CANACONA: It is true that “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than it loves itself”. However reality is contrasting as unsupervised super bred dogs let out by their owners to answer nature’s call are creating nuisance when they charge at innocent street walkers or joggers in Goa.
With an ever increasing fashion to possess such ornamental or decorative monstrous hounds who are kept tied for the major part of the day and let free to get a little physical exercise and to litter the streets, it has become a common sight to see men and women walkers and joggers with water bottle in one hand and a wooden cane in the other for self-protection, at least in various parts of Margao in South Goa.
With the advent of mobile phones, man has become lonely and if one is wealthy what better way to have honest company than to own a dog. It serves two purposes; one it gives you unlimited company while also offering its services to assure you of security of wealth by scaring robbers away.
It’s also a regular phenomenon in Goa to see people taking their prized possessions of mostly foreign breeds to answer nature’s call mainly in the morning or evening; they first of all dirty the surroundings as they pee and doggy-do, thereby posing a serious health hazard to the surroundings.
These unattended dogs also charge at each and every passer-by and scare them out of their wits.
There are unreported incidents of these unruly dogs slobbering trousers or scratching or even biting the innocent walkers sometimes without any warning.
A regular walker taking the road from Chowgule College, Gogol to Math road and back speaking to this correspondent said that it’s funny to hear dog owners talking to their dogs, like “Come here, Champ! Don’t do that, come here, there’s a good boy. Oh dear, no, please don’t do that. Please come here, Champ darling. Come on. Look, come here darling.”
But for the passer-by it is horror as they are at the mercy of the dog owner and the dog himself while the owner keeps on assuring that he doesn’t bite.
Another elderly man talking about this menace said: “Whenever I pass by this road the unchained boisterous hounds come barking towards me, it is a terrifying moment as they come too close for comfort. Once my wife was bitten on her thigh since then she has left her regular walk.”
“With no regulations from the authorities this doggy terror is not going to end sometime soon,” felt the elderly man.
Praveen Dias, a regular walker from Margao while expressing his right to walk freely, said that the dog owners should be slapped with hefty fines in case of dog bites. Only then will the wealthy and bold people learn to respect the right of others to walk on the roads without being hounded
