With crime out of control in our beautiful country, we can’t afford to be soft targets. You might ask what’s all this to do with pets?  Well the best deterrent you can have against crime is your dog, no matter how small or how friendly - they are all worth their weight in gold. You see, a dog spells TROUBLE for a would-be assailant on the prowl. The perception is that dogs bite even if they are toothless - and dogs bark even if they are voiceless - and dogs attack even if they are legless - and dogs draw attention even if they are useless! Get it?  They’re the exact opposite of magnates.

And yes, maybe we do have high walls and armed response and we never put our handbag on the car seat next us, but that simply isn’t good enough to deter crime in South Africa today. For a start, we are a mugging waiting to happen because one should not be carrying a handbag at all … even if we do use it for money, cell phone and credit cards which is exactly what defines us as an advertisement for our valuables. Those ‘prized’ items should be concealed on our person either in a body belt, secure pocket or like the old timers, in our bra or socks!  You can laugh … and you will, all the way from the bank, knowing the dreaded criminals won’t be honing in on you.

Our dogs are crime fighters

So we as dog owners should be making full use of our little crime fighter’s natural attributes which cover just about every service the security industry has to offer in the way of  body guards,  early warning alarms, car guards, armed guards and in some cases fake ‘crime fighters’  which just look the part!

Dogs are the best deterrent against crime just by their very presence. Their strength works on the principle of   ‘association of ideas’ - sort of like being frightened as a child by a spotty dog and growing up fearing Dalmatians. And because everyone has heard horror stories about vicious dogs, instinctively we give unfamiliar mutts a wide berth … just in case!

Your dog can’t protect you if he’s not with you

But here’s the thing, unfortunately your crime fighting dog isn’t any good  if you are being hijacked and he’s at home sleeping on the stoep! Or if you wake up in the dark to feel the cold barrel of a gun pressed to your temple …  and poor old Rex is lying in the flower bed with a knife between his ribs. Nasty! Yes very nasty because your dog should have been with you! Get it … he can’t do his job or look the part and help protect you, if he’s not there!