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DOG MAN - Thursday 10 May 2001
Martin McKenna seems to know more than most when it comes to man's best friend. Martin is the Tarzan of the dog world - effectively raised by a pack of strays.
by Martin is passionate about dogs and is very keen to remind us …"A dog is not a pet remember. It's not a guinea pig, it's not a budgie. We know more about the wildlife in Africa, lions and all that, than we know about the dog in the backyard. You know the dog in the backyard is more likely to bite us than the lion in the bush?"
Martin knows about dogs. .. from the age of 10, he ran away from home... and lived with a pack of strays. "For 3 years I lived in a coalshed with dogs. I had no telly or radio or anything like that and I didn't want to be a human, because they were too bad. I just used to sit there and watch the dogs and watch what they did."
An old photograph of Martin and his identical brothers is all he has from his childhood. He still gets emotional when he talks about the day he ran away. It all started when he sicked his German Shepherds on a pair of abusive teachers - and the dogs were destroyed. From that moment on, Martin preferred the company of animals.
These days Martin uses what he learned from the dogs to teach people how dogs think. By treating their dogs like a member of the family, Martin says a member of their family is going to get hurt.
"If your dog is treated as more important than the humans in the pack, then it has the right to dominate and punish anyone else in the pack."
The ultimate example of what happens when dogs lose respect for humans, Martin says, is what happened on Fraser Island. "The same thing can happen on suburban streets. If we let our dogs roam.. if we let our dogs out of the yard… if we let our dogs play biting games with children and stuff like that… we're doing the same thing. "
Martin's Laws - and his life - are now part of a book which contain some very important rules for dog owners:-
- Feed it last
- Never let it win any games
- Always make the dog come to you
- Put barking dogs in the backyard where there's less stimulation
- Don't yell at a neighbour's noisy dog, it'll think you're barking in agreement. Throw it a bone instead.
It sounds harsh, but a happy dog knows its place.
Contacts
Name: "The Dog Man" BookAddress: ABC Shops
Name: Martin McKenna
Phone: 02-66771746
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