Humans And Dogs Switch Roles

We talk about dogs being “fear biters” but does it seem to you that maybe more humans are becoming “fear biters?” Unfortunately, they aren’t biting other humans, they’re hurting the ones who can’t really “bite” back — dogs, cats and other furred innocents.

I know we’ve always had more than enough inhumane and cruel humans to cause problems but as I travel around the country the one thing that stands out is the fear I see and hear expressed at all levels of American society. Whether its terrorists or bad politicians or scary weather or just whatever, there’s an awful lot more fear than I’ve ever seen in my forty+ years. Maybe it was this fearful a time briefly during the Cuban Missile crisis or even at periods during the 1960’s when the atom bomb seemed to hang over everyone’s heads. Much of that fear seaped into the popular culture.

Nowadays everyone seems so afraid of this or that. Sometimes the fear has moved so far into the groundwater of their souls that they aren’t even consciously aware of just how much fear rules their lives until it becomes a point of contention.

So why do I bring this up on the Dog Blog? Because although I don’t report it here, there has been what seems to be an increase in really crazy kinds of animal abuse. And not just in this country. It’s all over. I just wonder if the animal abuse is not another symptom that many of our social systems are out of whack. Maybe we need to rethink why our societies function the way that they do and maybe, just maybe, we need to rethink those same societies. Could it be that we need to rework our societies and our governments to make them more humane? Could it be that the inhumanity we see towards the weakest and most vulnerable — dogs and cats– is the fear biting that would be redirected towards other humans if given the chance?

If that’s the case, that as Randy Grim so aptly pointed out in his recent interview, we have to look for ways to help the most desperate of our human populations if we are to make life better for our canine and feline companions on this planet. We have to find a way to soothe the fear and help our fellow humans find avenues to move past the fears. We can’t be everywhere to stop the abuse but every time we help another human move past the fears, and the fear-biting, that rules their lives, we save a score of innocent dogs and cats from becoming victims.

How can we do this, prevent animal abuse by changing the world around us? I don’t have any easy answers. Do you have suggestions on how we as a group or individuals make our world less fearful? How can we change the future of children who are on the path to fear-biting and dog abuse? I know there isn’t one or two quick answers but if you have something to suggest bark it in. Who knows? Someone who can use it might be listening.