The issue is that in rural areas, a tied up dog at night in an unenclosed area cannot protect itself.
A freind told me he heard a neighbor’s dog get torn to bits by a pack of coyotes. The neighbor lived less than a mile away, and the sound carried quite well on the cold night.
He said it was one of the most horrible things he had ever heard...the dog literally shrieked as it was torn limb from limb, while the coyotes yelped and howled.
If you care for an animal, and you cannot afford an enclosure, it is downright sadistic to tie a dog up in the open, unmonitored for an entire night in a rural area.
People who care about their pets would not do it in an area frequented by polar bears in Alaska.
If someone doesn’t care about their dog, that is their business. But to say there is nothing wrong with it is a falsehood.
BTW...I do want to indicate that I DO mean an unmonitored pet.
People OBVIOUSLY tie up their pets outside in many rural areas, and investigate when they hear any noise. That isn’t what I mean here, and it sounds like this guy was monitoring the animal (otherwise there would have been no incident...the puppy would have just disappeared)
The issue is people who tie the animal up and do not monitor it, and go to a friend’s house or a bar.
“If someone doesn’t care about their dog, that is their business. But to say there is nothing wrong with it is a falsehood”
Big difference between what you say and a general statement that chaining dogs is cruel.
You've really jumped on the judgement wagon. You've condemmed the guy as cruel when it seems to me as though there could be all sorts of reasons, some quite reasonable, as to why a person would tie up a dog at night in a rural area that have nothing to do with cruelity.
One, and the most likely, is that it's probably illegal to let him roam loose at night, due to possible interactions with neighbors and wildlife; as well as a nuisance (think skunks).
Probably the yard is unfenced, and the guy maybe can't afford a fence. They can be awfully expensive, especially if you've got an acre or so. It did say he lived in a trailor.
It wasn't exactly a puppy; 8 months old is nearly grown, and a rottweiler-lab mix is not exactly small.It doesn't seem unreasonable that a big guard dog would spend the night outdoors.
My sister lives in the mountains and their two labs spend all night outside every night. Their yard is not fenced, why would you on 20 acres ? They are chained up so they don't run around chasing stuff, but are by the house to monitor the yard, and make a noise if something prowls around. That seems like a perfectly reasonable use of a guard-type dog. The dogs don't seem to mind, and I don't think my sister is cruel or sadistic, nor that there is anything wrong with doing that. They love their dogs.
Maybe people don't do it in polar bear country, but Nederland Colorado is hardly the wilds of Alsaka. If the guy hadn't considered the possiblity that a mountain lion might one night attack his dog, he can hardly be condemed as stupid.
ANd he was monitoring he situation, because he was out there in time to save his dog, and kill the lion.