THERE’S a fine line to be trodden over when it is appropriate to enjoy some light-hearted humour during a serious debate.
Moves to change the Dogs (Jersey) Law 1961 were on the agenda in the States Assembly yesterday, and there were times when it was hard not to chuckle at some of the contributions.
Constable Mark Labey reminisced about his former career as a postie, sharing a harrowing tale about being attacked by a chihuahua while on his round.
And barely five minutes later Deputy Elaine Millar was talking about the amusement among her staff at the Viscount’s Department when an enforcement officer was also bitten by the same type.
The Mexican bandito breed wasn’t supposed to be in the limelight, with the debate focused on XL Bully dogs, but it seemed chihuahuas were particularly hostile to home visits.
But for many of the laughs there was an accompanying, much more serious, codicil. Mr Labey may have survived relatively unscathed from his ordeal, but no-one was laughing as he described how one colleague at Jersey Post had been forced to take early retirement after a particularly savage canine attack, while another had received 38 stitches in a chest wound.
Deputy Tom Coles reminded fellow politicians that things were not always as they seemed, recounting an attack involving a doberman and a black labrador at Ouaisné in which his dog – the doberman – had been the victim rather than the aggressor.
Labrador owner Deputy Ian Gorst, who also has a spaniel, said his dogs were only dangerous to those who don’t like to be licked or were required to tickle their tummies. “Is that you, or the dog?” asked one wag, with the subsequent guffaws drowning out a double-entendre that wasn’t audible, even after multiple playbacks.
Childhood trauma was raised by Deputy Montfort Tadier, who said he had been bitten on the backside while delivering papers in Petit Route des Mielles. The main source of the trauma being when he was taken back to the scene of the crime by his mother and obliged to show the bite to the owner of the incalcitrant Weimaraner which had caused it.
But for all the jolly japery of posties and paper-boys being chased up the garden path, there’s nothing intrinsically funny about dog attacks.
Deputy Max Andrews said his puppy, a Glen of Imaal – that’s the breed, not a single-malt whisky – had been attacked by a 25-kilo bull terrier, in the charge of a heavily intoxicated owner, in a pub in St Aubin that could have resulted in very nasty injuries.
And several speakers highlighted the worrying rise in attacks in the UK, in case anyone had lost track of the potential seriousness of the issue.
One wondered if anyone would mention the famous attack on Inspector Clouseau in one of the Pink Panther films – “does your dog bite? Zat is not my dog” – or Sir Les Patterson’s rather rude joke about a schnauzer belonging to a female acquaintance. But in the end, the seriousness was not lost, and a unanimous vote in favour marked the end of the debate.
