A Dog's Life Why are so many people so cruel to their dogs? My search to understand a hidden scourge

[Demovictory9]

a hard read but you'll have more respect for PETA after reading this. they go in and save these animals

A Dog’s Life
Why are so many people so cruel to their dogs? My search to understand a hidden scourge.


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It occurs all over the country, the pitiless 24-hour-a-day chaining of dogs to lifelong sentences of misery and madness. The practice is not the province of any race or any age or any nationality or any region of the country, though it is most prevalent, by far, in areas of rural America where resources are limited and opportunities are slender. Many states have enacted laws that attempt to limit how many hours a day it may be done and under what circumstances, but none bans it entirely. Most of these compromise laws are halfhearted half-measures that are difficult to enforce. In the majority of states, there are no laws at all. Some municipalities have banned dog-tethering on their own, but they represent less than 1 percent of all cities, towns and counties in the country.

It would be tempting to call this an epidemic, except epidemics usually have a clear starting point, and they eventually end. This particular cruelty has been going on as long as anyone can remember, and no one knows when it will stop, or if it ever will. If you’ve never heard of it, or had no idea of its ubiquity, that’s probably because humanity has ample tragedies of its own to report on, and because news organizations prefer to avoid these depressing, nonessential stories. They repel readers and listeners and viewers.

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The dogs’ imprisonment often is located in what Nachminovitch calls “the backyard of the backyard” — as far from the house as possible, as though their existence is a disagreeable inconvenience. They tend to live at the center of a dirt circle with a diameter twice the length of the chain around their neck, which is often 10 feet or less. That’s their world — the dirt universe they’ve carved out with their paws as they run in circles, testing centrifugal force, straining futilely to escape, like a moon corralled by gravity. Beyond the circle is grass they seldom if ever get to touch or sniff. Most of these dogs have been deemed unworthy of entering the family home.

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Sometimes, people are so lacking in savvy, and so unaware of what constitutes animal abuse, that they inadvertently turn themselves in. On this day a woman has telephoned to ask PETA for help with a dog named Dora, who, the caller says, lives outdoors because her child has allergies, but is well cared for. She says Dora is scabby with fleas, and has lost chunks of fur, and the owner has little money, and is asking for free medical assistance. That is something that PETA does.

The PETA people arrive. Dora is a boxer mix. She is in a cage in a carport behind the house. She is in direct sunlight. It is 90 degrees. She has no water.

“Oh my God, she’s dying,” Nachminovitch says.

She is spitting mad, locked in the cage, flea-bitten and sweltering and snarling. As the PETA people get water to her, one of them notices something on the periphery of this scene.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/11/08/why-are-so-many-people-so-cruel-their-dogs/

[renate]

1. Gene Weingarten is such a good writer, and although I couldn't read every word of this,

I admire the courage it took for him to research this. I couldn't. Yet closing our eyes to it doesn't make it go away. And it even brings some humanity to the people who don't take good care of their dogs. This article has many levels.

[Demovictory9]

7. I couldn't read every word either...the way I figure, this article will help SOME people realize

they shouldn't keep the dog chained up... also help neighbors recognize abuse. so some dogs will be saved.

[róisín_dubh]

2. Ugh I can't read this.

I lost my last pup in April. This is the first stretch in my entire human existence in which I don't have a dog. My life is too unsettled at the moment.
I do not understand how people can be so cruel to any animals, but especially ones who have given humans millennia of loyalty.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Summary, from much skimming, with tears in my eyes: it's a lack of empathy

Two or three root causes are cursorily examined and not returned to: like keeping dogs for status as possessions, keeping them desperate just so the person has control over something, ...

It all boils down to a lack of empathy.

It correlates with redness of state. Just look at the lack of laws or the laws that facilitate it.

(In my opinion, lack of empathy is the fundamental issue that divides deplorables/trumpanzees/magats/RepubliQons from civilized, progressive, Democratic people. Lack of empathy explains anti-masking, anti-vaxing, 5 dead in Jan 6 incl two trampled/frightened to death, racism, misogyny, anti-immigrants, authoritarian leanings, ...)

It was a hard read, even though I only read in detail about 15% and skimmed the rest. It was about 70% hard grind on the terribly cruel conditions and conditon of the dogs. About 20% about the tactics and motivations and confrontations of the PETA folk. And less than 10% on the causes, which disappointed me. But it does seem to be rather simple in the end.

As the PETA people walk back to their van, a man approaches. Big guy. Toughie. His gait seems purposeful. Nachminovitch braces herself for another confrontation.

“You’re doing a great job,” he says. “Keep it up.”

Guy’s name is Randy Robtoy. He’s 64. Out of PETA’s earshot, I ask him why he feels the way he does.

“I drive an 18-wheeler,” he says. “I go on all the roads here. I see so many animals and how they’re treated. In the heat.” He nods toward the PETA van. “These people are heroes.”

Yeah, I was impressed by the PETA people, by the reporting, by the writing. I don't have much time for PETA's publicity tactics, but Robtoy is right. The PETA people in the article are heroes.

[Sherman A1]

3. I don't have a dog, don't want one, but don't want to see any of them

harmed in any way.

The public in far too my cases are just assholes. Some are also stupid versions of same and should never be allowed to care for an animal.

