These Sentient Things
Post by: Bryan Stealey
Town: Morgantown
Website: Reversing the Numbness
My friend and coworker Laurel called me today to let me know she was going to be a little late in getting to the office. She had found a malnourished dog walking down the middle of the road, in traffic, and being the responsible animal lover she is, she picked it up and took it to the vet. It turns out the dog is well-known at the vet’s office, and they’ve been worried about it for years because of its irresponsible owner. Laurel can’t handle a third dog, but if the owner of the poor pooch doesn’t claim it in five days (knock on wood that he doesn’t), she already has a line on an awesome home for it. Well done, Laurel.
Which brings me to my rant: What the hell is wrong with people who don’t take care of their animals? Why even get a dog if you can’t be bothered to take care of its basic needs? Why? (I know the reasons; I just don’t understand them.)
When I was growing up, I knew some people who had two hunting beagles that they kept in a little pin in the back of their yard. (And by little, I mean 3′ X 6′. For two dogs. And the floor was made of two-by-fours with space in between them so some of the poop would drop out. It was a mixed blessing, because their feet would sometimes drop out too.) These were otherwise good people, but the dog thing was crazy.
I’m reminded of this kind of stuff every day, as I have to drive by this pathetic guy on my way home from work:
How bad would that suck? I did a post about this dog, who we call Fang, a year ago on Reversing the Numbness, and he’s still in this situation 24 hours a day. A lost cause on paws. Our kids often say “poor Fang” as we drive by.
To quote my friend Josh Williams: “Chaining a sentient being to a peg for its life is just not good juju.
tswhatI’msayin.
Sphere: Related Content
May 29th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Sleek, you may have also noticed the big white dog on S Pierpont that is in the same situation. All he has is one of those igloo type dog houses.
Plus, 2 houses away from me, on BOTH SIDES, you will find pooches that spend their lives chained up. In the 4 years that I have lived here, I have never seen those dogs off their chains.
I don’t know if you have read about it yet, but we are buying a new house on Snake Hill Drive
May 29th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
You know how I feel about animals being mistreated. I just can’t stand it. (As my sweet, dog-love of my life lays beside me on the sofa.) And I think that a dog living chained up is mistreated. Even if it’s given all it’s other basic needs.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I hate seeing animals on chains or even animals that are kept in the house all the time. I take my two dogs everywhere (within reason) and I know they’re happy and love me (otherwise they wouldn’t practically hyperventilate when they saw me or knew they were going somewhere)…
If you love your animals and truly take advantage of their companionship, you would never have the heart to chain them/ignore them. If you have an animal, you should treat it like a family member.
(PS: the feedburner link in your footer -http://picturewestvirginia.com/blog/feed/- redirects to http://feeds.feedburner.com/%20PictureWestVirginia which doesn’t work — note the space after the slash)
I enjoy your blog
June 7th, 2008 at 1:58 am
You Must Free Fang!! Seriously, that is one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
knee_bone: I think Fang would be an incredibly difficult rescue. If you even slow the car down to get a better look at him, he acts like he’s going to take your head off! One time, I talked of lacing a nice treat with a dog sedative to rescue him.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
$: Yep, many times. They live a couple hundred yards apart. I sometimes wonder if they’re siblings, as they look so much alike and live in equally horrendous conditions in such close proximity to each other.
dm: Agreed.
kevin: Welcome! Thanks for the head’s up on the code — I’ll get that fixed. I’m looking forward to checking out your blogs more thoroughly, and I’d love to have a conversation with you some day about PHP.
knee-bone: Welcome! Yeah, it flat-out sucks. I did see a guy there with him a few days ago, and that was a first.
dm: Yeah, he wouldn’t go willingly.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Feel free to contact me anytime — contact info is on my website.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Where does fang live?
June 18th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Kevin: Great, thanks.
$: When you hang a left on Tyrone off of Rt. 7, you’ll see him/her on the right a couple hundred yards up the road.