Original pets - The Wild Dingo Dog!
Narrated from: Dog StoriesHey there, mates! You’ve probably heard of dingoes – why, they are one of Australia’s symbols! Now then, in the cartoons they are often portrayed like cute, reddish creatures (ever watched Taz-mania?). However, dingoes are quite feared in Australia – they are the local “top predator”, and can be a menace in rural areas.
So, for many people the dingo is just the Australian equivalent of wolves – a wild animal that has to be exterminated. However, it turns out that this is not the case.
You see, the dingoes are called “wild dogs” – they are basically one of the missing links between wolves and modern dogs. Dingoes are thought to be descendants of domesticated dogs brought to Australia from Indonesia thousands of years ago – actually, genetic experts claim that all dingoes could be descendants of a single pregnant bitch brought from abroad!
It turns out that dingoes make excellent pets, if they are trained from an early age. There is even an initiative that urges kennel organizations to recognize dingoes as an official breed of dogs.
There is still a lot of controversy on the issue and a lot of people don’t feel comfortable seeing pet dingoes on the street. Still, there is a simple proof that dingoes make good pets – capitalism. There are many breeding farms that sell dingo cubs – and no one would’ve bothered to do that if there wasn’t a market for dingoes.
Dingoes are, of course, tough nuts to crack – they have to be trained from an early age, or they become unruly. A well-trained dingo would be safe to keep even around little children – however, if you are unsure how successful the training was, it would be a good idea not to rush things!
Also, surprising or not, dingoes have no problem with extra aggressiveness – but catching a startled dingo might be hard! A dingo’s initial instinct is always not to fight, but to run. Another curious fact is that dingoes don’t bark a lot – in the wild, barking is used not so much for communication as for giving warning signals. Dingoes are very sociable animals and follow a strict hierarchy within their groups.
You may still be asking yourself: can a dingo truly be trained to be a pet? Well, some people have managed to train dingoes to herd their sheep – and the dingo’s most basic instinct would be to eat the sheep! So, a wolf may not be able to change his skin – but a dingo sure can!
If you want to have a dingo as a pet, there are only a few things you must keep in mind: find a young, sociable pup; if it is a male, neuter it or you will have a lot of trouble; provide a suitable training session and plenty of exercise; and don’t tell any Australians your pet is a dingo until they get to know it and adore it as much as you do!
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