Dogs in the Leisure Experience. Neil Carr
by the leisure industry, while others have been utilized by the industry in marketing leisure experiences and destinations. The focus of Chapter 3 is on dogs and sport, looking first at sports that are based on dogs before examining those that have been developed to cater to dogs. The link between the working and sports dog is seen to be a close one, with many sports involving dogs having grown out of the work for which various breeds of dog have been developed. Chapter 4 then examines the notion of the leisured dog and the dog as an object of human leisure. The former necessitates a discussion of whether dogs actually have leisure, while the latter is grounded in the discussion surrounding the idea of the dog as a sentient being.
From looking at the types of dogs and their experiences in leisure, Chapter 5 examines the ways in which the leisure experiences of dogs are provided for. A central facet of this chapter is an analysis of whether such provisions are really for dogs or for their owners. Chapter 6 then focuses more specifically on the provision of kennels, dog day care and other services that are ostensibly provided for dogs but in reality are strongly oriented towards dog owners’ perceptions of their animals’ needs.
In the initial book proposal, Chapters 7 and 8, which look at dogs as cuisine, and cuisine for dogs, respectively, were one chapter. The logic of this was to bring together what I saw as being two sides of the same coin. The credit for splitting this into the two chapters in the final version of the book rests with the publisher. On balance, I think I prefer the final version as it gives space for the two issues to be addressed separately, without one dominating the other. At the same time, I would urge the reader to see the linkages that exist between the two.
The final chapter attempts to bring together some of the main ideas raised in the book, but more importantly it seeks to suggest a future for research on dogs in the leisure experience.
Introduction: Dogs as Tools
It is not the intention of this chapter to examine working dogs per se, though such a focus is not without value. Rather, this chapter focuses on working dogs where they intersect with the leisure environment. Consequently, one of the foci of this chapter will be examining how the presence of working dogs in an environment has been utilized to construct idealized images of leisure and tourism landscapes. This discussion will cover both contemporary uses of representations of working dogs in landscapes to promote places as tourist or leisure environments, and how such use has evolved over time, and how the representation and positioning of the working dog may have altered. Another focus of this chapter will be a discussion of the extent to which dogs are employed as workers in the tourism and leisure industry and the history of this use. This chapter will also encompass a discussion of the changing role of working dogs in the face of the changing nature of experiences sought by tourists and leisured people. The discussions within this chapter will be grounded in the issue of animal rights and will discuss changing patterns in the use of working dogs in leisure and tourism experiences in line with altering social moral values, focusing on the construction of dogs as tools or objects to be used and/or owned by humans in the leisure and tourism environment.
Dogs at Work in Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality Experiences
There is a wide variety of tasks in which dogs are employed within the leisure environment. They are an interesting reflection of the diverse nature of dogs and the skill sets they have to offer. They include the sniffer dogs who patrol the airports of the world, searching for a diverse array of materials that include drugs, foodstuffs and explosives. Another arena in which dogs are employed is that of search and rescue, where they are tasked with finding lost and/or injured individuals out in the rural/wilderness landscape. Search and rescue operations in such areas have a long history and their growth is a reflection of the growing utilization of such spaces by people seeking outdoor hiking, climbing and skiing/snowboarding experiences. Consequently, the date of establishment and size of search and rescue dog associations is largely a reflection of the history and popularity of these types of tourism/recreation in the areas in which the associations are located. For example, in the UK the Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) was formed in 1965 in the Scottish highlands (Locke, 1987), reflecting the wilderness of the region and its growing popularity with tourists. By 1971 SARDA had devolved into separate Scottish, English and Welsh associations, and today they exist under the wider umbrella of the National Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA England, 2014). In comparison, the American Rescue Dog Association was formed in 1972 after people in the Seattle area began training their dogs for avalanche work in the late 1960s (American Rescue Dog Association, 1991).
The most established image of the search and rescue dog is that of the St Bernard, which is not surprising as such animals are said to have been helping those lost in the Alps of Switzerland since the 17th century (Locke, 1987). Such has been the popularity of the image of the St Bernard rescuing the lost individual that it has entered the realm of fiction and fantasy. Indeed, Ash (1934) even suggests the notion of the St Bernard as a rescue dog in the Swiss Alps was a fabrication of the 19th century. Yet both the ‘real’ and more obviously fictional images of the St Bernard rescuing the unwary traveller are likely to be grounded, albeit often rather tenuously, in reality. It is just that the fictional and even apparently real descriptions are often not very accurate representations of what these dogs have done in the past or are capable of. Rather, these depictions are an example of how the dog in fiction and contemporary society in general has been anthropomorphized; of how it has been given human characteristics (or at least idealized human characteristics) and abilities that promote its loyalty to humanity and its role as carer and protector of humans. In doing so, such depictions draw dogs ever more into the ‘family’ as integral members but at the same time arguably distance them from what they really are (i.e. dogs), which can unfortunately set them up for failure.
The growth in the position of the rescue dog as a key component in ensuring the safety of those venturing into remote and wilderness areas during their leisure is exemplified by the number of call-outs that SARDA in the UK receive annually. Back in 1966, just after the formation of the organization, it received only four call-outs. In comparison Palmer (1983: 121) stated that: ‘Taking at random one year during the last ten, rescue dogs were called out on 32 different occasions to take part in searches in the following areas – the North-west, the Borders, Ben Nevis, Cairngorms, Glencoe and Central Scotland.’ By 2009 SARDA Scotland was called out 81 times (SARDA Scotland, 2014).
A specific component of the work undertaken by the search and rescue dog community is locating people trapped in avalanches. This growing line of work reflects the expanding numbers of people skiing and snowboarding, and doing so in the back country, where the risk of avalanche is higher than on the groomed slopes. Consequently, it was in 1978 that the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association was established in Whistler, Canada, reflecting the strong growth of the resort as a skiing destination at that time. These dogs increase the potential of surviving an avalanche exponentially as they ‘can search one hectare in 30 minutes. A line of human probers would take four hours to cover the same area’ (Ogilvie, 2006: B9).
The working dogs employed by the police and various military units tend to cross over into the arena of sport and leisure. In this case, the dogs and their handlers have a long history of putting on demonstrations of their skills for the enjoyment of the public. These dogs