Dogs Revisited

O.K., I did call about the dogs. About 15 minutes after I finished my last blog. I learned from the police that there had been other complaints, which rather surprised me. It has been my observation that people generally do not complain about things, except to one another, or people who can’t have any impact on the situation.

The dispatcher said they would send someone out, but as far as I know they never did; and the owners came home about 15 minutes later. A few days after that, when I spotted Matt (not his real name) actually home, and outside (he and his wife are very rarely home that they are not, from all appearances, sleeping), I did something I didn’t want to do, but that my conscience told me was the “right” thing to do.

When I went over, Matt was removing many, many huge stuffed garbage bags from the little room that is built onto the back of the kitchen which is itself built onto the back of the house. Evidently my neighbors wait even longer than I do to go dump their garbage. I asked him if he was aware that his dogs barked and howled a good deal of the time that he and Patty (not her real name) were away. He said no, but it didn’t surprise him. He then said that two of them were going to going to doggie school soon, and one of them was going to be getting some kind of injection, because it was so hyper. (What on earth could that be? A doggie tranquilizer?)

So now I made the offer that I didn’t want to make, but felt I should make. “I’d be glad to let them out every now and then, say when I get home. Maybe if they were able to get out a little more often when y’all have to be gone all day, they wouldn’t be quite so unhappy, having to stay inside.” We had already discussed the fact that yes, they were kept in “the doggie room” while Matt and Patty were at work.

Matt said he would talk to his wife about my offer, but so far no one has come knocking on my door to say, yes, that would be great if you would do that. To my secret relief. And frankly, I am now skeptical that even if they did take me up on my offer, it would really help. I’ve noticed that the dogs often start barking within 15 minutes of their owners' leaving, which puts it at maybe 20 minutes after they’ve been let out. I think they just don’t like being shut up in that room, and my God, who can blame them?

It’s hard for me to understand people having animals like this when they cannot be around to care for them properly. You may “love dogs,” but making them spend up to ten hours in one room (one hot room, these days), where they can’t (presumably) relieve themselves is very tough love indeed.

I used to feel the same way when I lived in New York City, and would see people out walking these enormous dogs. Everybody lives in an apartment in New York, and relatively few are the big, spacious abodes you see in Woody Allen movies. I would feel so sorry for all those dogs, forced to spend most of their lives in a very limited amount of space. Of course, their masters and mistresses did walk them – and nowadays they even pick up their poop! – which was at least something. But to my mind dogs, especially big dogs, need to be able to run. They need a yard to romp in, or they need to be taken to a park where they can be let off the leash for at least a little while, to go tearing around after sticks or frisbees. If you can’t provide your big dog with that, maybe you shouldn’t have your big dog. And if you are going to be gone from home for as much as ten hours almost every day of the week, maybe you shouldn't even have your little dogs.

Maybe we should ask the dogs how they feel about this.