The more people I meet the more I like my dog. January 29, 2008
I called animal control on our neighbors today. It was not fun.
I don’t know a lot about animals. I have only had one pet in my life, and his name is Miles, and he sleeps in our bed and flops all over the sofa owns a football jersey and licks our faces and I would make him three meals a day from scratch if I could. I love that dog so much.
So I will freely admit that I don’t know a lot about what is normal or acceptable care for an animal. I don’t know if it’s considered mean or perfectly ok to have an outside dog. I would never do it, but that doesn’t make it wrong.
But I do know that leaving your dog tied to a tree with no food or water is wrong. Especially when there is no dog house and the rope isn’t long enough to let him get under any shelter when it is pouring down rain outside.
Y’all, I’ve been struggling with this for a while. The dog is outside all day every day, tied to that tree. I think they take him in at night, but I’m not sure about that. They definitely don’t take him in when they get home from work. I’ve never seen him tied to the tree at night, but I’ve never looked either. I just feel so bad for him. I know some of you live where it is -50 degrees outside nine months of the year. But it’s been pretty cold for Nashville over the last couple of weeks. When we let Miles out, instead of sniffing every corner of the yard and checking for rabbits under the shed, he gets his business done and books it for the porch. And all the while that poor little dog is just laying there in the cold with no shelter or food or water.
But today was the breaking point. It has been pouring down rain all day. When I let Miles out this morning that dog had the rope pulled taut, stretching as far as he could to try and get under their swingset. I couldn’t take it. So I called.
I don’t know if it was the right thing to do. We don’t know our neighbors, but they seem like fairly nice people. I don’t want them to have their dog taken away from them. But maybe animal control coming by will be what gets them to take better care of him. Or at least, for the love, buy the dog a house. How hard is that?
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Back here in Texas we actually have a no tether law. Granted very few people know about it – Ft Worth city council actually just tried to pass a no tethering law in Ft Worth – which makes me laugh because they could just enforce the state law.
Maybe Tennessee has a hidden law like that.
What exactly is the point of having a dog that you never play with or take care of or take on walks or anything like that? Granted, I don’t know your neighbors from adam, but I’m thinking they aren’t very bright, and maybe a day stuck in the rain tied to a tree would teach them a lesson. Or calling animal control…. whatever
I think you did the right thing sister!!
chelsea has a point….they should be tied to the tree in the backyard and left out in the pouring rain.
(you did the right thing!)
also, i meant to teach them a lesson, i’m not talking forever.
carry on!
Thanks, y’all. It was either call animal control or go untie him and bring him in the house to live with us. I was honestly about two seconds away from the latter before Aaron brought me back to my senses. But I’m not ruling it out for the future.
Jonathan – it’s my understanding that if you have an outside dog in Nashville that you have to have a doghouse. They definitely don’t have a doghouse, but if they bring him in at night he might not be an outside dog. I don’t know the rules.
[...] Animal control came yesterday. I don’t know what they did, but we did see a note on the door yesterday afternoon. And today the dog is not outside. [...]
That makes me sick. He needs a Dogloo!