It's really hot!

[maxlavigne]

I got this gem from a 'friends' Myspace blog.

Comments

[lilangelwings]

Im not really sure what to think about this. I know that rapid temperature changes (from really hot to really cold) is very stressful on the body but I never heard of it causeing death unless the dog was already suffering from heat stroke.

I dont think that girl's dog should have been taken away. Of course we dont actually know what the sorces of shelter actually looked like but there are dogs that are raised as outdoor dogs and remain outdoor dogs their entire life. We also dont know what breed the dog was which can be a major factor. For instance, it would be extremly unhealthy to leave a husky outside because they have very thick coats year round and even thicker in the winter. I think the Animal Control Officer went about it the wrong way according to the girl's side of the story if everything she said was true. But we dont know the officer's side and there very well could be something that she's not telling us.

[animal_x]

*Nods* Assuming everything she says is true, it does seem the AC officer didn't do the right thing. I'm surprised that they didn't try to contact the owner, and just took the dog away - to me it seems they should only do that if the dog was really in immediate danger. Maybe it was, and what this person says about it having food and shade and water is BS. Water is obviously v.important but it also suprises me the AC officer objected to it having no food. Unless it hadn't been fed for like days (which they wouldn't know unless they'd visited repeatedly over a period of time which the poster doesn't mention), it having no food seems to me not a big deal. Animal Control could turn up at my house now, and find my dogs have no food, because they get fed twice a day, and I don't leave food down for them all the time. So if he turned up now, no food because its not feeding time.

On the other hand, maybe it was a husky. Or maybe the "shady porch" isn't shady all day long.

[lilangelwings]

Its just one of those situations that we just cant know everything. It would be better if we had photos to look at.

[animal_x]

The dog was about 15,now I've done the math, and older dogs cope less well with extremes of heat. Like you said, we can't know.

[creativexangst]

Welllll. I dont know about that. See, i've always lived in the middle of now where, so our dog was allowed to roam free ((she was fixed)), and when things were REALLY hot, she would go down to the river (it was directly in front of my house) and lay there and was happy. However, we also had cats, and one cat was a little feral, but always got along okay with me. It was unbearably hot, and the cats that werent wild were inside. I went out and got the cat that was feral, and even though he fights it a little, i brought him in because i wanted him to be comfortable. THat turned out to be a bad idea because the tempatural change was to much of a shock. He finally got out and then just was mad at me for subjecting him to that anyway.

i should also note that he got along fine with the other cats and was allowed inside and everything like that, he just hated it then. We had a habit of getting cats and then i'd tame them and take them into the vet to get fixed and bring them back to roam.

[silentxsarecool]

Even if the dog is fixed, it shouldn't be roaming free. There are too many dangerous things for it to get into, not to mention that if your dog attacks/harms someone else/someone's pet/someone's livestock, you could be in pretty big trouble or lose your dog. I know a lot of farmers. And I know a lot of farmers who would easily shoot a dog for worrying their livestock, without thinking twice. Dogs can do a lot of damage and they need to protect their flock/herd/etc.

What are the leash laws like in your community? Most require dogs to be under control at all times (at least verbal).

[creativexangst]

I lived in the middle of nowhere. Allow me to reiterate that. The nearest house was over 10 miles away, the only livestock was our own or wild animals. She was a good dog and knew where her home was so didnt wander too far. I always thought that it was weird that she didnt try to run away or anything when i got older. When i was younger, i just accepted it for what it was. And she was under verbal control, she knew all of the commands and would come running when we called for her. The worse thing that happened was a raccoon got on my parents porch, and mazie was barking at it, and my dad knocked it off of the porch not thinking (it was like...one in the morning) and some how ended up on Mazies back. The raccoon was killed, and mazie suffered a scratch on her nose, we took her into the vet the next day and made sure she was okay. She was always up on her shots and stuff, so she was fine.

[time_to_talk]

I personally think the "wild animals" aprt needs to be pointed out.

[nekochanlive]

Hmmm I don't think the first part isn't much of a SPO. I mean in an ideal world that we want all animals to be kept indoors, but the sad reality is that isn't really going ot happen

[animal_x]

I wouldn't keep a dog outdoors all the time either, but I don't think someone's an SPO just for doing so, as long as the dog is taken care of properly. We saw a lot of farm dogs and working dogs at the vets I used to work at, and most of them aren't kept like pets, and they live outside, mostly loose or kennelled. But they're fine, and have good lives. They're not pampered and snuggled like house dogs, but they do fine. Different lifestyles, different expectations of what you want from a dog. Not necessarily SPO.

But the second person... I can't help thinking their dog was already suffering from heatstroke when they got it in

[lilangelwings]

ditto on the heat stroke. Once that sets in and its bad enough, theres not much that can save the dog and bringing it in where its cold just add stress and makes matters worse.

[nekochanlive]

Exactly. Like you said not every dog is a house dog, and some working dogs, but in the end as long as they are taken care of properly a person shouldn't really be labled as a SPO because it is kept out side.

Yeah, that sounds about right for the second person, I can also see that the dog was already near the end by the time they decided it would be a good idea to bring it inside.

[bunn]

You'd expect it to be a shock to go from a really warm house into a cold winter night. This might be a similar thing, if the animal had moulted into its summer coat and was not provided with bedding? I remember once a vet advised me to be extra-careful about moving rabbits in and out of the house, because the temperature change can be a big shock to them...

I suppose it depends on just how great the temperature change is, and whether the animal had suitable bedding and the right coat and so on.

[papilio_luna]

Yeah, I don't know. I can't really drum up that much sympathy for people who have outside dogs. I've encountered a few situations where the dog legitimately has to be an outside dog--serious organic behavior problems, some working situations--but generally I see no reason for this practice. I know in a lot of parts of the country it's the accepted way to have a dog, but I really don't like it. Too much can happen, the weather just being one issue. We lived next door to neighbors who had three outside dogs, and by all appearances they were well cared for as far as their living situation. They had specially built kennel and each had its own dog house, and they got let out to run around periodically. This was accepted practice where we were living and a lot of folks wouldn't even have gone as far as our neighbors did with their habitat

[lilangelwings]

I dont agree with it either cosidering I was raised pampering dogs and every other pet we had. But if a dog is happy and well taken care of, there are situations where its ok. Now if you leave jack russels outside, youre just asking for trouble...not only birds of prey, but coyotes, wolves, bears...Thats just being ignorant.

[rhinecat]

I can't really drum up that much sympathy for people who have outside dogs.

Same here.