He lies there, wrapped around the tree, huddled up on the ground, cold, waiting for his humans, hoping they will come out and acknowledge his existence. Hoping for even a pat on the head, a rub on his ears, a friendly voice. Day after day, 24/7, this is a chained dog’s life. You can see the sadness in his eyes. What I cannot see is how his human family can let him live like this?
This article and several more to come, will explore many of the dogs in Cleveland County and their lives on chains. Many say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case I would say a picture is worth a million words.
This sweetheart lives in the house you see behind him and he is also attached to a chain. As you can see, his house has a huge hole in the roof. Rain, sleet, snow, can easily come inside. Again the sadness in the eyes. Dogs are social animals. They want to be with their people, not chained outside.
This boy has a very huge, heavy chain. This is in our city limits and yes that is piles of trash behind him. Some may say but look, he has an igloo dog house. Yes he does, but lets notice his water bucket ( I suppose as its the only bucket I see) is turned over) and no food in sight. The lonely eyes staring at us, wanting someone to come and be with him. Why have a dog to use as a yard ornament?
PLEASE look in the eyes of these babies.. can anyone honestly tell me they see happy dogs? Heavy chains, improper housing that would not protect them from the weather whatsoever, trees to get wrapped around, why? Dogs love us unconditionally. Have you ever watched even a dog whose human has not been the best to him? That dog still loves him. Rescue dogs are so grateful when we get them out of the shelters and/or out of bad situations and they know they are safe. I honestly see dogs I have pulled years later, and they still know me. Dogs that live on chains will most likely be labeled unsocial or worse if taken to a shelter as they have never been off those horrid things. Many end up on the euthanasia list through no fault of their own.
Houses with holes, houses apart into pieces, no housing…. chains hanging from the fence, another dog wrapped around the tree, chains inside fences, this is beyond pitiful…. this is our county people.. this is so very wrong.
Dogs are naturally social beings who need interaction with humans and/or other animals. Intensive confinement can damage them both physically and psychologically. A dog that would otherwise be friendly if continously chained can become neurotic, unhappy, and often aggressive. Many chained dogs are easily ignored causing physical ailments too. Collars can grow into their skin, necks can become raw, they are vulnerable to insect bites, snake bites, parasites, other dogs that may be loose, strangulation, and so much more.
Yes there is a dog in that barrel. And yes there is a chain attached up to the tree, not on a pulley system, just attached up to the tree. All these dogs would have loved to have been inside with their humans.
As you can see this house is boarded up. The house looked like it had at some point had a fire. No one lives there, that was for sure. Two dogs, in the back, on chains, barrels for housing. The red circles are where the dogs were on those pics. It was hard to get them in the back of the house from the road. Again, how can anyone say we need to let this continue?
While out we also saw more, one of my SD cards malfunctioned, on it there was a young pup, chained to a cinder block, with a plastic travel crate as shelter??????? It was cold on the early morning that we went photo shooting. All photos were taken from the road with a zoom lens. At no time did we step on anyone’s property. All photos were taken mainly within one neighborhood. All were taken inside city limits. We will be out again, taking more. Laws need to be changed and changed drastically. Someone said we did not need to reinvent the wheel… if it takes reinventing it to fix this, then yes we do… it is time for us to have compassion for God’s creatures.
