sheep and no dogs. No-one doubts the benefit of a dog as a household pet - especially if there are children around. My view is not an uncompromising one but I think the balance should be shifted at least slightly in favour of dogs.