The Dog Who Won Our Hearts — Now Branded ‘Dangerous’ for Protecting a Friend

A scene in an amazing book set in motion a thought provoking discussion about dogs and safety in public spaces.

A complex situation with multiple perspectives. The dog in question is a character in the book Supergifted by Gordon Korman. She could not stand by watching her favorite person get punched by another boy. She reacted by pouncing on the attacker to protect her favorite person. The boy who punched had a small bruise as a result. His parents were rightfully upset seeing their son hurt. They worried about rabies infection. They wanted to complain to the authorities, do anything that seemed possible to account for what their child had gone through. What provoked the dog to pounce on him? That was a question the parents could not possibly think of asking. How could they, considering the terrifying situation they found themselves in?

The young readers were only bystanders reading the story. Yet their hearts went out to the parents as the readers recollected their own experiences with being close to a dog bite or being a victim of an unexpected dog attack. They could understand how it feels to be attacked and not know why the dog felt provoked. The dog can't speak. We just have to take a bird's eye view of the situation to be fair. That is not always easy.

Take the example of this particular scene in the book. The dog, Beatrice, saw her favorite person get punched when he tried to protect a dear friend who was getting bullied. In return he got punched. It was enough to provoke Beatrice who in the story had grown fond of the boy after feeling neglected by his owner. Unfortunately, there had been a previous incident when she had lost control of her emotions and attacked someone. Though the injury was minor then too, the law dictates that she is dangerous and must be put down.

Who knows what is likely to provoke her and when?

As bystanders, this is a fair step forward. Who wants to go through the rigorous process of clinical care in the case of dog bites? Why not prevent this terrifying event from happening in the first place?

However, as readers who have grown to accustomed to Beatrice and all the funny things she does in the book, watching her go to the gallows was not easy to take. They read further with bated breath. She could have done something different. What could that be? We didn't know. All that we could do was to keep reading further to see what happens next. Will she be saved or not?

Reading a fictional story enables readers to take a detached view of a situation that can happen anywhere

We drew a parallel to the growing stray dog menace on the streets of India which shot to headlines a few months ago with state governments resorting to measures such as taking stray dogs completely off the streets. Some of the readers had heard about incidents where people had been attacked for no apparent reason or it was simply a case of "we don't know what provoked the dog." On one hand, getting attacked by a dog isn't pleasant. On the other are dog lovers who seem to understand these animals and care for them. Creating a universally acceptable and doable solution is extremely difficult.

The scene from Supergifted enabled the readers to grasp the complexity of the situation and understand why a fair solution can sometimes be extremely hard to create. The discussion ended on a thought provoking suggestion from a young reader who said, "We need to get eye witness testimonies. In the case of Beatrice, the reason for provocation is clear and must not be discounted while deciding her future."

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The Young Readers' Club is a book club for the 8-12 age group. We also do vocabulary building activities and mini writing lessons for a little variety!

Writing programs for the 9-12 age group- Young Writers' Club Jr.  

The Young Writers' Club program for the 13-16 age group offers a weekly platform to read and discuss curated articles from the news, observe writing approaches and practise one's writing skills.

Tween Tribune  is an online magazine for the Young Writers' Club (Jr.) program for tweens. Weekly updates of our discussions are published. Once in 6 months, the best of writing by the tween members is made available to read.

 Musings from the Young Writers' Club is an online magazine showcasing the work we do at the Young Writers' Club.