Yard DOG Stories 21 - 40
The dogs - their pictures and stories
Much has changed at the SPCA since this article was written, some for the better and some for the worse. Read more: The BC SPCA Now.
<< Stories 1 - 20 | Stories 21 - 40 below | Stories 41 - 60 >>
Story #21: no longer there:
Dear Animal Advocates,
A few months ago I phoned you about an old dog on a chain near me that I used to see when I walked my dog. I tried to tell his owners that this was no life for a dog, but I couldn't communicate with them. The neighbours around here say he has been there for about ten years, and they've all tried to get him help, but they had to give up. He was a friendly old boy and he would come as far as his chain allowed to say hello to me and my dog, but then about six months ago I stopped seeing him. All winter I walked past and I thought he must be gone. And then one day, I heard him crying. There was no one home so I walked up the driveway to his doghouse and there he was, his rear end paralysed and unable to get out to pee or defecate. He was frozen to the floor of the doghouse by his own urine-soaked long hair. And he was matted all over his body, huge, heavy mats full of urine and feces. His water bowl had only a bit of dirty water in it. I just want you to know that I took that old dog, and got him all fixed up and he's with friends, and has lots of dog and cat buddies, and family, and love and he is getting around like a champ in his cart, and I just wish to God that I'd taken him when I fist saw him, but at least the last year or two of his life will help to make up for all the years of loneliness...
Story #22: no longer there:
Dear Animal Advocates,
In my neighbourhood, there was a dog that was chained her whole life in a backyard to the fence. The grass disappeared years ago and all she had to lie in for years was dirt and mud. She could get under the overhang of the garage sometimes when it rained, but then she got too old and arthritic because she stopped getting up when I called to her, and she sometimes just lay there in the rain and the snow in the hole she had dug for herself. I don't think she ever had any fun her whole miserable life. I don't know what kept her alive all those years. No one in the family ever looked at her, they just walked past her everyday and they never even said hello. She used to jump and bark and try to greet them, but she got yelled at and smacked for that, so she gave that up years ago too. She looked so sick so I took her off her chain and took her to my vet and he found that her body was riddled with maggots. She couldn't get away from the flies attracted by her waste and she couldn't get away from the waste, and finally she got too old to chase the flies away, so they laid eggs and then her vagina and anus and her sides were full of maggots burrowing all over. She was too old and sick to save, so I had her put to sleep and her owners never even looked for her. My vet told me that he has seen many dogs like this. Why can't the SPCA take dogs away from people who do this to them? And if the SPCA really hasn't got a law to take dogs away from people like this, why haven't they asked for a law? There is something really sick with our society. The next time, I am not going to bother trying to make people be kind to their dog, and I am not going to bother asking the SPCA for help. I am just going to take it, right away. That's what I should have done for this poor old girl when there was still a chance for happiness for her. She will haunt me for the rest of my life. I just wish I had done the right thing for her...
Story #23: no longer there:
Dear Animal Advocates,
I moved to East Van a year ago and I am shocked by all the neglected dogs in my neighbourhood, it seems every third yard has a frantic or a depressed dog curled up under a porch or in a pen in it all day. I can hear them barking and howling at night so many of them live their whole lives alone. This is Canada, not some third world country and I can't understand when I phone the SPCA why nothing ever changes. They say they can't do anything as long as the dog is fed and has water and shelter. What about sick? You can see that one dog must have infected ears as she shakes her head all the time and another has a bald neck because of years of a heavy chain around it.
The one that really got to my whole family though is the little old beagle in a garage except for a few minutes a day when it is let out to do its business. I can hear it night and day in the garage, crying and crying. I've met neighbours while I am out walking my dog and they say he's been in the garage for about ten years and the SPCA says there nothing wrong with a dog living in a garage because there is a window in the garage. Once in a while he was left in the yard and sometimes he would make a break for freedom and get out, but he was always caught and returned to his dark prison.
