COM 0140.046 2000-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

dogs put forth for a chance to go hunting. Similarly, a multitude of accounts detail how dogs will continue to follow scent, and chase and catch game even if injured and even if quite aware, from instinct and/or experience, that the quarry they are after is more than capable of fighting back and injuring them (boars, bears, bucks, the larger cats, aggressive antelope species, etc.) In Hawaii, particularly rural Hawaii, many dogs carry distinct hunting traits. Notably, almost all dog training methods rely on the "alpha dog" concept of the wolf pack. The human owner or trainer takes on the "alpha dog" role and the dog accepts and follows training as a natural part of pack subservience. Who would claim that most dogs prefer to be confined, fenced, or chained to a doghouse or a coconut tree rather than running in the wild with its "alpha dog" master or other "pack-mates? The domestic dog so familiar to us all is thus, in large ways or small, a wolf in other clothing. Even the family cocker spaniel, if it considers itself to be guarding a home territory or new baby, or pups of its own, can suddenly turn into a startlingly aggressive creature, taking on other animals or humans many times its size, and fighting to the death if necessary. All postmen and meter-readers are acutely aware of these canine instincts. Thus it behooves us to always remember that dogs are dogs -not some totally predictable humanoid "pet" which exists in the eye of the wishful human but not in the mind and instinctual spirit of the dog. Disney has done our modern culture a great disservice. Given the choice, many dogs much prefer "hunting" and the chance to run in the wild -even at the risk of injury - to what humans consider the tranquil life of a home, kennel or yard. Humans love to philosophize and moralize, and to deny our own instinctive nature. It is improper to force our own philosophies on a dog, or to declare that all dogs are the same or all are "pets". We should understand and appreciate the dog for what he is, and enjoy both his domestic tendencies and his ancestral instincts. B. Ka'imiloa Chrisman, M.D. copyright May, 2001 The Hawaii Humane society Few people seem to know that the former Hawaii Humane Society Executive Director, Lisa Fowler, and the current one, Grayson Hashida, are members of the Humane Society of the United States (H.S.U.S.) and attend their national meetings. How many other members of the Hawaii Humane Society's Board are also members has not been determined. The H.S.U.S. is a major animal rights group, often mentioned in the media right next to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.). They are simply less radical and prefer a somewhat more subtle course toward the same goals and purposes. The H.S.U.S. "assists" the many local humane societies with meetings and propaganda, not funding, whereas its officers make more than $250,000 per year. It's 4