Here's my latest published letter to the Editor of the St. Alberta, AB Gazette. It resulted in a couple of positive telephone calls including one from a retired veterinarian who is very interested in helping me get my information to St. Albert and Edmonton City Council ... Thanks for allowing me to quote some AAS terminology to get my point across with words I could not have improved on. I've had a number of people drop the letter into the mailboxes of local offenders ... hopefully they will think about what they are doing, and I'll see these dogs in the house where they belong! Feel free to use the letter, improve on it, and encourage others to drop into offenders mailboxes!
Now that we're again settling into the deep freeze of winter, it continues to amaze me that anyone would still continue to leave a dog at the end of a chain or in a backyard run, 24 hours a day. Invariably the food and water dishes are empty or the contents are frozen solid. Most of these animals have sadly inadequate housing without straw for maximum insulation or a door flap to keep body heat trapped inside the house. How do the owners think animals keep warm in the wild? There is certainly nothing natural about confining animals this way!
Many of these dogs are simply forgotten and ignored, with no toys to keep them amused and no human companionship to keep them emotionally healthy. Many wait hopelessly by the back door, waiting for their masters to acknowledge their presence. Many pace endlessly. They bark, they howl, and, over time, many simply go mad.
For a dog, being starved of socialization is punishment far more abusive than lack of adequate food, water and shelter. Dogs are social animals and suffer anxiety and depression when they are deprived of social interaction. According to Judy Stone, president of Animal Advocates Society of BC, and a leading expert on chained dogs, a dog would rather be beaten and starved than isolated. Isolation is the greatest cruelty a dog can endure.
A chained or isolated dog may bite out of fear, and it is most common for a person known to the dog to be the victim, rather than a stranger. This behaviour is the direct result of lack of human contact and ongoing confinement. It is important for dog owners to understand that dogs do suffer physically and psychologically when they are not properly cared for and when their right to freedom from suffering is not respected. The connection between animal and human abuse has been well documented as well.
If you recognize yourself as one of these dogs’ owners, you need to ask yourself some important questions. At what point did you decide to isolate your dog from his human pack? At what point did you decide that your dog’s barking or desperate howling no longer deserved your attention? At what point did you decide that turning on the outside light was a way to appease your dog – or yourself for not spending time with your most devoted family member? At what point did you decide that your dog, a living, sentient being, had less worth than that vehicle you keep plugged in on cold winter nights to keep its engine from freezing That was the point at which you should have decided to find a new and loving home for your dog – a place where he would be able to live his life as a respected family member.
Do the right thing. Take your dog inside or find him a new home. Do it today.