One day my 10 year old daughter and I saw him out and so we took him home and gave him to friends. Hi owners didn't even look for him. When he was taken to the vet he was found to have such chronically infected ears that he was almost deaf and his ears will have to be cleaned every day for the rest of his life. I am certain that by doing the right thing for that poor old dog, I have set an example for my daughter that if you see suffering, you must do something. As Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." I haven't ever even had a speeding ticket, but I could not live with myself if I had let that dog be put back in the garage.
Story #24: no longer there:
June 1/2001 This morning Animal Advocates got its first call of the day; a two-year old shepherd cross, chained in a back yard: Here is what we have been told:
"My name is L. H. It's about this poor dog next door to us. The mixed German Shepherd and Akita? Last night I tried to get it out myself with a girlfriend of mine but the dog is so scared of people that he wouldn't come closer to me than 4 feet. I tried feeding him, as I believe he hasn't been fed in at least two days. He ate what I brought him like a pig, but when I tried to get closer to him he lay low on his paws and backed up from me while crying. I also called the pound and they said there that they couldn't do anything so that is why I tried to get him. Now I do not know what my options are because even if I try to get him again, I probably could not get him out of there fast enough, as I am eight months pregnant. Yesterday we learned that it is the second dog that lived in that house, my landlady told me that they used to have a Shih-tzu chained out in the back yard, the same way this one is, without any food, attention or anybody to play with. This one is not better treated. They don't feed him often, he's got no water since this morning, and the teenage girls that live there throw rocks at him and spit on him when they come out to have smokes on their balcony. That family also has a five-year old girl that pulls his chain all the time and slaps him around so the dog is even scared of that little girl. The man of the house works on some construction in the back yard during the day and if the dog gets close to him the man just kicks him with his foot. He lives in the backyard on cement without a doghouse or soft place to sleep on. He usually sleeps in the plants by the garage but there isn't anything there to cover him from the rain and two days ago while it was pouring rain, he was rolling himself in the middle of the back yard, on the cement, wet, cold and crying. I heard him like that for a good hour from my kitchen window.
On top of that those people's backyard is full of hazards like pieces of wood, rocks, plywood walls on the ground and many more things under the big balcony that I cannot see from here but every time the dog moves in the backyard with his chain, it get stuck on something. There are nails and stuff like that on the ground. I was talking about him with my upstairs neighbours and they are as upset as I am about this as we all love animals very much and my landlord can't believe that they actually got that dog considering what happened with the last one. Anyway I don't think I can stand that for a long time. It's a sad situation and it breaks my heart to see that. What to do?"
This dog was removed one night, but as it lived in a neighbour mainly comprised of people with little or no sympathy for dogs, we don't know if it was killed for crying and barking, stolen to be sold, or stolen to be chained another place. We wish that we could guarantee a decent life for all the hundreds of neglected dogs in Vancouver that are reported to us.
We want to know --- what terrible person or agency gave this trusting, helpless dog to these people? We ask you, the people who can stop all this suffering so easily, what you would do if you lived next door to that unhappy dog, or to any of the hundreds of dogs that Animal Advocates has been told of?
Story #25: strangled:
From many apocryphal reports we receive, such as the one that follows, it is AAS's understanding that many more dogs choke to death on chains and ropes than the public has any idea of. It is the SPCA and Animal Control Officers who see this. But we know it happens. There is no moral reason to permit a person to chain their dog. Perhaps as a society we're not quite ready to say a dog cannot be isolated, but as a society we should have no hesitation in saying you can't chain your dog...
Dear Animal Advocates,
This is what the animal control officer relayed to me. She feels very badly that she was unable to help the dog sooner. The dog that strangled was a Staffordshire Terrier/ Lab cross about 4 years old intact male...
