Must Love Dogs...

A beautiful & proud species, I'm sure you will all agree.

Yet, tonight I will go with my daughter who will make a formal

presentation to the City Council of Kyle, Texas (a small lovely

little community between Austin & San Marcos) about the

hideousness of chaining dogs. Her goal is to have a new

city ordinance preventing this from happening.

There are 3 such dogs, all German Shepherds in the space

of 1/4 mile on one street permanently chained outside.

And, by permanently I mean 24/7, and for years.

After doing days of research on this subject I've discovered

there are many towns & cities across the country where this

is not allowed.  If you are ticketed more than twice it becomes a

felony, not a misdemeanor, with serious jail time for the owner

and/or abuser.

In Texas we love our animals.  All kinds of animals.  If it were

up to me I wouldn't allow wild game hunting, either, but I digress.

Research at major universities and the USDA have all released

papers on the cruelty of chaining and the damage it does to the

dogs themselves, as well as to children who are witness to this

behavior. 

For me, I cannot see any reason a person needs to own a dog

if that dog is permanently chained.  Everyone knows dogs are

pack animals and must be socialized, with people and with other

dogs and animals.

I went & knocked on the door of one of the pitiful houses

where a German Shepherd was chained.  He barked the entire

time I was there, begging me to come to him.  The woman said

"she has been on a chain for 5 years."  Imagine!  I implored her

to allow us to find a safe home for the animal or to aid her in

caring for the dog.  She said no.  She looks to be an illegal with

small children in the house, but told me the dog belonged to her

eldest daughter who didn't live there any longer. Then she told

me she was a Wiccan.  Crazy.

I would love to hear from those of you who believe as we do

that domestic animals must not be chained, left outside no matter

the weather, generally have no human interaction, and are more often

than not, abused.

I will go with my daughter tonight because I feel as she does.

We have taken photographs of these 3 instances.

We have sent emails to the council members, citing all the appropriate laws existing

in other cities & towns in Texas, including Austin, and spoken with the mayor, asking

her support in this matter.

Wish us luck.