Neck Collar or Breast Harness? Do Dogs have a Choice?

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I WAS SHOPPING IN A LOCAL STORE WHEN I NOTICED ANOTHER shopper with a service dog. The dog looked nice and calm as service dogs ususally do. I noticed that the dog had both a breast harness and a neck collar. The shopper had the rope attached to the neck collar and not to the breast harness. I wondered why. I wanted to askl the shopper why she didn't prefer the breast harness over the neck collar to restrain the dog. But I didn't, thinking that she might be offended.

For long I have been bothered by dogs being pulled around and restrained by a neck collar. I don't know how dogs feel about that, but I suspect they wouldn't be comfortable. A breast harness would be a much less painful way of being restrained. I notice around me that the use of breast harness is increeasing, but very little. Most dogs continue being restrained and pulled away with neck collars. I wish we could ask dogs how they feel.

I can't shake off the photo of one of our army pesonnel, paid byour tax dollars, dragging an Iraqi person by a rope around his neck in Abu Ghraib prison during our invasion of Iraq based on a false premise. And I wonder whether that particular action, subsidized by our tax dollars, was not a reflection of the neck collar around a dog's neck, letting the prisoner know that he was no better than a dog. Did the puller get that idea from the dog he had pulled or seen being pulled that way?

Yes, President George Bush did apologize on our behalf for that conduct, and for worse conduct, both in English and Arabic. He could have prevented the need for an apology to begin with.

Cruelty to animals is not a trivial matter.

There was a ray of hope that as a people we do have a feeling against creulty to animals. South Dakota governor Kristi Noem quickly lost her expected elevation to potential vice-president position when she revealed that she had shot her dog dead because she could not train the animal. But furor against her has not lasted long. She is now the incoming president's nominee as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

So much for symapthy for innocent animals.

We have about 90 million dogs in this country, most kept as pets in human households. I am sure that most of them are treated well. Yet, according to the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animanls, 50,00 animals (dogs and others) have beenn transported to shelters in the last ten years.

To conclude, I say to the dogs of the world: stand your ground if you are pulled by a neck collar.

Seriously, I think neck collars should be banned in favor of breast harnesses when retaining is required by law or common sense.