Time to Reel in the Chain

My boyfriend works at a veterinary clinic and tends to come home from work full of stories. It seems that anything that can happen to an animal, he's encountered: from the wonderful (an emaciated former stray blossoming into a healthy pet) to the bizzare (a dog getting into his owner's cache of illegal drugs) to the tragic ... which is what happened the other day when a neglected outdoor dog was brought into the clinic.

The dog had only ever been allowed in the owners' yard and had lived his life on a chain. The weather has been very hot and humid recently, and this dog had long, shaggy, black fur. And he hadn't been given much water. By the time his owners brought him to the clinic, the dog's temperature was astoundingly high. His living conditions had also been so unsanitary that he was covered in maggots. The owners had nothing to say for themselves, except to fight over who had to pay for the dog's care.

The dog died that day.

Horrified, I asked, "Didn't anybody call animal services?" Even if this dog could not be saved, I thought, surely the owners could be charged with animal cruelty. I was wrong. No one had called animal services, because, it turns out, it is harder than one might think to protect animals from this type of abuse. As the owners of that poor dog had sought out veterinary care — even if it was too little, too late — they would, in all likelihood, not be charged with cruelty.

I was disgusted, and I took to the internet to research the realities of dog chaining. Surely it was animal cruelty to treat a dog that way, whether or not he was then taken to the vet? Wrong again, at least from a legal standpoint. I was alarmed to find that only three states — California, Nevada, and Texas — have specific laws restricting the manner and/or period of time for which a dog may be chained. A few other states have more vague laws, prohibiting dogs from being chained "cruelly," or for "an unreasonable period of time."

My home state of Ohio, like most other states, has no state-wide laws whatsoever about dog chaining, and only a few towns or counties have any ordinances at the local level.

On the bright side (yes, there is one), there are some people out there who'd like to see changes made. For example, the organization Dogs Deserve Better has representatives across the Unites States and even in Canada, London and Hong Kong. These caring people have rescued a great number of dogs from terrible conditions and work hard to educate dog owners.

And there is, of course, something we all can do. Spreading the word around your community is one simple, yet important, way to fight for animal rights; people can't do anything about a problem they don't know exists. The more people know about these issues, the more can be achieved. In addition, I created a petition to lawmakers in my state to ask for better protection of dogs, and I strongly encourage others to do the same.

How many of these tragedies do we need to see before it's time for real change?

Photo credit: www.publicdomainpictures.net