Two sides….

Noters Beware!! This is a “mean-note” free diary.

There are two sides to every story, so the saying goes. I may have just opened up the proverbial can of worms over on my Facebook page by posting a comment to an article. Everyone who knows me knows that I am an animal lover, and on my Facebook page I post many, many links to dogs in shelters , and stories about dogs that have suffered horrible abuses. I guess if there is one thing that gets me going, that is it. Hurt any animal and I am ready to throw the book at you and then some. I can’t even watch Animal Cops because I hate how some of these idiot animal owners get a slap on the wrist when they hurt the animals in their care.

But the article I responded to today gets under my skin. I’ve seen postings similar to this in the past and I left them alone. Today, I just couldn’t, though.

The article told the story of a dog who had lived 10 years tethered to a chain. He supposedly had no toys, and sometimes had no water. Sad story. But the person who posted the article had a post above that said that in California, it is now illegal to tether a dog for more than 3 consecutive hours. This is what really got me going. I feel badly for the dog in the story. It would definitely be awful to be tied for 10 years, and if he had no toys and little human interaction, that is the fault of his owners. But is the tether ALWAYS a bad thing? Because apparently in California it is.

I tether my dogs. I live on a busy road where traffic regularly goes over 60 mph. I do have a fenced in yard, but Scout, my almost-2-year-old Doberman/Lab has recently proven that he can escape a 4-foot high fence…and then a 5-foot high fence (and he’s working on the 6-footer daily). Thankfully every time he has cleared the fences, I have been within earshot and heard his toenails clink on the top of the fence. Thankfully he has run toward the barn, which is away from the busy road every time as well. Thankfully I have been able to catch him every time thus far as well, because he is damn smart and has figured out than when he is loose he doesn’t HAVE to come to me. There have been a couple of times when the barn cat has needed chased before he comes back, and I have been panicked, praying that the cat keeps on heading east and not west (the direction of the busy road). (Also, a side note…we have even tried electrifying the top of the 5-foot fence…which made me cringe. But somehow he even cleared that. Good timing??? Blind luck?? Who knows.)

So I use a tie-out. I have 30-foot horse lunge lines for both the dogs. They aren’t attached to heavy chains…the lunge lines are very light, but strong. They’re made to lunge a horse. Yes, the tie-outs get tangled up because the dogs are constantly going around each other. I am constantly having to untangle them each time I use them. Frustrating, yes. But worth it. See…the dogs are safe when they are on them. They have a 30-foot circle in which to romp and play. In the summer, they have a kiddie pool to splash around in. They have Jolly balls to play with. (For those who aren’t horse people…Jolly balls are big rubber balls with handles attached originally designed for horses that crib. They can grab the ball in their teeth by the handle and swing it around. People found out that their dogs love them too. Slater and Scout, my boys have 2, and they are a favorite. They also have a couple huge rope “bones”–ropes with huge knots at either end–and can play tug of war til their heart’s content. When the dogs are tied out, I am always home. I may not be right beside them every second…sometimes I pop back inside to do some cleaning…or Facebooking. But I am always listening, and I check up on them every 5 minutes or so, because I have seen the tie outs get wrapped around a leg every now and then. (And before I get grief on that…I have never had any injury from using tie outs. The two dogs I had prior to the two I have now were tied out almost daily. They lived to the ripe old ages of 14 and 17 and never had an issue with it. Granted, they weren’t tied out permanently. They were both inside and outside dogs. They’d be inside for a few hours, then want to go out for a while. Many times, they liked basking in the sun, or relaxing in the shade. I would venture to say that Rooby and Sable lived wonderful lives, and after I lost first Sable, then Rooby a year later, I had several people tell me that I was the best dog owner they’d known. I researched dog food for Rooby because of his colitis. I took the dogs with me as often as I could. I lived my life around them…as I currently do with Slater and Scout. And I am happy to do it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

But I tie out my dogs. Sometimes for MORE than 3 hours. Heck, last summer I tied Slater and Scout out for whole afternoons so they could splash in the pool and play tug of war and wrestle with each other. I guess in California, I’d be in big trouble. I don’t know what the consequence would be…a fine?? Would I lose my dogs?? Would I have to go to court?? I would challenge anyone to look at Slater and Scout and tell me they aren’t happy. Or to find anyone who knew Rooby and Sable and say that the tie-outs ever did them harm. It was quite the opposite. Rooby was part greyhound and in his younger years, the first thing he did when he was turned loose was to run…FAST!!! I had a safe area in Arizona where he could run, and believe me, he did. But where I currently live, to let him run free like that would be a death sentence.

(Oh, and for the record…Slater and Scout are half Doberman and half Lab…but my fence jumper, Scout, took on more of the Doberman traits whereas his littermate and brother, Slater, has more of a Lab build. Scout’s legs are long and he is tall and lean. One of the main breeds in the Doberman’s bloodline is none other than a Greyhound. You can see it in Scout. He, too, can run like the wind. He could easily be mistaken for a greyhound sometimes…he’s built like one.)

So, by using a tie-out to keep my dogs contained, apparently I would be a horrible person in the state of California. The person who posted the article even listed a phone number you could call if you witnessed a dog tied out for more than 3 hours. I do understand what they are trying to get at with this law. But there are two sides. No one wants to see a dog tied up all the time and ignored. No dog should be subject to 10 years of being attached to a tree, with no toys and little or no interaction. Yes, there should be a law to prevent that. But it’s not the tether that’s the “bad guy” here…it’s the humans. I mean I would be mad as hell at anyone who called a number and turned me in because they just happened to see my dogs tied out and then came back a few hours later and they were still tied out. It would be a different story if they were ALWAYS tied out 24/7. But there were many

days last summer when the dogs were tied out, happily playing with each other and playing in their pool, when I was right around the corner swimming in the human pool. They were safe…away from the road. They were supervised. They were…and are LOVED! The alternative is to have them loose, and several neighbors have lost their pets to this road. Is this somehow better? It sounds harsh, but even the dog in the story is 10 years old. His story may have had a tragic ending at a much younger age if his owners let him run free. I don’t know their reasoning. Again…there are two sides. Maybe they were neglectful…if they didn’t interact with him. But even though he was seen with no water…that could be misleading. Slater and Scout spill their dish all the time when they are out. Yesterday I filled it 3 times in an hour. Again…if someone were to see my dogs at JUST the right times…drive by once and see them tied out right after knocking their dish over…and then 3 hours later…it would make me look awful. But I keep a gallon jug right inside the door full of water because I do fill their dish repeatedly. It takes all of about 5 minutes of them wrestling and jumping around for one or the other of them to knock the dish over. But that’s okay. It’ll get filled again. Maybe not instantly. But they’ve never gone thirsty. I see to that. If the dog in the article had no water, he wouldn’t have lived 10 years. Again…there could be 2 sides. The owners could maybe have found a place to secure a bucket or something so the dog didn’t tip his dish if that was the issue. I, personally don’t have a way to attach a bucket to anything. The only solid structure is the house itself…and I don’t think my landlord would appreciate me drilling holes in his house for buckets. But I do the next best thing and keep on refilling the spilled dishes. It’s not that hard.

I just have a difficult time seeing how tie-outs are awful. To me they are a safety. They do need proper usage, like many things in this world. And some laws do need to be in place to protect the innocent. But those same laws should not go overboard.