DINGO OWNER DANN T CASSIE

 

Growing up like many Australians, dingo was a dirty word as my family had a relationship to the land although not in the dingo’s territory but a pest is a pest.

Deep down I have always had an attraction toward the dingo more so after the Chamberlain affair at Ayres rock. Living in Victoria it was illegal to own a dingo until the good work of the late Bruce Jacob and a couple of good friends made it possible to own a dingo legally, albeit under a permit which I fully support, as it has many advantages for the dingo.

In the year 2000, just after my last dog had passed over, I consider getting a dingo as a replacement for a new companion. Using the internet and the local library I started my research on the dingo visiting them both many times to reassure myself that it was the correct path to take.

My next step was to visit the dingo farm at Chewton, when arriving at the farm to see all the dingoes roaming free about the area, my heart filled with excitement. Standing at the big green gates to the farm hesitantly, I’m a bit cautious entering properties with a single dog but with a hundred and forty dingoes roaming you can imagine what was going through my head; Bruce was at his house yelling to me the gate was unlocked so I ventured in, as I was walking down the gravel slope to his house a couple of young dingoes came up to see what this strange thing was doing walking in their area.

As I sat and talked with Bruce about the dingoes, my nerves slowly settled and were replaced with amazement and joy only what dingoes can bring, seeing them running about doing their own business and not worrying about anything. As it turned out I was a fortnight to early for the new seasons pups, so I placed an order and waved goodbye.

Fourteen days later at eight o’clock in the morning, arriving back at Bruce’s farm to be greeted by a chorus of a hundred and forty dingoes howling at my approach is something I will never forget. After all the paper work was completed we headed back home to show the rest of the family its new member. Keeping my intention a secret, my family didn’t know what I was doing; walking into the lounge room with a box containing the new arrival, I placed it on the floor and let the pup (cub) out to the words “oh no, anything but a dingo”, my mother wouldn’t talk to me or have anything to do with it. Over the next couple of days this cute little bundle of fluff broke through the barriers and eventually imprinted into her heart.

That was my first experience with Canis lupus dingo, since then I have become involved in trying to help save the species from becoming extinct, many Australians don’t realise how the dingo as a pure species is threatened with extinction and fall into the trap of calling dingoes a wild dog, which to me is a domestic dog run wild and their hybrids that they produce. A pure dingo is not just the DNA it carries but its behaviour, breeding, hunting and family structure. Though I would like to see them in the wild, personally I could not live without my dingoes as a companion at my house and believe people of the right character and nature should be allowed to own them under a permit; this would stop the dingo as becoming a fashion accessory or boost up the esteem of those who drive around in their utes because a dingo is more than that, you and them become one.

A dingo is not a creature to be tied up or to cage and only interact with humans at their meal time; they must become part of the family through the good and bad (chewing) times. My dingoes have always been a house dingo, even sleeping in my bedroom, they are easily house trained but the dingo cunning never leaves them, I have seen them walk pass tables with left over food, turn their head grab a bit and keep walking without missing a step and the people sitting next to the table talking didn’t even notice the dingo at all, let alone the food missing.

My life has differently changed and for the better since owning a dingo to the point of giving up full time work and going back to study, aiming at a Bachelor of Environmental Science, eventually. The way of saving the dingo will come down to hard work of many people backed up with scientific reports; for far to many years all the dingo information has come from scientists that have completed their study in favour of the destruction of the dingo so to please the farming lobby. I must admit that there are now a few academics out there on the dingo’s side but the struggle goes on as no government in Australia is giving protection to this native animal even in National Parks (proven just recently in the Kosciusko National Park with aerial baiting).

Enough of the soap box, my suggestion to you the reader, if you are considering obtaining a dingo is to do some research and contact a local association or somebody that has had dingoes for a while and ask them questions; after all that and you decide to get a dingo I can assure you from my experiences that it will be a giant step forward in the right direction if you are the right person.

A dingo is not a pet but a family member and is given that status.

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