One dog was left inside the house and this one (the strangled one) tied outside on the deck. This was pretty much a daily occurrence and so nothing unusual about where he was tied. We had had many complaints of barking dog. The rope was tied to the top post of the banister, came down (as the photo shows) wraps around the tree, then got tangled up with a piece of tin, wraps around the tree again. The dog, though he was used to being tied, was not a docile dog by any means and I imagine that once he was in that predicament started to fight to get away. The neighbour called in the first barking complaint at 9:22 A.M. and said the dog had barked pretty much all night. Shortly thereafter I received a third call and called her back. In this message she indicated that the dog was "just laying there" and was concerned about the dog being hurt. My first thought was that the dog had suffered from direct sunlight because I thought she said the dog was on the deck. So at about 2:30 - 3:00 I attended the residence and found the dog dead with rigor mortis. There was dirt thrown for approximate 5 feet or more from the dog's struggle and the body was in a fair sized hole. Now, there could have been a hole there before from the dog trying to cool in the heat. But, I must say that while we stood and waited in the shade for the RCMP, we cooked. I couldn't imagine what that dog had been going through before or during its struggle.
Story #26: pure bred German shepherd:
Dear Animal Advocates,
The dog in the alley barks most of the time, because he's so lonely and knows he is being left out. He loves people. On a sunny weekend when a lot of people are outside in the neighbourhood he doesn't bark. But when he realises he's the only one out there, he gets so anxious. It's so sad because he's still so perky and eager to please. His entire existence is this pen! I think the owners would sell him to AAS. The other dog is across the street from me. He lives on the porch in the back yard. He just lies there in a heap, with his head down. Looks like he's given up. No human contact, except for food. My daughter walks by and pets him through the fence and says he is such a sweetheart. He's a beautiful German shepherd...
Story #27: St Bernard; female; approximately 1 ½ years:
First reported to AAS in June 2001, subsequently in September and December 2001. Four different people, all neighbours, reported this dog to AAS.
All four people told us substantially the same things. That:
1. This dog was being kept in a small pen at the back of the property. From the time of purchase at approximately 3-4 months old, and with the rare exception, and then only very briefly, she was never let out, nor walked; nor played with; nor was any "attention" paid to her; in short - she was denied all of her basic social needs.
2. She was exposed to heat, cold, wet, and storms, and that she barked and cried all day and all night; her barking and crying was her only way of begging to be included in her pack (her family); for this she was punished;
3. On the few occasions she was seen in the yard with a family member she was punished for being rambunctious by being hit and hosed with water;
4. After repeated complaints by the neighbours to the SPCA, this dog's owners transferred her to their windowless garage where she was kept sometimes 24 hours a day in a cage shorter than she and only barely high enough for her to stand;
5. When she is allowed into her outside pen, if she barks she is put back into the cage in the garage;
6. The SPCA has seen this dog's cage in the garage and has told a neighbour that there is nothing it can do.
On January 7, 2001, AAS sent a letter to this dog's owners offering to purchase her at a price to be named by the owners. We described the home we had waiting for her where she would be taken for daily runs and have another dog for company. We did not receive a reply.
We believe that this dog's almost constant barking and crying fits the SPCA guideline for Emotional distress: Emotional distress: is an aversive (negative) state experienced by animals when exposed to stressors causing negative emotions such as anxiety and fear, or when deprived of mental stimulation resulting in negative emotions such as depression, frustration or boredom.
AAS is specifically asking that the SPCA "raise the bar" for this dog immediately;
1. that her owners have amply demonstrated that their response to appeals to them to improve her life, made by many neighbours, the SPCA, and AAS, have resulted in even worse treatment of her;
2. that the SPCA seize her and that it refuse to return her no matter what improvements her owners agree under this pressure to make;
3. that it keep her in a foster home for the duration of any legal attempts for the owners to have her returned to them;
4. that AAS be notified of the seizure of her so that we may assist in any way acceptable to the SPCA in her care and rehoming so that she is not resold to another unsuitable home, but also so that she goes to a St Bernard-experienced home because of probable future veterinary needs (the breed is prone to genetic diseases).
