Is A Dog A ‘Thing’?

Today on the breakfast news, there was a man talking to Stephen about a law he wants to change. My ears pricked up because it involved dogs.

Apparently if you seriously hurt a police dog, you can only be prosecuted for criminal damage, the same as if you kick a car. But even then, most are not prosecuted.

I am a dog, I have feelings and I hurt if you hit me. I bleed if you stab me. I am not a ‘thing’! I do understand that I am ‘owned’, but I own my Mom as much as she owns me! And I am loved, in a very different way to how she feels about her car!

I am family.

I always believed that animals were protected from cruelty by the Animal Welfare Act but apparently this does not really work with police dogs and horses, because the offence is not considered serious enough, compared with whatever crime the offender was being chased for in the first place!

When humans hurt pet dogs, few are prosecuted and then only because those people who care, like the RSPCA, make a huge amount of effort to find the evidence and to prove that the animal was treated cruelly. 

The law is clear that you are not allowed to mistreat animals that are in your care.

Police dogs are different.  They are doing a job! They work alongside their humans to protect the public, to catch bad people and to protect the other humans! They can make a huge difference to whether a criminal is caught or not!

They can even earn a medal if they show extreme bravery, the Dickens Medal, which is specifically for animals. Can a car win a medal? Can a car be brave? Would a car or a window or any other ‘property’  jump in front of its owner to protect it from harm??

I know I’m biased because I’m ‘just’ a hound, but it seems to me that police dogs are more than objects, much much more, and deserve a lot more respect than they get in the eyes of the law.

If you agree, please sign the petition to get this changed. It’s called Finns Law, and I support it wholeheartedly. 

You can sign here > LINK

Thank you.

Bella.  (Not a thing)