Hmmm...odd how quickly the SPCA gets in there when there is publicity to be had.

I wonder how quickly they would respond if I called them to investigate a neighbour who had a little box in their backyard with reptiles and crickets duking it out.

Well, actually, I must admit they did respond within a few days to my report of yet another chained dog. And then they left him there.

You see, he had a dog house in the mud - too bad he couldn't get into it, because it was filled with scrap wood and metal and algae. But of course the owner promised to empty out the junk and even swore he'd put up a tarp for shelter, too. The officer stated that the conditions were 'not good, but acceptable', and the dog was really fine without shelter 'because he's Akita, so it's O.K', and it wasn't the owner's fault that the landlord wouldn't let him put up a fence.

When I called two weeks later to report that the dog was still out in the rain, the SPCA officer wouldn't go out again because 'the guy seemed really nice and they didn't want to bother him', and it wasn't time to go back yet, because they were just there. Besides, said the officer, they couldn't really do anything else about it; all they could do is make 'recommendations' to the owner; He also said that it's good to get owners on board; it works better that way, and they seemed to be good owners. When I mentioned that I had repeatedly heard the owner scream violently at his wife, he replied that 'how they treat people doesn't mean they treat the animals bad'. A few days later, the officer telephoned the owner who said he was going to build a new dog house. It was never built.

This GSD-looking dog was being used to sire puppies in the backyard. The cardboard hand lettered sign outside the house said the pups for sale were 'half-wolf', and they obviously sold like hotcakes at $400.00 each. Year after year.

When I went in under the pretense of wanting to buy a pup, they were all in a box with the female, who clambered furiously for my attention. I was told I would be welcome to take whichever one I wanted...on the spot. Obviously home-checks were not important.

Two years later the family moved. I never found them.