Leaving pets outdoors

[moosmom]

I know I post mainly on the cat side. But I had to vent over here a little.

My SIL neighbor has a beautiful little beagle girl called Lady. She has her own dog house with a fence around it as well as a fenced in yard. Previously, he had a rickety old garage with a flap for Lady to go when it got cold. He had it knocked down and built a brand new garage, complete with siding, and no entrance for lady to take cover from the cold!!

I just don't understand how people can have pets and make them stay out in the cold all winter long. There's no heater or anything in the dog house.

My SIL went out and bought Lady a large dog igloo with mat and a flap to keep out the wind. Personally, I don't think the flap will keep much of the wind out, as it doesn't cover the entrance completely. I am SO tempted to call animal control (anonymously that is) on this guy to have a little talk with him about being a responsible pet owner.

My SIL is going to give him a crate that she has (it's brand new) and suggest that he take lady in and crate her in the house, just so she'll be outta the cold. I hope he takes the hint. NO animal should be out in this sub temperature cold. UGH!!!

[pitc9]

I know!! It just breaks my heart!!

I hope they take the crate from you SIL and they bring her in at night!

[shais_mom]

I would definately call animal control. I called them on my parent's neighbor a few weeks ago and have a feeling I am going to call them on another one as soon as I find out the house number.
I breaks my heart and makes me soooo mad to see dogs out in the cold like that.
By law (in OH at least) they have to have shelter for the animal. And I know it is true in MI also simply by watching Animal cops Detroit b/c they take animals away on the show if they don't have proper shelter.
Is this you're sister in law that isn't nice to you? And has Ashley?

[aly]

It breaks my heart too I just hate it.

[Mandy1]

Thats horrible That poor dog deserves better then that.

[sammy101]

thats probably considered Animal Cruelty b/c she doesnt have any shelter thats really sad,i would call Animal Control

[Cincy'sMom]

People are just morons!!

This is the exact reason my mom has #6 (Pippi). Her "owners" decided when she was 6 months old, she wouldbecome an outside dog. Can you imagine a JRT outdoor in this weather? I mean, we are supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow tomorrow!! The poor dog would have been buried!! I don't like the idea of outdiir only dogs for myself at alll, but I can understand more, with huskies, shepherds...dogs that have a thicker coat, and some kind of dog house or othercover from the cold. But a 14 lb JRT?!? A beagle? These aren't snow dogs!!

[moosmom]

Well I can't call animal control because then my SIL's neighbor will think SHE did and then I'm sure Lady would be worse off. My SIL has been helping the neighbor try and insulate the enclosure to cut down on the wind chill. She gave him an electric water dish and she's looking for a heated dog bed. I guess under the circumstances, that's all she can do without the old man telling her to mind her own business. I just feel so bad for Lady. She certainly doesn't deserve to be treated that way.

[chrissycat21]

Poor Lady! I really hope that her owner realizes that he wouldn't like to be out in the cold all night (and day), so why should Lady be kept out there?

I'm glad your SIL is trying to help!

[Tonya]

How sad! Especially because beagles don't have warm coats. My dogs have thick husky coats and I even bring them inside at night. -Not to mentin it's much warmer here in California. My dad's boxer is primarily an outside dog, but he's got a garage with a space heater for the night time. I hope that someone can enlighten this pet owner.

[lizbud]

I never understood the point in having a dog if it's kept
outside the house. Some of our younger PT members
have parents who insist on outside accomodations for a dog,
but that's a different circumstance. The parents have final say.

I could never have a dog and not have him/her trained to live
inside with people. Both people & the dogs miss out on so much
by living separately. I want my friends close to me.

[sammy101]

my godparents have outside dogs,but they have access to the garage all day and have a heater i nthe garage(thats where the cats sleep at night) but they sleep in the garage at night.They both have very thick coats,ones s husky/malamute,and the other is a Chow mix.they both love being outside all the time,but often come in at dinner time or whatever.

im glad that your SIL is trying to help the little girl

[Fett]

Originally posted by moosmom
My SIL neighbor has a beautiful little beagle girl called Lady. She has her own dog house with a fence around it as well as a fenced in yard. Previously, he had a rickety old garage with a flap for Lady to go when it got cold. He had it knocked down and built a brand new garage, complete with siding, and no entrance for lady to take cover from the cold!!

Even if animal control came out, since the dog still had it's own house outside of the garage, that would likely qualify it as the dog's shelter to the animal control people. It likely wouldn't matter if the dog had access to the garage or not, since it had it's own house and pen.

In our case, we had our dog for 15 years and it was always an outdoor dog, since I was allergic to cat + dog dander. He had a good sized pen outside with a house in it, but on the colder nights we would bring him in the garage, where he had a bunch of blankets to lay on. As the years went by, we even got him a second dog house inside the garage to keep him cold on the colder nights. He would get into whatever he could (like eating a nearby bag of charcoal briquets) in the garage, so his house was situated by the workbench, and we had to keep him on his leash which was attached to the workbench on the nights he spent in the garage instead of his pen. I loved that dog to death, but my allergies/asthma couldn't allow us to ever have him be an inside pet. Many types of dogs can handle cold well, but I can see what you mean about the smaller dogs getting buried in the snow.

[My Peanuts]

I hate it when people do that. WHY HAVE A DOG!?!

[My Peanuts]

Originally posted by Tonya
How sad! Especially because beagles don't have warm coats. My dogs have thick husky coats and I even bring them inside at night. -Not to mentin it's much warmer here in California. My dad's boxer is primarily an outside dog, but he's got a garage with a space heater for the night time. I hope that someone can enlighten this pet owner.

I think conditions like that are totally different. Weather in California and weather in Michigan and Canada are a lot different. I could understand a dog living outside in California where it is nice most of the time, but here in Chicago it is bitter cold. If I can't stand to walk from the house to the car in the cold, then what does a poor dog feel like that lives outside all the time. Here is a post that some of you may want to read. I made it a long time ago, but this is how I took "care" of my neighbors outside dog. click here

You'll have to scroll down to my post.