Story #28: Rottweiler; male; approximately 2 years old:
Reported to AAS December 2002. We were told that:
1. This dog has been confined to a pen at the rear of the property since a pup;
2. He cries and barks out of loneliness and fear even still, especially during storms;
3. His pen is covered in feces to the extant that he is forced to walk in it;
4. Lack of a covered area forces him out into the freezing rain resulting in him being soaked to the skin;
5. His "house" is in such disrepair that boards are missing;
6. He is denied any stimulation by the fact of the fence being very high and of solid construction;
7. Appeals to the owners to treat him better or allow him to be rehomed have been unsuccessful;
8. Calls to the SPCA over a period of more than a year have resulted in no change;
9. Calls to City Hall resulted in being told to "prosecute this yourself". (AAS has been told of this response by a number of people trying to get help for an isolated dog.)
10. "Many" neighbours are upset about his treatment;
11. He has been reported to the SPCA as recently as January 10, 2001.
On January 8, 2002, AAS viewed this dog and his pen and confirmed all we were told.
Because of his long-term isolation he is a fearful dog, a prime candidate to seriously bite, and now perhaps so ruined that he cannot be safely rehomed. He is the very type of dog that the taxpayers of the City of Vancouver pay their pound to euthanize, many times a year. He would first be labelled "unadoptable" and then killed, thus preserving the fiction that the Vancouver City Pound is no-kill.
Although we know that euthanasia of these dogs is the cheapest solution, we cannot believe it is the solution preferred by you or the citizens of Vancouver.
AAS is specifically asking that the SPCA "raise the bar" for this dog immediately;
1. that his owners have amply demonstrated that their response to appeals to them to improve his life, made by at least one neighbour and the SPCA, has resulted in no better treatment of him;
2. that the SPCA strongly urge his owners to surrender him, and if that fails, to seize him and that it refuse to return him no matter what improvements his owners agree to under this pressure;
3. that it keeps him in a suitable, experienced foster home for the duration of any legal attempts for the owners to have him returned to them;
4. that AAS be notified of the seizure of this dog so that we may assist in any way acceptable to the SPCA in his care, rehabilitation, and rehoming (at which we have been very successful).
On January 8, 2002 we photographed the dog, the pen, and the feces (we counted over thirty deposits of feces); we confirmed that there was no water; and confirmed that boards are missing from the sides of the doghouse (although that can't be seen in this photo). Rocky weighs at least 80 lbs, perhaps 100 lbs. We observed him again on March 1st.
Story #29: German shepherd; male; approximately 2 years old:
Reported to AAS December 2002: (Please see the complainant's email, next page). The complainant told us:
1. That the dog has been there for a year, perhaps two;
2. That there is often two dogs, both chained (We saw only one dog when we investigated.)
3. That calls to city hall met with suggestions that the complainant get neighbours' signatures and go to a prosecutor himself;
4. That appeals to the dogs' owners are not acknowledged.
The attached email tells better than I can, what this dog's condition is.
---- Original Message -----
To: office@animaladvocates.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 10:35 AM
Subject: Guard-dog and horrible noise and anger
Dear Animal Advocates,
I moved from a residence on East 34th due to the lack of problem solving around two excessively barking guard dogs at ----East 33rd,Van.The address has a 'guard dog on' duty sign facing 33rd.The two dogs are still a problem as I visited my old address and could still hear the German Shepherd guard dog in a lot of stress. There is sometimes two dogs there but the noise problem (excessive non stop barking, whining, howling are all because of confinement of this beautiful animal - the shepherd.
During my year-long stay there I complained many, many times to the Dog Barking section in the Vancouver pages of the phone book. The problem, and I documented it for the summer autumn and winter of last yea. I went away and then would return and the owners, perhaps because of their country of origin and terrible attitudes about dogs, the role of animals, and lack of understanding of the rules about dog containment, just ignored the city inspector visits, and the neighbours were afraid of any reprisals, and would not sign the complaint or were not prepared to go to court if they submitted documentation notes, left me in a quandary, and I was without any recourse other than complain to the City.
In due time I was told to stop complaining until I could convince a neighbour to join in on the complaint. Now that I have moved, the problem has gone right back to the excessive explained above. The new neighbours are fed up with the noise and I hope they will contact the City, but it is not fair to the dog (and sometimes dogs, as two are often there), are left out, so if this is in need of investigation I leave it to your organization. I visit my old address 2-4 times a week and the barking on occasion HAS BEEN AWFUL!
