A gorgeous morning, so out and about to see how some of our four legged friends were spending their day. Those babies who love us unconditionally, no matter how they are treated.
As you can see in the first picture above, this gorgeous dog is lying outside, with an obvious heavy chain and a barrel for his/her shelter. While barrels may can be considered shelter, at the very least, the barrel should be in some sort of frame off the ground ” if” we are going to consider them shelter. ( my vote is no, but at least there are no holes in the barrel, ore to come on that issue) . Look at this dog, truly look. Sad eyes, wanting to be with his people, but nope, he lies there, waiting, hoping, that someone will come play with him, get him off that chain he lugs daily, and let him be a part of the family he loves.
Moving along, we find this sweetheart.. check out his/her shelter? I put a question mark because of the obvious openings throughout. We can count out any insulation from the cold or heat, any waterproofing, and the dog would prefer to lay on the top of the house than actually in it, again with a chain around his/her neck. Really people, someone please tell me why?
As we traveled a little further, here is this cutie. Not only do we have a huge chain, but we do not have any water as I am sure the chain turned over the water. Okay people, its bad enough you chain your dog in your yard and basically ignore them, so lets use those brains a little and stake the water bucket somehow so that the chain does not knock it over. ( Better yet, lets unchain Cleveland County and outlaw these awful things)
Here we have three dogs, all chained out, just far enough they cannot interact with each other. Maybe people need to look up what it means to be a ” pack animal”. And please look closely. the dog in the back, not only has no water, bucket turned over, but his/her house is upside down.
Two more, pitiful babies, just wanting attention, yet, banished to live outside on a chain. Our photo session was cut short ( hence the name of the article interrupted) as we got a call about an aggressive dog. First, we are well aware we are not animal control, but as animal advocates an a 501c3 non profit rescue, and as volunteers and people who give a damn about what happens to the animals. ( We actually got several calls this weekend but this blog can only cover so much) Many times the people have no clue who they are calling,asking who they are talking to, or saying so and so told them to call us, we may could help. I bring up today for a couple reasons. We never ever mind trying to help. We do it because we love dogs and we know they are often abused, neglected and/or abandoned. Today’s visit had a couple issues I think should be addressed. Let me clarify that I am making educated guesses on what happened between dogs, and in these situations as I was not there when the issues actually happened.
We got a call that a dog had attacked another one, and that the neighborhood was afraid to let their kids out. After discussion, there was a dog loose and due to the dog fight, people were frightened. The number one thing is that just because dogs get into a fight, it does not mean the either dog is going to attack people. The people did call the on call ACO, who did come, would not pick up the dog because the dog growled at him ( hey, I am just repeating what I was told) , proceeded to set a trap in the back yard where several tethered dogs were and left. So now we have a scared neighborhood, afraid to let their kids come out and play, and no one wants to pick up the dog????? As much as I do not like them, thats what that catch pole is for, to keep you from getting bit.
Stopping for supplies, we headed that way to try to assist. We talked to a few of the neighbors, while one had made his children stay inside ( smart move until you assess the situation), he said the dog was scared, not acting aggressive toward people at all. From there we moved to where the dog was attacked. The dog had a puncture wound in his throat, the owners had bandaged the wound and were waiting for the vets to open, injured dog was running around outside with them, injured but definitely going to survive. The trap was indeed in the back area of their yard with several other dogs resided. ( not exactly where you would want to put, could cause more fights, and its hard to defend oneself on a chain/cable) Also the local PD had been following the dog in their vehicle but had not been able to catch him. We asked a few more questions and off we went to hunt the boy.
And yes we found him, he was scared to death, running away from everyone, I did get out of the car, got his attention for a second, but he skirted up a dirt road, hopefully headed home, wherever that may be, aggressive no, frightened yes. One must remember a frightened dog will choose fight or flight. This boy was definitely choosing flight.
What this writer took from her years in rescue and talking to all involved. Two unaltered males ( wait sounds like how Clifford’s got started) getting into an altercation probably over a female in heat. Many of the dogs in the area were not spayed. No true danger of a person getting hurt. No aggressive to people dog, not even sure aggressive to dogs, dog. The dog that went to the vet was a small dog, and if this other dog had truly wanted to do real harm, it would not have been hard.
What needs to be done? Fix your dogs people! If you do not have the funds, check out low cost spay/neuter clinics, talk to rescues to see if they know of places that can help, but fix your dogs! Do you truly think it is ok to keep you dog on a tether, unaltered, and let an unaltered male come up and rape them? Your dog has no choice! It truly is rape and you are guilty by letting it happen. Get your dogs off those chains and make them truly part of your family. If you can’t, find someone who can. (Sidenote, training for ACOs, as if the dog had been dangerous, you do not leave in the neighborhood) Dogs deserve better!
