[Njagdu] Australia: Blind man's plea to owners to curb menacing mutts after guide dog attack

[Ginger Kutsch]

Australia: Blind man's plea to owners to curb menacing mutts after guide dog
attack 

Rebekah Cavanagh

Sunday Herald Sun 

June 22, 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/blind-mans-plea-to-owners-to-curb-
menacing-mutts-after-guide-dog-attack/story-fni0fit3-1226668099839

 

Brent Franklin and his guide dog Yorick are attacked by a white dog.
Picture: Chris Scott Source: Sunday Herald Sun

 

THE owners of menacing mutts are risking the lives of blind people and their
guide dogs by letting their pets roam free. 

 

Brent Franklin, who has been blind since birth, was almost knocked off his
feet when an unrestrained Jack Russell lunged at his seeing eye dog, Yorick,
while walking near his Pakenham home on Friday.

 

When Mr Franklin, 42, asked the owner where his dog's lead was, the man
fired back with "it's a f------ park" and stormed off.

 

Mr Franklin said such incidents happen all the time.

 

"The problem is the incidences are increasing," he said.

 

Mr Franklin recalled terrifying and distressing encounters with wayward
pooches, including once when Yorick was pinned to the ground.

 

Another time Mr Franklin was left in the middle of the road trying to shoo
away a big dog that had escaped its elderly owner's clutches.

 

"When you can't see, you don't know what type of dog it is, if it's friendly
or a threat, let alone if the owner is nearby and how they are going to
react," he said.

 

He urged people to show basic respect by keeping their dogs on a lead and
owning only breeds they could control.

 

He also discouraged pet owners from letting their animals approach specially
trained seeing dogs.

 

"Our dogs have a lot to concentrate on," he said.

 

"They have to guide us around safely and these incidences are off-putting to
them."

 

Last year, a guide dog died after being hit by a car while running away from
a pack of pitbulls that had mauled it.

 

Seeing Eye Dogs Australia national client services manager Harry Vanderjagt
said such encounters create problems for the guide dog's future. Some dogs
have lost focus and have had to be sacked.

 

"These encounters are very distressing to both the client and the SED," he
said.

 

It costs about $30,000 to breed, train and place each guide dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/njagdu_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130623/0c48a306/attachment.html>