crime

Tokyo's real life Paw Patrol keeps crime on short leash

21 Comments
By Harumi OZAWA

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2021 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


21 Comments
Login to comment

Gaijinjland

I'd feel safer walking alongside a German Shepherd or Belgian malinois, the dogs the Navy seals used on the Bin Laden raid

Err, no you would not. Those are strong and energetic working dogs, and you would only be safe if the owner knows how to handle them. You should be glad that those are not the usual pet choices around here. In particular the Malinois, which is sort of a turbocharged Shephard.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'd feel safer walking alongside a German Shepherd or Belgian malinois, the dogs the Navy seals used on the Bin Laden raid. A poodle isn't going to protect anyone but I guess they can act as a comfort animal for kids.

Sometimes a little dog can do more than you think:

https://abc7news.com/yorkie-coyote-saves-little-girl-from-fights-off/10905994/

Cats can be protective too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySYyhhhc7Vg

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kyushubill

Yeah. Little toy dogs are quite the intimidating protectors.

To pidgeons perhaps.

But that is not the point here, is it? The idea is to have to toy dog owners being around and watching. To the contrary, I would not like to have a bunch of dobermans, rottweilers and pitbulls near children, would you?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yeah. Little toy dogs are quite the intimidating protectors.

To pidgeons perhaps.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As long as the human patrolers carry poop bags. And water to wash down the urine. Lest a telephone pole will come down on my head without warning.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I'd feel safer walking alongside a German Shepherd or Belgian malinois, the dogs the Navy seals used on the Bin Laden raid. A poodle isn't going to protect anyone but I guess they can act as a comfort animal for kids.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Thanks @Laguna 11:28a. You always make some ‘shed a tear of joy’ with his nostalgic tails of running dogs, camping dogs, dogs opening doors, unzipping tents for their own morning run, …

- “my whippet mastered opening the door and sometimes disappear for hours but always came home - until one day, I got a call an acquaintance at the base of the mountain had my dog. So THAT'S what he was doing. Sadly, he passed away recently after 16 passionate years.” -

Wished more J people understood pets can be more part of the family than just sometimes menokusai ‘possessions’ and accessories for their selfies on “Insta’.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Idk about in the summer heat, but would definitely like to see more of this in the cooler months of the year.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kiwi07...

The dogs in dog clothes I see are not wearing "iced jackets" to keep them cool. They are wearing clothes as they are their owners "children". so they have to be dressed.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Used to take my whippet on a 20K run over a local mountain. He'd mastered opening the door and would sometimes disappear for hours at a time but always came home - until one day, I got a call from an acquaintance at the base of the mountain who had my dog. So THAT'S what he was doing. Sadly, he passed away recently after 16 passionate years.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Btw: one additional “Hope”. - Agree with @zichi 8:04a:

- “Hope the owners are picking up the dog dirt. In our country location too many don't.”

And also … a “pet” bottle of soapy water to rinse your dog’s urine!

Don’t worry. There’s still enough of their residual ‘calling cards’ for the other dogs to know they visited the same area earlier. Dogs have ‘neophilia’ and are attracted to new & interesting odors.

*- “Dog’s possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about 6 million in humans. (Of course, not accounting for much-touted, “uniquely (yet, mythologically) superior” Japanese nose.) And the part of a dog's brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is about 40x’s greater than humans.*

This is why dogs are do effective in law enforcement, search & rescue, and ‘Customs’ work.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

“Forgive us @Fr.KenHolcomb 9:34a for those of us who have ‘not necessarily’ sinned!”

With all due respect, read some of your comments history and can see your equally outraged at times with the lack of appropriate enforcement & prosecution for crimes in Japan. Their focus seems to be ‘less of victims’ and more on the repentance of the criminals.

So, somewhat difficult to understand where you faults the commenters for thinking this is merely ‘a cute puppy show’ for the communities’ people that are often left to there own, if not ‘naive’ devices for addressing crime.

Yes, “simple” community actions but overly effective in proactively addressing crime, particularly against lone women and children: “no”.

It is commendable you will petition and patrol you community with a “full sized, police dog academy trained GSD”. THAT will be periodically and subjectively effective in your area. We need the NPA to step up their patrols universally and take more or a proactive vs solely reactive stance in the communities.

Agree with your icon: “Hope.”

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

This is a wonderful thing.....

I can imagine the doggos would be very happy to have the extra attention :)

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Wow, so many negative remarks about a simple and sensible community solution to a very real problem.

Do I think a small dog being walked win school kids on their way to of from school would had prevented a drunk truck drive from plowing down a bunch of kids? No, probably not. But will that same small dog, along with it's alert, or at the very least awake, adult walking with a small group of kids prevent some pervert from approaching. Yes, I do.

The very fact that the community is involved in ANY way with looking after their neighborhood's most vulnerable is a positive thing from any angle - except that angle from which the naysayers view anything, which is criticize, scrutinize and whine.

I am going to petition my community for a similar approach although my full sized, police dog academy trained GSD may not be as cute and cuddly as a toy poodle, he certainly will be a deterrent to would be criminals.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

It seems the above little dog doesn't feel too hot though wearing clothes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Its really sad to see so many dogs in Tokyo in summer wearing dog clothes... Are the owners trying to kill their pets?

Some of the dog Summer jackets are made for cooling. There’s types that are wet with cold water and the evaporation keeps the body cold; they work for about an hour. There’s also gel filled types which are put in the fridge overnight and stay cold an hour or so while walking. And some are cooled by those coolies that are put in dog jacket pockets; the same type of gel filled coolies that keep Cooley bins cold.

Even if you stick to walking a dog at 6.30 am and again at night, as we do, overhearing is an issue. The wife uses the cold water evaporation type jacket, which out dog seems to like.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

A pet lover but this is more of the immature, insincere, Japanese “non-sensbilities” when real crimes & its victims are being overlooked. disregarded and “non-prosecuted”.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Its really sad to see so many dogs in Tokyo in summer wearing dog clothes... Are the owners trying to kill their pets?

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites