Here’s a question I ask myself a lot, especially since moving to a predominantly rural part of the country (although with this building frenzy going on, there is less and less country every day). But by rural I don’t mean everybody lives on a farm, I mean there is a lot more land and space – sure there are farms but it’s not tight land division, like in the city…yet.

And as I go about my day-to-day, I can’t help but wonder – why do some people have dogs? Is it a status symbol? Does it make people proud to have an animal under their control?

I know our dog is a member of our family, and we love him, he is catered for and to, with designated blankets in his favorite places to sleep in almost every room. He is getting up there in years and his face and muzzle are growing whiter by the week it seems, but there is nothing better than cuddling up on the couch with him for a good Marvel, Star Wars, or Stranger Things marathon. He gets walked every day, brushed, and even bathed (occasionally) and likes to spend his time laying in the sun and playing with or chewing on his toys. Apparently, all this makes him an “indoor dog,” well duh. He likes to just hang with us, he’ll follow us around the house and randomly come over for head scratches and happily just lay on the floor nearby while we do whatever it is we are doing. Sure he smells sometimes, and does annoying things, like that glopping slurpy cleaning thing in the middle of the night, I know this isn’t out of the ordinary behavior, but he is a member of the family, happy to be hanging with his pack, and let’s face it, all human family members do annoying things at times too.

So, why would we put him outside when we are all inside?

It seems to be an accepted thing around here to keep your dog in a cage outside. No bigger than a small hallway, or commode room. And they are usually big dogs too. I don’t get it and it makes me feel so bad for them.

Why, if you love or even like your dog do you lock it away from the rest of the family? There are at least four dogs in this situation I pass regularly as I go about my day. A German shepherd, a mastiff, a rottweiler, and a hound. It kills me, as I drive past or step out into my backyard where my dog runs around the yard, to see these poor animals trapped out there alone, imprisoned, in the rain, massive thunderstorms, blazing sun, sleet, hail, snow, you name it.

When we first moved here, I was so disturbed by the German shepherd which is in very close proximity to our house I called animal services, as it’s not right to have a big dog in a cage so institutionalized that it runs in circles around the small perimeter of dirt most of the time. However, in this state, there is nothing wrong with that. If there is shelter (a tarp tied over part of the cage) and a tiny wooden lean-to, and they have access to water, they are good to go in their “kennel” – as if giving it a better sounding name makes it OK.

Never mind the fact that it hasn’t been out of its cage in years or witnessing this poor dog spending all its time along, pacing the dirt, waiting for…. what? People barely go outside here, so this dog is just alone, sentenced to a life of solitary confinement. Sometimes I hear it howl or bark in the middle of the night. I don’t know why whoever decided this dog should be stuck in a cage at the end of their backyard (which makes it closer to our house than theirs) but it sucks.

Or the other end of the scale, there are the people who just open the door every morning and let their dogs outside to roam around the neighborhood, chase cats, take a dump on people’s lawns, and harrass other people or people and their dogs as they walk by on leashes.

What’s that about?  I have become quite good at having my own dog on a short leash, so he doesn’t engage, and standing my ground with a firm “Bad dog! Go home!”  These are also medium to large-sized dogs. These dogs also make me feel sad and salty with the irresponsible owners, what if my dog got in a fight with their uncontrolled dog? Or they get hit by a car? Or ate something poisonous? Or bit by a snake? Or attacked a smaller animal? Or? Or? What on earth makes people think it is OK to just open the door and let them out? What is behind that thought process?

These are the two most common scenarios I see, but I know there are many more I don’t see. The people who keep their dogs on a balcony or inside for hours and hours without bathroom breaks or company and the dog just barks and howls for hours and then gets punished for going to the bathroom inside, the people who keep their dogs caged for hours, because the dog is “so hyper” but don’t ever exercise it or let it run around as if making it sit still in a cage will somehow release all that energy, or the dog is kept inside but only on one level, with elaborate systems of baby gates so the dog can’t go anywhere and they aren’t allowed on the furniture yet have no bed or place to sit except the floor in general. Or the ones who put shock collars on their dogs and zap them for being, well, dogs.

Most of these people “have always had dogs,” they were raised with dogs, so just keep having them, but it seems just because you’ve always had them, doesn’t mean you should.

I struggle to understand the lack of awareness of misery they create in another living being, I know most dogs have the intelligence and understanding of a toddler, would they treat a small adoring child the same way? Because dogs do adore us, their owners, they only want to please us and be with us. Are people that unconscious that they don’t see this?

I don’t have a solution to this problem, especially here where it seems accepted as the norm, if I see a dog obviously without shelter in its cage I call animal control and they take a few days to call back (like the rest of the world at the moment, it seems they are understaffed) and after raising my concerns they will tell me if it’s worth them visiting the home or not. Of the four times I’ve called only once was it deemed worth a visit by an animal control officer. If anything, our “inside” dog is the exception, so nu hopeful theory, I just needed somewhere to express my dismay.