Geelong Animal Welfare Society president Dr Ian Walter has pleaded with Geelong puppy owners to look after them.

His plea comes after increasing signs that more pups are being neglected by their owners.

Dr Walter said more dogs were having to be destroyed because they had been so badly treated they could not be placed in new homes.

"One Tuesday, of the 20 I had to put down, 14 of them were beause they could not be put into a new home," he said.

"Some dogs are just so scared and damaged that you cannot handle them.

"We had to introduce a sedation protocol so that staff could handle them safely."

He said the first three months of a pup's life were critical.

"You need to treat a dog well when it is a pup so it has trust in humans," he said. If you don't then you destroy that trust.

"Mistreating, tormenting and using violence against a dog kills it psychologically.

"Unfortunately, it is becoming an increasing trend here."

Dr Walter said it was easy to train a happy and healthy dog.

"When you want to praise a dog use a high pitched voice," he said.

"Reward the dog when they do something good.

"Just make sure you look after your animal by talking to it, patting it or ruffle its fur.

"Obviously, you get the benefit from a happy, well-trained dog, and the dog enjoys it as well."

Also worrying the society is the number of owners who do not want to collect their animals when told by the society their dogs have been found. We phone the owners and let them know we have their dog, but they tell us they don't want it back," he said.

"Normally it is because they do not want to pay the costs or fines that are associated with the dog.

"With council fines and the fee we charge, it can be up to $550 to get the animal back."

Dr Walter said some owners bought dogs without realising the costs associated with owning them.

"What it shows to me is that people think the animal is expendable," he said.

"Dogs are more than some sort of decoration in the back yard."

by Ryan Reynolds

Geelong News

Wednesday, June 9, 2010