Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:43:41 -0400
From: “Sharon Graham”
Subject: Our dogs…
Now I have read more comments about dog tethering.
Yes, the ideal would be to have a fenced in yard, with the fence rooted in concrete to avoid digging out, and the fence high enough so the dog cannot jump it, and the fence enclosing an area large enough for the dog to run freely.
That said, I would like to have a swimming pool and a hot tub. But I can’t afford it.
Mistreatment of dogs should be dealt with on a health and happiness condition of the dog basis, not whether the dog’s owner is financially well-off enough to afford a pen or fence. A tethering law should be enforced only when a dog’s health is at risk. I adopted a Dalmatian in 1999 who had been tied without food until she weighted only 21 pounds. That is
abusing tethering.
If the standards for keeping dogs are raised too high, however, more dogs will be euthanized in shelters because fewer people will be able to afford to adopt them. And what a shame that would be, both for owners and for dogs.
I have kept dogs all different ways. My two large dogs (90 pounds) in the 80’s and 90’s had tethered runs for years, to keep them from running away. Then I had to install an invisible fence system, which I assume is ‘horrible’ too by some person’s standards, because they were damaging the property of neighbors when off leash. You have never seen such happy healthy dogs! They lived to be 14 and loved life and me.
My next dog was mainly indoors, the aforementioned Dalmatian. She was 50 pounds after being rescued and cared for. My present dog, at 40 pounds is an indoor dog. Small dogs are another matter, need to be more carefully monitored against predators.
A bit of common sense should prevail. Please don’t take Timmy’s dog away just because his parents can’t afford a pen, or grandpa’s dog because he’s trying to subsist on social security. That would be cruel.
Sharon