----- Original Message -----
To: animaladvocates@telus.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 11:04 AM
Subject: an update on the shepherd on 33rd
I might add after reading the reports on the dog on east 33rd, that a neighbour told me the dog was originally there before the house was built. He was put there to stop materials from being stolen and he has been there for at least 3 -4 years and was a guard dog who was never quiet and never happy,so I hope you can do something as it was barking to the point of hoarseness the other day (early days of March when weather was sunny).
AAS believes that this dog is very fearful and angry and that his rehabilitation may take a long time. AAS would like to be told if this dog is seized or surrendered and to be able to offer assistance in its rehabilitation
Story #30: four Rottweilers:
1. AAS has been contacted many times over a period of several years about the number of Rottweilers at this residence;
2. Some complainants believe that the dogs are being bred and sold;
3. Some complainants are fearful that if the dogs escape they may seriously injure a person or even kill a child.
AAS has observed these dogs on several occasions and they seem good-natured, but they are large enough and unsocialized enough to be a risk to humans and other dogs. AAS has had many reports of large dogs, escaping their yards, pens, and tethers, killing small dogs. We would like the owner of these dogs to have his dogs assessed for aggression, and to not be permitted to keep his dogs outside unattended. As we have pointed out, no fence, pen, or tether is foolproof, and yard dogs are typically very unsocialized. If these dogs are being bred, this is further reason for AAS's "Control of Breeding" laws.
Story #31: Jack Russell terrier x beagle pup kept in garage:
----- Original Message -----
To: Animal Advocates Society
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 9:21 AM
Subject: Jack Russell/Beagle cross pup kept in garage
Dear Animal Advocates, I feel strangely uncomfortable about doing this as I feel the family concerned is probably acting out of ignorance rather than deliberate cruelty. However, I have spoken to them about the treatment of their dog and little has improved. The dog in question is a Jack Russell / Beagle cross - quite young at about 9 months to 1 year - male. He spends his nights and a good part of the day in a cage in an enclosed garage. His owners will tell you that he goes out and also plays with the neighbourhood children. "Going out" means that he is taken to the back garden and tethered by his short leash to the back deck. There he sits, ignored, then back to the garage. There is no evidence of playing with the children. At Christmas time, he spent his entire days and nights in the garage. I was told that this was because the child "who loves him" had gone away on holiday. So, grandmother and a teenage girl were looking after him. I asked if I might take him for walks and was allowed to do so once, never again. Grandmother does not speak good English so granddaughter (?) translates. I told them that the dog had to have better treatment and, if not, I would report them. This was when I was told that he goes out and that the neighbourhood children come in to play. The other evening the child "who loves him" was out playing in the yard - where was the dog? In his cage in the garage. The other evening, Prince was tied up outside in the back when grandmother took his food out. He was so happy to see someone - anyone - that he jumped up and down. Grandmother flapped a towel at him. That is his human contact. He is a gorgeous, lively little fellow. I have neighbours who would corroborate the story. Please note, on wet days, Prince does not go out in the back (remains in the garage all day).
The number of dogs being kept in garages is growing. AAS hears reports of this almost monthly. It is one of the gravest infractions of humane behaviour toward a helpless being that we know of. To be kept your whole life, from puppyhood up, in a dark garage is unspeakably cruel. These dogs become so unsocialized that when the dogs' "families" finally "get rid of them", they are almost always euthanized because of behaviour problems.
We are convinced that the SPCA gets many more reports than we do, as everyone automatically and always thinks the SPCA will do something to stop this cruelty and phone the SPCA first.
From ten years of experience we do not believe that this family can be educated to feel the compassion that is required for the keeping of a pet animal. We want the SPCA to confirm this report and to seize the dog, before it suffers the fate of many other dogs that have been the scrutiny of neighbours and the SPCA and put in a cage in the basement or garden shed. We believe that enforcement of the law is as great an educational tool as any, and for the sake of animals that are suffering now - it is the only humane action.
