Awwww check out this lil munchkin. Only about 10 weeks and already living outside. An adult comes out every now and then to play with him. For some reason, and not an uncommon one, when the kids come out to play, the pup isn’t included…the pup gets chained up. If not, the pup gets pushed around and even smacked. This is something that people like us will never ever be able to grasp. Why have one? Why not make use of some of the different training tips we drain our brains explaining over and over AND OVER again? Once we even managed to land some free training classes for Inkster families…not one family ever showed up. Free classes. Not one showed up. If memory serves we wound up picking up every single one of those dogs, and for behavior issues. Behavior issues that never even should have existed.

Very little effort is put into the dogs we encounter. As soon as they are about the size of Leroy here and have started to be a pain in the a**, they go out. Although Leroy is, my friends, a lucky one.  He has a yard with a 6 foot privacy fence and thus far gets to run free. But that will be short lived. He has started bugging the chained dog in the yard behind, which then causes that dog to bark which causes him to get in trouble, which then causes everyone to start yelling at any and every dog. And probably a cat if there is one of those around. And he digs in whatever the vegetable garden is. There have never been any vegetables in there, but whatever. There are solutions for these things. Even rather simple ones. But there is a strict policy amongst some (no, of-course not all) people: there will be No Effort.

In exchange for the doghouse, Leroy must get fixed. He is on the list as we patiently wait for gas donations.

If history repeats itself as it often does, in a year or 2 or 4 we will get a call to pick up Leroy. And by that time Leroy will probably have had the pleasure of experiencing life in different backyards: different thicknesses of chain, different objects used for the occasional feed, and different voices that yell and hands that smack. Leroy will be significantly screwed. But we will gladly take him (we NEVER leave such an animal behind) and do everything in our power to unscrew him.

In a few weeks or months there will be a new dog at that house. Quite possibly a new dog in every single one of those different yards.

Eternal disgust and dismay. And heartbreak.