That said I believe that intentional abuse is all about power. In many cases regaining the power taken away from the person by society probably in economic areas. People are stressed due to the income/wealth gap and unfortunately sometimes lash out in ways that are harmful to others or animals.

[cate94]

4. Too difficult to read the whole thing

It’s heartbreaking to know how cruel people can be, even to the point that they don’t realize their own meanness.

[llmart]

5. I, too, cannot read the entire article.

I despise people who get a dog just to complete some sort of picture they have of what their family should look like. When I lived in the South there was a couple in a brand new, huge house right behind our lot. We all had about an acre of property. They built a kennel of sorts at the very back of their lot and got two dogs. They had no children and both of them had long commutes to work and they worked long hours. This was in the South where the summer days could be over 100o a times. Those dogs never got fresh water and were left alone for hours every single day. I called the Humane Society on them. They later told me that they thought having two dogs was better so each one could keep the other "company". The dogs didn't even like each other.

I never met the people myself and didn't want to. I could have cared less if they hated me for reporting them.

[LiberalLoner]

8. I read it and I'm crying now. Jesus this is heartbreaking.

[Demovictory9]

12. There is hope..the number of neighbors giving such dogs treats and scritches

😔

[madaboutharry]

9. Thank you for posting.

RIP to all the dogs PETA and Nachminovitch released from a life of misery.

[thucythucy]

10. My partner and I adopted a "Dixie dog"

from the local humane society.

He came with lots of behavioral and physical issues--the result of just this sort of treatment, and worse.

Our first night with him, after arriving home, he refused to enter our house. We figure he'd never been indoors before. I had to sit with him in our backyard through much of the night, just sitting quietly with him until his trembling stopped and he finally let me coax him inside.

He had scars around his neck where, as a puppy, he'd been chained for so long. His teeth were chipped, the vet thought it was from chewing the chain link fence of his enclosure, out of boredom or anxiety or a need for stimulation. In fact, the first time we took him to a park he wouldn't move past the surrounding fence--it was the only thing he'd known for so long he took it as something familiar. Either that or it represented a barrier beyond which he couldn't pass. Again, lots of time spent sitting with him, reassuring him, trying not to trigger his many phobias.

He also would finch at what we thought were odd and unrelated moments. Our vet said she often saw that behavior in dogs who were used to being kicked.

It was all so heartbreaking. Had we known how difficult having him would have been, at least at first, we might not have taken him into our lives. But there was something about him that--after only a few days--had us loving him and wanting to do whatever we could. Within weeks we started taking him to a doggie psychologist (yes, they exist) and a trainer who specialized in working with dogs with abuse histories. Her theory was that he'd been whelped as a hunting dog, but since he was gun shy the owner/breeders basically either ignored him or treated him like shit. The rescue society said that, along with everything else, he was massively underweight when they found him. They had to keep him for a while, just to get him up to something approaching a normal weight.

After nine or ten months or so his latent, basic personality finally began to emerge. He grew into a goofy, playful, happy black lab, absolutely loving to anyone who treated him gently, wonderful with children and other dogs, as sweet as could be. He never got over his fears of thunder and fireworks, but that's often a dog thing. His favorite thing was swimming (and eating of course--he was a lab, after all). His joy every time we took him to the local swimming hole was wonderful to see.

We had to put him down at age eleven. That's young even for a lab, but he had colon cancer and there was no hope of recovery, and he'd already begun to suffer. But we had him for more than nine years, and eight of those were an absolute delight.

I hope you all don't mind my sharing all this. It's not meant to blow my own horn--though i count rescuing our bashful boy as one of the prime achievements of my life. I guess I just wanted to share this as an example of one dog's life, and to illustrate how resilient they are, how absolutely loving and wonderful once you peel back the layers of trauma they have had to endure.

I forget who said it, but the quote is something like you can judge how civilized a society is by how it treats the animals under its control. I doubt anyone judging us by that standard would be terribly impressed.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. Just don't get a dog unless you want a member of the family

Cannot read this article, I won't get through it. But I understand the intense cruelty too many dogs endure for their lives. Dogs are pack animals, they need to be part of your family to be happy. Living outdoors away from others is torture for them, they do not want to be alone.

I just don't get it, why would people do this to such amazing animals.

And beyond the most extreme abuse and cruelty, there's a ton of bad dog owners who just don't provide proper care and exercise for their animals. There are people who love their dogs, but just never take them to the vet. Other families own dogs who spend their whole lives without going for the walks they live for. There are people who get dogs they know they'll have to leave crated for 10 hours a day.

You have a responsibility to give your dog a good life, not just one free from abuse, but a life where they're happy.

[LiberatedUSA]

13. Keeping pets out all day on chains or...

…making them live outside in tiny cages is torture. You can’t do anything about it either. We have an new family in our neighborhood with a couple of big labs. The dogs live in a cage outside most of the time. I can’t stand it.

Either don’t get a dog or get a doggie door they can go in and out of into a fenced yard and let them live in the house as a member of the family should.

[Demovictory9]

14. I would be sending some anonymous dog cruelty material

[Torchlight]

15. There are laws which address your concern dependent on state.

For example, in TX a state law recognizes a pet owner “may not leave a dog outside and unattended by use of a restraint that unreasonably limits the dog's movement” when temperatures go over or above particular indices.

If conditions warrant, it becomes a civic obligation to call animal control or law enforcement with regards to your neighbors.