Story #32: Rottweiler; female:
1. This dog was first reported to AAS in 1999. The complainant had approached the owners many times, begging them to take her for a walk; give her a toy or a bone; groom her. In fact, the complainant supplied toys and brushes for the dog. The owners ignored these and refused permission to walk their dog.
2. After years of being a good guard dog and barking furiously at the approach of strangers, this dog has given up and is eerily silent. She watches anyone approaching with fear and puzzlement.
3. The complainant has told AAS that she has seen this dog being beaten, for barking one of the very few natural behaviours she has any way of expressing. Even this is denied her (and hundreds of other dogs).
Being beaten is the result of neighbours' complaints to the City about barking; the dog is invariably punished.This dog is not the problem. Even her owners are not the problem. Like every owner in this report, they are uneducated, uncomprehending, and naturally unsympathetic. And they are unchecked. It is this that is the root of the problems of suffering dogs; of angry, terrorized, distraught neighbours; of law-breaking by theft; and ultimately, of the cost of City Animal Control Officers (ACO's) having to respond to many barking complaints; having to pick up loose dogs; impounding and euthanizing the victims. Victims first, of neglect by owners. Second, of neglect by the City. Third, of neglect by the SPCA. Their punishment for being victimized is a long, lonely, meaningless life (the unluckiest), or death at a pound.
Story #33: Rottweiler cross:
1. This dog was first reported to AAS in December 2001. The complainant told us that she first noticed the dog in the summer of 2001 and that he is always in his front yard or in his doghouse.
2. She reported that he seems to have arthritis in his rear back and legs. She also reported that since phoning the SPCA she does not see him as often. The day in January 2002 that AAS took the photograph below, he was not to be seen.
3. A week later an AAS member reported that he was padlocked into the doghouse (his nose could be seen poking out).
4. We think it not unlikely that he is very stiff because of confinement in the doghouse.
5. The complainant phoned the SPCA several times, most recently in December 2001, when she was told what she had been told before: that there is not enough neglect for the SPCA to do anything.
We believe that the SPCA should be watching this dog, not the neighbour, not AAS. And if the SPCA sees an infraction of its revised Dog Care Guidelines, it should seize this dog. Again, we do not believe that this dog's owners can have any comprehension of the suffering they are causing to a sentient being and that education in cases such as this is not only ineffective, but a betrayal of the dog.
We also question from where people who do this to dogs are getting large, adult, Rottweilers and shepherd crosses. We know for a fact that some neglected dogs have been bought from the SPCA and the VCP.
We know for a fact that some volunteers from the SPCA and the VCP have secretly removed and rehomed dogs sold to neglectors by the SPCA and the VCP.
Story 34: yellow lab cross:
1. This dog is an example of the growing phenomenon of the "porch dog". They spend their whole lives boxed onto a porch. They usually get to stare in a window at their "family" who, unconcerned, go about their business while the dog barks, and cries and begs to be brought inside and be made a part of its family. For expressing its loneliness in the only way a dog can, these dogs are usually beaten.
2. This dog was reported to AAS in December 2001. We were told that it is now approximately eight months old and has been a "porch dog" since a small pup.
3. When the complainant phoned the VCP in December she was told that someone else had already reported this pup's pitiable crying, howling, and barking, in April 2001.
(Pitiable to the neighbours, but not the owners, which is why AAS believes that if a person can be unmoved by a puppy's cries of loneliness they will not be moved by attempts to "educate" them. Education is for the educable - the young; laws are for adults; and to abrogate one's duty to prevent suffering with the "education is the best tool" excuse is transparently self-serving)
We want the SPCA to investigate this complaint (if they have not already), and to urge the owners to surrender this dog. If the mistreatment of the dog persists, we want the SPCA to seize the dog.
