As a rule, majority of Jamaicans are not animal fanatics. We take care of our pets (some more than others) but most of us don’t go overboard. My whole life I’ve grown up with dogs around me. As a child there was always a dog or two in the yard wherever I’ve lived. But that was their place, out side in the yard. They ate whatever was left over from the dinner table. You were warned not to touch them as dogs were dirty. Yes, they were given names and were regarded as the family pet, but somehow you never really got close to them. Seeing stray dogs or even dead dogs on the roads was a very common sight. Not many Jamaicans would take the time to really care. A dog, was a dog, was a ‘dawg’.

You can imagine my shock when on a visit to the UK one day seeing a lady arrive at the park with a baby buggy out of which jumped a dog. Yes, that’s right; she brought her dog to the park for a walk. She proceeding to follow behind him and after he did a ‘poo’ she dutifully scooped it in a bag. ‘What a piece a pappy show’, I think I was going to have a conniption that day. Anyway living abroad for a while I came to see dogs in a whole new light.

Then, I married a dog lover and now have even more dogs around me at any given time. They still have to stay outside in the yard, but now I talk to them, pet them, buy special food for them or cook cornmeal for them. I’m excited when they have puppies and carefully choose the homes the young ones go to. I even cry if any of them should die.

We still have stray dogs’ galour in Jamaica and there are still nuff dead dogs on the roads; however I do believe that as a people our attitude towards dogs has improved significantly. Only the other day on the ‘Smile Jamaica it’s Morning time’ program there was a young lady advertizing her new business which was a kind of spa for dogs. She sells dog clothes (stop laughing), you can have your ‘doggie’ groomed and pampered, and if you have to be out of town for any time you can board them out. In fact it’s not so uncommon now in Jamaica to see ladies around town with a little cute, furry dog in their arms or trotting close by.

Dogs make great pets, companions and guards. They will definitely defend you with their lives. And if they even have ‘rubber teeth’ (as we say in Jamaica if they are not bad), they make a great substitute alarm system, dem mek nuff noise. As well as they act as a deterrent and sometime a means of detection for intruders. So if you have a dog in your yard treat it kindly, it could save you life one day. Or the next time you see a dog on the road, remember it could be someone’s pet.

Nuff love