Alan Watts, 55, was a man who loved dogs. He loved to rehabilitate them and was very sensitive about their welfare. I’ve skimmed through several online news media articles about him and nobody had a bad word to say about him. He worked tirelessly to give abused dogs another chance in life. He managed Juniper Kennels and Cattery in Kirkton of Auchterhouse near Dundee, Scotland.
The dog in question had been involved in an incident with another dog. As a consequence, it had been placed by the police under the care of Mr Watts at his kennels for rehabilitation as I understand it. The police had seized the dog under a warrant in August.
All we know is that Alan Watts was attacked at his kennels by this large dog and pronounced dead at the scene on December 22, 2021.
The police know the dog’s owner because he was charged in connection with the earlier offence when this individual dog attacked another dog which led to it being placed with Mr Watts.
The particular tragedy of this story is not only that Mr Watts loved dogs and went the extra mile to try and rehabilitate them, his wife, Eileen, had died of cancer in 2013 at the age of 46. Mr Watts had five kids to look after between the ages of 10 and 18. They are all sons.
Now all five are orphaned by the act of one dangerous dog. It’s now been reported that the dog has been euthanised. I have to say that we should think of that dog too, really. It isn’t the dog’s fault that he became a killer. It is the fault of a human who raised that dog incorrectly, who treated that dog poorly. Dogs are not born to be killers.
We know that the character of a sentient being is based on nature and nurture i.e. inherited character and life’s experiences. And somebody allowed this dog to be created. Someone bred large bulldog-type dogs and this dangerous dog was one of the puppies. What happened thereafter we know now. However, it is likely that this dog’s life experiences made him very aggressive.
Those experiences were all in the control of people. This is a people problem. A failure in the dog-human relationship. A failure in dog domestication. I won’t go on. I’m becoming tiresome but I hope that you get the point. If you disagree with me then by all means leave a comment which I would very much welcome.
