Friday night, as I passed the hall window on my way into bed, I spotted a young dog in the yard. Since we live in a semi-rural area, a strange dog in the yard is a rare occurrence. And a strange dog wandering around at 11pm is even rarer.
He had his nose to the ground, sniffing frantically as he ran around……behaviour that would indicate he was lost.
Next thing I know Mr. Kewl Stuff was outside trying to coax the dog to him. He failed miserably and the dog ran off into the bitter-cold and snowy night. Well, he ran as best he could, because every once in awhile the dog stumbled. And that was because the poor thing was dragging a 4 foot length of rope from his collar, which he was stepping on and tripping himself.
I hope the ignorant ass that tied that dog outside spent a sleepless night wondering if he’d gotten that rope tangled in the surrounding brush, leaving him exposed to the elements and possible predators. It would only be fair, since I spent the night worrying about it.
It takes a lot of time, patience and energy to properly train a dog. It’s also necessary that you be smarter than the dog.
My own dogs don’t even wear collars, unless we’re taking them off the property for a walk. They come when they’re called, they know what their boundaries are, they don’t lunge at the door when someone knocks. If we’re outside and someone rides by the house on a bike, they automatically sit……and they stay there until we release them. That wasn’t accomplished by hooking their collar to a line so we didn’t have to step outside when they had to go out.
If you’re tying your dog outside for any reason, you’re too lazy and/or dumb to own a dog. Actually, you don’t deserve to own one and I have just three words for you. Get. A. Cat.
