National cuts Dog Education Programme out of the budget

From the news item:
English cutting Labour's 'unrealistic and misdirected' spending
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Editor's comment:

I just heard on TV3.co.nz tonight, that our dear young National Party is cutting the Dog Education Programme that the Labour Party introduced after the 2003 famous dog attack.

"The Dog Box is a resource kit for New Zealand schools all about dog safety. The kit is aimed at year 1 to year 8 students.

The kit contains:

• teachers' notes
• a DVD for year 1 - 8 students explaining how children can be safe around dogs
• a game/poster and dice and counters
• a pad of Stay Dog Safe information sheets for families

To request a copy contact: info@dogsafety.govt.nz

John Key was smug and said that this programme cost the taxpayers $1 000 000 or 1 Million dollars. But I looked on their website, and the May 4 09 Animal welfare is important to our welfare says that
"Animal welfare is vitally important to New Zealand - as a nation we are passionate and enthusiastic owners of companion animals.

In fact our pet ownership statistics are among the highest in the world.Do you want to know how many of us own cats or dogs?Well, more than half of New Zealand households have at least one cat, and just over 35 percent of households own a dog."

Perhaps Mr Key read the excellent book written by Janis Bradley "Dogs Bite, But Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous"

Janis explains how dog bites should be put in perspective....

" Dogs are dangerous. And they are more dangerous to children than to adults.

Not as dangerous of course, as kitchen utensils, playground equipment or bedroom slippers, or anywhere close to the danger presented by family, friends, guns or cars!

Here's the reality. Dogs almost never kill people.

A child is more likely to die choking on a marble or a balloon, and an adult is more likely to die in a bedroom slipper related accident.

Your chances of being killed by a dog are roughly one in 18 million.

You are five times more likely to be killed by a bolt of lighting.

The supposed epidemic numbers of dog bites splashed across the media are absurdly inflated by dubious research and by counting bites that don't actually hurt anyone. Dogs enhance the livers of millions more people than even the most inflated estimates of dog-bite victims.

I want to thank Karen Batchelor who has put me on to the book :)

So Mr Key.... with the one million dollars in savings... how about if you put a course in place for new dog owners and get them to understand the importance of early socialisation, and how to 'speak dog'.