Cody & Duchess Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 I have been thinking all morning about the post from Jo&Tex - the dog left alone and chained up in the back yard. Made me sad for the dog - but wondered if I was the one who is crazy. It is an condition that I have thought about before. Our dogs are pampered - no doubt about it. We have evolved to the crazy dog people who adjust their actions to take in the impact on the "dogs". They will never be just dogs to us. We have friends and relatives who feel that dogs are outside animals - never to set foot in the house. I look at our dogs- realizing what shock they would be in. I know that the outside dogs have a different life than mine - but is it just a cultural thing? I know my interaction with my dogs seems just as from Mars to them. I look at it from the stand point that we made dogs incredibly dependant on us - and we need to live up to that responsibility - others think providing basic food, water and shelter is sufficient. Maybe I am the one who is a little left of center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertranger Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Yes dear, you are the one left of center. Just like the rest of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 It is a cultural thing, but I think we're on the right side of it, scientifically. Dogs are pack animals. That's the way they evolved. We took wild ones and further evolved them to live alongside us - but we didn't eliminate their need to be with their pack. I do feel we have a job as stewards of the creatures we created to give them a pack, whether it's by giving them canine companionship or allowing them into our homes to be "pack" with us. If that poor dog (I can't stand thinking of her!) were outside with a bunch of other dogs, I would be able to say, "Well, that's how they do it there." But that dog is being deliberately isolated and deprived of her natural need for companionship. Seeing her gives me the same, aching feeling I get when I think of a shipwrecked sailor, or a child locked in a room all day. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody & Duchess Posted March 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 You said it very well Mary. That helps me move in my mind from a do gooder warm an fuzzy person to why all alone is not right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 [Hmmm....just wrote a post, and it vanished...??] Mary said it well. I think some of it is "cultural", but some of it is "temporal" too. When dogs used to be tied up outside, folks were likely outside more. I grew up in Florida, and we had a string of strays (most of which I "encouraged" with lunchmeat!), and they were all outside dogs, on a "zip" line - but basically chained. They got walked, they got off the chain fairly often to play, and had shade and water available all the time. With the fleas and ticks there, ain't no way my momma gonna 'llow that doggie inside! And yeah, I tried to sneak 'em into my bedroom at night - never did work. Then again, that WAS Florida, and WE spent a LOT of time outside too. Don't make it right - that was then, and there. I could never do it now, of course. I ran across this website awhile back, and am wondering if anyone is familiar with it. Their mission is to get dogs off chains, and integrated into family life. They have some printable flyers that one could take to the chainers, and lots of good info. http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/home.html Sigh. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinKate Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 I know 100% the situation you are referring to, but let me just go on to say, animals that are outside are no less part of some peoples' families. Just because all of my dogs haven't lived in the house, doesn't mean they were neglected, or any less pampered. Animals don't have to be in the house to be loved. My dog Pete would NOT come in the house. He would have eaten through the wall to get out. It is more of the "chain and ignore" state that is the trouble. ( and I know that is what you meant) I just wanted to be sure that was clarified. I can not understand how those people, and many others, walk by a dog every single day and think it is happy. What does that dog have to wake up for? One more day chained to the same spot? How gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue_Deutscher Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 This whole situation is just making my stomach ill. Dogs are such social beings. It's as horrific as it would be if a child were chained like that, to me anyway. Okay maybe not as bad as a child, but pretty close. The mental anguish must be agonizing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattinky Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I know 100% the situation you are referring to, but let me just go on to say, animals that are outside are no less part of some peoples' families. Just because all of my dogs haven't lived in the house, doesn't mean they were neglected, or any less pampered. Animals don't have to be in the house to be loved. My dog Pete would NOT come in the house. He would have eaten through the wall to get out. It is more of the "chain and ignore" state that is the trouble. ( and I know that is what you meant) I just wanted to be sure that was clarified. I can not understand how those people, and many others, walk by a dog every single day and think it is happy. What does that dog have to wake up for? One more day chained to the same spot? How gross. Very well put, it is so sad to see a dog chained/penned up and ignored but by the same token dogs do just fine outside and it does'nt mean they're neglected. My first BC liked to come in the house for short periods of time but not for long and she would not sleep in the house at night, even if it was below zero out. I built her a nice dog house because I felt sorry for her when it was cold but she would'nt go in it - she slept right out in the grass (or snow!) regardless of the temperature. If someone had seen her sleeping out in the open on one of those bitter cold nights they would have thought I was mistreating her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 My father's old husky-shepherd mix loved the winter - would spend every single night out on the porch. You couldn't make her come inside. I think it was the only time in her life she felt cool. The rest of the year (warm 6 months), she would sleep inside or out, because it was all the same agonizing heat to her. So, yeah, there's outside and then there's "chained and isolated" outside. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewie'sMom Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Even as a child (single digit age) I instinctively knew it wasn't right to leave a dog chained and isolated. My late uncle was one of those folks who always had "hunting" dogs that never got released unless he was going hunting. We spent a lot of time at my uncle’s home and I would inevitably pi$$ him off because I was always going out to see the dogs, then they'd start barking. I argued with him countless times that keeping them isolated from the family was cruel. I was constantly being disciplined by my mother for "making Uncle Gerry mad". Yep, proud to be counted as one of those "crazy dog-people on the left". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BorderCollieSam Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 People at my work think i'm mad letting my dog on the bed with us, he sleeps at the bottom between my legs. The first thing people think when i tell them is 'your house must be smelly, your house must be flea ridden, your house must be dirty with hair' etc., etc., etc., However, Sam has Spot On put on him at regular intervals to keep fleas away and also prevent worms. Sam is a Smooth Coated/Short Haired Border, so therefore hair isn't an issue. Our house is hoovered and threshened daily. And believe it or not we have white carpet, yes white carpet through our lounge, diner, stairs, and landing. However, funnily Sam doesn't seem to make the carpet dirty. In the rare case of him bringing mud in the house from a walk, it dries, turns into a dust, and comes out when hoovering. We also have our carpet professionaly cleaned at 6 monthly intervals which i suppose helps things. I got Sam as a companion dog and to be a member of our family. I wouldn't 'personally' be able to leave Sam or any dog i had outside. Thats not to say its a bad thing, as i'm sure Sam would get on just fine being left in the garden over night (although not sure now he's used to his comforts) but i get very attached to dogs, i know it sounds strange but i've never looked at my dogs as dogs, i see a person within those beautiful eyes they have. However, there is a distinct difference between a dog that lives outside and is looked after, excercised regularly etc., and a dog that is chained up all day/night and just left without being looked after. If i lived near the owner of that dog mentioned i would take a pair of bolt cutters one night and cut the poor dog loose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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