This morning, as I rode to work, I was bitten by a Cattle Dog on my thigh and I'm pretty ticked off. The owner was walking some 20 feet behind and I'm not one to get pissed off in an instant so it wasn't until later that I thought I should have dismounted and flogged the owner over his head with the stick he was holding. Instead, as I passed I informed him, "Your dog just bit me!". His face remained blank — a bit like a cloned Homer. And after I had passed him I turned around to see that he did nothing to discipline his dog. And that shits me!

A quick quiz — What are Cattle Dog born and bred to do? If you don't know the answer you should never ever get a Cattle Dog as a pet.

Let's be clear, this isn't the dogs fault. This wasn't an attack. It did exactly what Cattle Dogs are bred to do. Bite. And the owner should know this and should have his dog on a leash at all times in public. It's dick-head owners like him that give dogs a bad name.

I love dogs. My last dog, Zac, was a 40 Kg Bullmastive cross Boxer and was tall enough to straddle a Rottweiler. He had a heart of gold — didn't have a bad bone in his body. He would never have bitten anyone, but regardless, I never gave him the opportunity. If I walked him off his leash it was only when no one was around and if someone was I would put him back on his leash well before we passed. And when we walked past someone I had both hands on his leash and put myself between Zac and the other person. These are simple practices. You don't give your dog the chance to bite someone. Anything can trigger a dog to bite. It could be in their nature like with Cattle Dogs, it could be the perfume someone is wearing, or your dog simply might not like the character of the person (they can sense arse-holes, you know).

There are no dangerous dogs, only dangerous owners. If you own or intend to own a dog, keep this in mind. If your dog bites someone in public it's because you let it. And if it results in your dog being put-down it's your own fault. It is never your dogs fault. Likewise, if you are bitten by a dog understand that that dog would probably be charming if it had responsible and caring owner.