We should do right by our canine friends in the Year of the Dog

Nick Lees, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, February 05, 2006
St. Albert's Vera van Diepen wants both Edmonton and St. Albert city councils to ban the permanent chaining and isolation of dogs.

"These poor animals are being starved while being used as cheap alarm systems," she says.

"Thousands of them spend their entire lives chained or left in isolation in industrial areas and backyards."

Van Diepen wrote to me after reading Wednesday's story about the tragic lives of some Inuvik dogs who often endure -40 C temperatures.

"Dogs have sociological and psychological needs and suffer anxiety and depression when deprived," she says.

"In prison, the worst punishment for people is solitary confinement. But this is temporary.

"Many dogs suffer this punishment their entire lives. Yet they have committed no crime to deserve such a fate."

The NAIT business college instructor says pleas to Edmonton and St. Albert city councils have fallen on deaf ears.

Van Diepen maintains a website, Voice of the Voiceless, and has collected thousands of signatures to back her cause.

"Everyone, especially animal lovers, should call or write their council representatives and ask where they stand on this issue," says van Diepen.

"Simple amendments to existing animal bylaws would prevent dogs from living in hovels, in pens and on chains and ropes. They must brave all weather conditions while lying in their own feces."

Van Diepen's deep caring for dogs began 15 years ago when she walked dogs for the SPCA in Ottawa.

"Any dog with a problem was automatically put down," she says.

"I began taking some home and telling people about dogs that had been abandoned or needed rescuing."

The animal lover has two dogs, an abandoned eight-pound poodle called Lily and a 140-pound black Labrador-Rottweiler called Bear.

"Bear was found wandering in the river valley and was pretty aggressive," says van Diepen. "I let him sleep on my bed that first night and reached over to stroke him when he growled in his sleep. Suddenly he was standing on my chest."

She adds: "This is the Year of the Dog. Let's make sure we do right by them."

THIS BARK'S FOR RALPH

Two readers, Sandra Devlin and Jean Douglas, read Wednesday's story about how Ruby the St. Bernard had been badly treated in Inuvik and said they were sending their $400 cheques from Uncle Ralph to help build an animal shelter in the Arctic community.

Karen Kelly of Brantford, Ont., e-mailed to say: "I wish there was something I could do to help. Anne Dahlseide sounds like a wonderful woman."

Dahlseide was the grandmother who rescued Ruby from a neighbour's backyard's when she found the dog's chain had been frozen to the ground by ice.

She poured hot water on the chain and then dug it up to give Ruby more movement. She later bought the dog and sent it to Edmonton's Paul Biglin of Alberta Saint Bernard Rescue.

- There's a photo of Ruby at this website: trinityofhope.on.ca/events