Story #35: Dobermann pinscher:
1. This dog is owned by a multiple neglector who is well-known to the VCP, and probably the SPCA. He has surrendered at least two ruined dogs to the VCP and we have been told that concerned neighbours have removed several more;
2. It was reported to AAS in October, 2001;
3. This dog's eyes look haunted. He looks as though he has retreated into madness. He was strangely silent when AAS visited him;
4. This man should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
AAS would like to try to help to make sure that this dog is given a chance to have some happiness.
We question where this man keeps getting large breed adult dogs.
Story #36: large red cross breed:
1. Reports to AAS indicate that this dog is tethered 24/7/365 and has been for at least two years; 2. AAS first visited this dog in March 2001, several subsequent times, the most recent being February 25, 2002; 3. We have never seen it not on its tether.
We think this dog is friendly and rehabilitatable, but also think that the owner perhaps can be required to stop tethering this dog. If not, the dog should be seized.
Story #37: Akita:
1. This dog was first reported to AAS in October, 2001;
2. We were told that this dog is known to the VCP;
3. That it has been on its tether for a year;
4. That this is not the first dog neglected at this address.
AAS thinks there is not much chance of this dog's owner treating this dog any differently and we think it should be seized and rehabilitated.
Story #38: large black cross breed:
1. This dog was first reported to AAS in the Fall of 2001;
2. AAS has visited viewed this dog several times and it has always been on its tether in the carport;
3. We believe it has been there for two years;
4. On our most recent viewing of this dog its tether came unfastened and it ran into the lane, dragging the tether, and it attacked our dog a large German shepherd cross.
The attack did not unduly alarm us as we are very used to dogs and we know that this poor dog is never able to meet dogs properly and is only reacting to a dog walking by its property that it believes may be a threat. The dog stopped its attack when we told it to and ran down the lane, dragging its tether and disappeared. The next-door neighbour was watching (the owner of the pointer in Report No. 1.18) and told me he would tell the owners that their dog was loose.
AAS thinks this dog is probably friendly. Our own old beagle has challenged dogs that have the nerve to walk past our home. We think that the owner should be made to provide a fence for when their dog is outside and to not be allowed to keep the dog unattended in the yard.
Story #39: muzzled shepherd:
February 2003
I am writing to let you know about a German Shepherd that is permanently muzzled in her back yard next door to my parents. Three years ago these people had another Shepherd who died of asphyxiation after being muzzled during hot weather. The SPCA was called, they came and removed the dog and told the neighbour not to muzzle dogs anymore. They also let my parents know that they should call if they ever saw a dog muzzled.
Last summer (2002) I called the SPCA because their new Shepherd was muzzled. When the SPCA did check, they contacted me to let me know that when they inspected the dog was not muzzled. They stated that the dog was obviously not integrated into the family, but it did have shelter from the elements and food and water. I told the inspector about the dog who had died previously and he could find no record of it.
This beautiful dog is now muzzled almost all the time on a cement pad in a fenced in area. She is seldom, if ever walked and the cement pad is not flushed off everyday. There is also a Chow that shares this area.
The address of this dog is ______ in Vancouver.
Further information: Since AAS began reporting this dogs to the SPCA, further SPCA inspections have been made. We were told by the SPCA that the owners have been told to stop muzzling this dog. The SPCA also told us (without comment) that the owners said they would begin to keep this dog in their garage.
The complainant tells us that the dog continues to be muzzled on occasion, even in 30 degree heat.
We were also told that the Chow is a young female that has not been seen as of this date (June 12/03) for a few months, but that it was bred, and the pups, which were kept in this pen, were sold before she was disposed of.
There is no law regulating the breeding and selling of pups in the City of Vancouver, to say nothing of any laws against the keeping of dogs this way. Nor has the SPCA ever asked for any regulations to control backyard breeding.
Story #40: dog in dirty pen:
March 28/03
Enclosed are pictures of a dog that lives in Vancouver. The SPCA has been notified of the conditions the dog is living in but so far nothing has changed. The dog still has a beautiful disposition despite its circumstances. The one thing I am not sure of is if he is outside at night. He spends his days in this filthy pen, and I can't see the owners bringing the dog inside when he is covered in mud.
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