(Kennel - Fear Aggression May 2013 Part 1, 2013. [user generated content Youtube] HoundsTownUniversity. 26th May 2013. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0vVFgVsFCE [Accessed 28th November 2014].)
KEY QUOTATIONS FROM THE VIDEO CLIP:
0.00 - 0.46: " Dog mental instability and I wanna make comparisons to human mental instability, where we live in a world of mental illness. We all accept the fact there are people with ADHD, PTSD ... bipolar disorder or autism, paranoia ... So why do we immediately with dogs eliminate that and we just make it a very simple diagnosis ... dogs are either beaten or they're afraid ... but to get to the route of the problem, we really need to understand the dog "
0.47 - 1.00:
" I'm going to introduce a yellow lab, one or two years old, he's bitten people, and we wanna see if we can rather than label him one thing, deal with his energy and his problem "
2.02 - 2.30: " I want it to be clear that this dog is not abused, it has come in as a rescue ... but he has highly aggressive behaviour ... What I am going to try and do is take his bad energy and give him my good energy. It's a transfer of energies I really believe that. This is fear, it's not viciousness. He does not want to fight with me - He wants me to get the hell out of here. The problem is, he never gets comfortable with this. "
3.06 - 3.57:
" If this was a human being, a child, and now with all our sophistication we study ... bipolar disorder, so this is in my mind genetic, the dog regardless ... Human, animal - frontal lobe of our brain that does all the thinking and all the sophisticated thinking and an animal brain ... is either fearful ... they don't have deep deep thoughts. He's saying, how do I get rid of this nut “ 4.10 - 4.13: " And rather than this behaviour getting better, it's actually getting worse. " 4.19 - 4.39: " And obviously my problem is trying to safely get this dog, so then the next intellectual thought would be to put a lope, one of these poles with a noose on ... and of course that would make this matter ten times worse. If I came prodding at you with a noose, I will certainly not develop your trust. "
5.20 - 5.22: " Patience is a virtue ... We have to obviously do these things safely even if we were examining somebody with a violent mental disorder, it still has to be done safely. You can't have them running through fields if they have committed a homicide. " 6.00 - 6.23:
"It is laughable to me, that an outsider would view this dog, and he's fine once you get him out ... but that's not the reality ... so let's say that is true, this dog on a couch or a bed somewhere, this is what he has got the potential of. So when the five year old child approaches him when he's laying on the coach, and not in this same place, will not get their face bitten off. "
[ONCE THE DOG HAS BEEN WALKED OUT OF THE KENNEL] 11.11 - 11.16: " I just want you to see the energy ... I am understanding his psychological problem. There is no threat here. "
EVALUATIVE THOUGHTS
Through the commentary within the clip, the narrator begins to depict not just the difference between the human and animal brain and how they react to the a certain situation, but also the difference in attitudes regarding dog mental health. He states " we all accept the fact there are people with ADHD, PTSD ... bipolar disorder or autism, paranoia ... So why do we immediately with dogs eliminate that and we just make it a very simple diagnosis ". This statement scratches the surface on the close-minded perception some members of societies have regarding dog aggression. They do not take the time to psychologically understand their issues. This could be due to a number of reasons, including lack of time / resources or perceived lack of importance of dog rehabilitation.