DOGS have freedoms.
This is a stark reality.
It is not unusual to find one or two dogs at the home of an average Zambian. Kept as pets or 'security officers', dogs have proved handy for whatever reason they are kept.

But what seems not to be appreciated is that dogs, like humans, also require some sort of special treatment for their welfare and effectiveness.
And Marion Mould from Cupro Mining in an interview during free vaccination for dogs at Kitwe's Buchi Hall recently said just like humans have human rights, dogs also had five freedoms identified by the International Animal Welfare.
A properly looked after dog, according to the International Animal Welfare, should be:
• Free from hunger and thirst
• Free from thermal and physical discomfort
• Free from pain, injury or disease
• Free from fear or stress; and
• It should have the freedom to express normal behaviour in this case freedom from restriction of movement.

Dogs need to be properly cared for and loved by the owners. However, this ideal situation on dog care appears to be but an illusion in Zambia as observed by Kitwe district veterinary officer Dr Ricky Namakobo.

"The care for dogs in Zambia is very, very poor because most people don't just keep them as pets but the emphasis is on security," Dr Namakobo says.
He observes that the lack of proper care for dogs is the main reason why there are a lot of stray dogs in compounds and townships.

Dr Namakobo was part of the team that recently conducted a massive anti-rabies vaccination at Kitwe's Buchi Community Hall last Sunday.
A fair number of Kitwe residents turned up for the exercise and by the end of the exercise, over 500 dogs had been vaccinated.

The team was confiscating sick or unhealthy dogs from the owners and taking them for rehabilitation and promising to retain them when they had improved.
And Dr Namakobo explained that when dogs are not properly taken care of, they leave home and go searchinh for food.

This situation, he says, leads to a lot of stray dogs on the streets some of which end up being infected with rabies and pose a risk to other dogs as well as human beings.

He explained that certain areas between Kitwe and towns such as Mufulira, Ndola and Lufwanyama had jackals which were carriers of rabies.
"In areas such as Zambia compound, Kamfinsa, Zamtan, Race Course and Zambia National Service, the bushes contain jackals which are carriers of rabies. Most dogs in the areas I have named are not vaccinated and are not well taken care of," he explains.

"So as they go hunting in search of food, they get beaten by the jackals in these areas and become infected with rabies. Since the dogs don't stay in these bushes forever, they end up transmitting rabies to other compounds."
He said his office had about eight positive cases of rabied dogs this year and that people needed to be aware that they were at risk because rabied dogs bite any object including humans.

One other important point to note is that once clinical symptoms of rabies sets in into a person, death becomes inevitable.

Dr Namakobo added that cases of dog bites were quite rampant and that this year alone, Kitwe Central Hospital had recorded between 400 and 500 cases of dog bites with two to three cases of human rabies cases between January and September.
He advises that people beaten by rabied dogs need to immediately visit his department to be given human anti-rabies post exposure vaccine instead of always rushing to report the matter to police.

While it is important to report the matter to the police, he says it is equally important to get the post-exposure vaccine before clinical symptoms show.
It was because of the realisation of the existing gap in communities in terms of knowledge on dog care and rabies, that the Kitwe district veterinary department in conjunction with other stakeholders such as Arabian Nights, Cupro Mining and the Kitwe Animal Welfare Society came together to provide information and demonstrate the ideal care of dogs on Sunday last week.
Dr Namakobo said people that took their dogs for rabies vaccination were educated on the need to take proper care of their pets, particularly dogs by feeding them, bathing them, brushing their fur, taking them to the veterinary clinics and so on.

He added that a happy dog will always be at home as it will have no reason to stray.
Dr Namakobo said that even viciousness in some dogs was as a result of failure to observe most if not all five freedoms of a dog.

He observed that it was wrong to tie a dog because this restricted its freedom of movement. He also dispelled assertions that if not tied, dogs could be so friendly that they could not even bark when thieves strike.
"The instinct of a dog is that it marks its territory. Just like a lion can't pass in another's territory, when you keep a dog within a yard, it will attack any trespasser because dogs are territorial animals," he said.

He said in normal circumstances, dogs were not even supposed to be vicious.
Dr Namakobo said the tying of dogs had in certain instances led to the owners being bitten by the dogs because that makes them feel estranged and unloved.
He added that it was not an offence for a dog to bite someone within its territory but that if it crossed its territory, victims of dog bites were free to sue.

As the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) observes, dogs make very good friends, are intelligent, faithful and fun but they take up a lot of time and energy and are quite expensive to look after in addition to needing a lot of space.
According to RSPCA, a dog is not a good choice for people that are out the whole day.