When my 2nd daughter was in primary 1 (which was in the afternoon session), I would go fetch her from school after work and send her to my in-laws' house near mine where she would have dinner before going home.
The neighbouring house had a white dog which would bark incessantly at any one passing by that house. So being the only house next to it, my in-laws' family and anyone visiting them bore the brunt of that barking day in and day out which was annoying even for me who did not have to experience it daily. In addition the dog would do that while sticking its head through the grills separating the 2 houses which made it more annoying.
Once while watering his garden, my brother in-law sprayed some water at it. Other times, we threw some stones at it. But no use.
The dog's owners on the other hand made no attempt to try and control it. Once I saw someone peeping out of the window amidst all that barking but did nothing.
One evening when the usual thing happened even when its male owner was at his front door and did nothing, I shouted at the dog to chase it away.
That owner came towards me saying 'why did you do that? it is just a dog. I also know you threw stones at my dog' (obviously they had been observing everything from inside the house all along but made no attempt to control their dog)
My daughter was with me at the main gate when that happened, so I told her to go into the house.
When that man was facing me over the grills I pointed my finger into his face and said 'I don't care if you use a dog or a loudspeaker. But if you shout at me everyday, I'd whack you!'
That fella was stunned, said nothing in return and walked off. I guess he got the point loud and clear.
A year or so after that, I was told that they had gotten rid of that dog because it had bitten their baby grandchild. Serve them right.
You see, every credible dog trainer would tell you that dogs were descended from wolves which are pack animals. In the wild, every pack has a leader that will control the pack. With the leader around, other members of the pack would be 'very well behaved' i.e. submissive. In the absence of a strong leader, members of the pack would fight and try to dominate over the others to become the leader. It is just their natural instinct.
It is the same with dogs which is why one of the first thing that dog trainers tell owners trying to train their dogs is that from day one the owners must be firm and act in ways that show their dogs in no uncertain terms that they are the 'leader' that the dogs must submit to and not the other way around.
I guess only then would this saying by Mark Twain be true - 'If you take a dog which is starving and feed him and make him prosperous, that dog will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a dog and a man'
