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What Say You?


nolongerlurking
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I was driving home from Trader Joe's today, in the pouring rain, and I passed by a house in my neighborhood where a golden retriever was staked with a chain in the front yard with no access to shelter from the elements.

Concerned that his/her person didn't realize that it had begun to rain so hard, I stopped and knocked asking if it was ok with them that fido was staked out in the rain getting soaked like that. I did asked nicely. The lady looked at me like I was from Mars and said "of course it's ok, it's a dog". I asked again "are you sure?", again she says it's ok. So I went back to my car, petted the poor wet thing on the way, and drove home.

At home I called animal control, who said it was illegal in our county to do this on several levels. They checked, but by then the doggy was inside the house. Hopefully I made the woman think. Hopefully a visit from animal control made her think too. I wasn't interested in getting the lady in trouble, just in getting that poor wet beast inside the nice warm dry house.

So, what do you all think. Am I nuts, or was this lady out of line in the way she was treating her doggy?

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Good Job!

The girl I work with and I do stuff like that all the time. And yes people think you are nuts.

Our mailman has Animal Control on his speed dial and reports people on his route all the time.

Dogs tied to a tree on a 100 degree day with no water, dogs pushed into small cages in the beating sun etc.

BRAVO for you!

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No it is unsafe and unhealthy.

We have 5 cities in Kansas that have tethering laws and more in the works. These laws make it illegal for a dog to be chained for more than 1 hour at a time. it then requires that the dog be untethered for 3 hours before being tethered again.

Also prohibited

Using any tether shorter that 10ft

Chains weighing more than 1/8 of the body weight of the animal or inhibiting free movement

Use of a choke chain to tether an animal

Tethering a dog without access to proper protection from the elements.

Tethering a dog in an open area where it can be teased by people,or in an area that does not have

protection from attack from other animals.

Tethering an animal where no steps have been taken to prevent the surface from becoming wet and muddy in the event of precipitation

Edited by WhiteDove
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Today I shoveled 30" of snow from the deck and stairs to the yard and then 50 sq.ft of the yard so Trey could get out and do his thing, before I went to work on clearing a way for my truck to get out of the driveway. Dogs deserve better than that lady was affording hers.

~HAP

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You sure did do the right thing, although I'm with Sushi, you never know who's gonna answer the door.

PETA has a very good section on their website about chained dogs, and how to help. There's no bloody pictures, so feel free to take a look. http://www.helpinganimals.com/ga_chained_helping.asp

I wish there were more people like you!

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NNL,

100% right thing to do.

I have to tell you my story.

I grew up in the SF bay area..........PERFECT year round weather......a little on the liberal side :dance:

I was on staff in New Knoxville for 9 years, most of which I lived off grounds on a little pleasure farm owned by some fellow staffers.

One January night it was - a million degrees (translation 4 degrees above zero.)

The neighbor, a non wayfer had about 25 sheep which were all outside in their crib.........cuddled together on a snowy, freezing night.

What did I do?

I called the Auglaize County Human Society to report the neighbor for cruelty to animals..........WELL...........the next day the neighbor showed up at my house and made sure I understood that the sheep were F U C K I N G ANIMALS.........and to stay out of his bizness..... :confused:

NNL.....we can't help it if we love ALL OF GOD'S CREATURES.

xxooo

ror

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I say "Way to go NLL!"

Ya know, I have worked out in the Arctic Bush on the Bering Sea coast amongst the Eskimos, and I am very sorry to report that a large number of those people seem to have no regard for their beasts. Yes, I know that they are Indigenous Peoples who know Mother Earth better than most and who treat wildlife with reverence and respect, but sadly, this is not true when it comes to their dogs. Long ago, their sled dog teams were utilized as a means of transportation, and for the sheer reason of having a "healthy car" (read that "dog team"), they took care of their dogs and the dogs in turn got to do what they LOVE to do which is to pull a sled and run run run! Yeah, they really love to pull and run. They live for it.

But with the advent of the snow machine and the "quad" four wheeler, the use of sled dogs has dropped off dramatically. Dogs are used mainly in sled dog races, and naturally, in the Last Great Race, the Iditarod. And since the Eskimos and Athabaskans up here have whole heartedly embraced the white man's motorized ways, the need for the dogs just simply is not there anymore. And really, it is far simpler to fire up the quiet Kawasaki four wheeler http://www.monkeyads.com/imagepage2.asp?th...1__132186_t.jpg than to feed the yelping team of dogs, scoop the crap (which many do not), and in general spend a lot of energy taking care of them. And so, these modern contrivances are in a fact a blessing to the Alaska Natives out in the Bush who live a very rigorous lifestyle.

The sad thing is that because the sled dog has been such a large part of their culture, many of them still have thier dog teams, although they rarely if ever use them. What they do do (no pun intended), is put them on a short chain next to a small dog house with a blanket or straw in it (and many many times I have seen no blanket or straw), and the dog spends virtually all of it's life at the end of the chain or in it's box still at the end of it's chain. I remember one poor dog in a box in the yard of the house next to where I was working. It was always on it's chain even when we showed up at six in the morning to work, and of course it was dark as it was an Alaskan winter at 15 below. The dog would bark at us, even though I tried to befriend him. One afternoon, a little Eskimo girl of about eight years of age came out and threw the dog some frozen chum salmon, and began talking to the dog in a sweet little kids voice. The dog in turn strained to the end of his chain whimpering and trying to get to her to be petted and loved, but the little girl would only get close enough so that the dogs nose was a foot from her outstretched hand. And so, watching this, I finally came over and said to her, "Why don't you pet him and let him know that you love him? And she wrinkled her little nose and said; "Oh no! He's stinky!" And so I asked her if he ever went inside so you could give him a bath, and she told me the same thing; "Oh no! He's stinky!" And after some more questions, I learned that the dog simply stayed chained to his box (with no blanket), and that was that. So sad.

And it's really sad when you see a whole "dog lot". A dog lot is simply ten to twenty dogs with their respective short chains and dog houses (I call 'em boxes), all spaced far enough apart so that the dogs can't intermingle or fight, which they will do. Now, the "dog lot" thing seems bad when you see it. But, if the owner cares for the dogs AND USES THEM AS SLED DOGS, then it is not a bad deal. They love to run and that's a fact. And after a day of good hard work, they are happy to eat, curl up in their house and sleep. But when they are simply there for decoration or whatever, and are never worked, it is very sad because they simply spend their life on a chain.

My wife and I helped to bust a kennel that raised Giant Alaskan Malamutes, and we enjoyed it immensely when we found homes for those wonderful dogs. My wife was on the board of the Haines Animal Rescue Kennel (HARK- http://www.aptalaska.net/~hnsark/PAGES/ARKHOME.HTML ), and I was a volunteer, and we enjoyed shutting that dude down and finding the dogs homes.

Anyway, a subject dear to my heart. Way to go NLL!

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