Can I just say… STOP! People, just stop clicking on supposedly funny videos where ignorant people are too unaware or just don’t care that they’re treating their animals cruelly. I won’t be linking to either video. Nor will I share any photos for either of these.
In the span of two days, I’ve had two separate people send me links to videos they thought were hysterically funny. One was of a young woman in a rough neighborhood being accosted by two other young women. She was walking her Pug on a leash. When one of the other women came toward her, she flung her dog THROUGH THE AIR! WHILE ON THE LEASH! BY THE NECK! and smacked this woman so hard with her dog, that the woman fell down. Then the woman appeared to walk off with her dog still on the leash.
Certain injuries to the dog? Strained and bruised neck. Severely bruised rib cage. Probable injuries? Damage to the cervical vertebrae in the neck and a couple of broken ribs. In what world is that funny?
The second was titled, “How to Walk Your Dog” and showed another woman having yanked her bull dog up by his harness onto his hind legs while forcing him to walk on two legs. His expression showed great distress and discomfort, if not downright pain.
Not only is this shit not funny, if I could find where these people lived, I’d report them to the ASPCA for animal cruelty.
I can’t begin to express the outrage I feel about this trend. As if the world isn’t already circling the drain with the mass idiocy that currently abounds–all I ask is that we all please not feed into it.
Hi Karen,
I need your help. My Aussie is my shadow. She is 10 yrs old and the sunshine in my life. My household consists of 3 men, me, and my Aussie Rosie. I am leaving in one week to move to Seattle from Florida by myself. My dog is loved and visited by all of my neighbors , her dog groomer, friends, and my family. Moving her with me would leave her by herself all day while I work and then it would just be me and her in the evenings. My husband says I will break her heart and she would die of loneliness if I leave her here with them. I believe the opposite. She has bonded with me as her primary but my 26 year old son as secondary. Please tell me who can I trust to tell me which is better for her?
Sincerely,
Jackie Boltz
Jackie, this is a heart-breaking situation. If she was much younger, I’d say take her and you’ll have plenty of time to acclimate her to a new life. But there are a couple of pieces you mention that make me think Rosie would be better to stay where she is.
1. Her age. At that age, familiarity and routine provide comfort.
2. If she goes with you, she will be alone all day. If you include travel time, it sounds like it’s likely she will be alone for 9ish hours. That’s a very long time for a dog to manage its physical needs. I don’t know a person who could hold their bladder for that long. And that’s a long time for a presently stimulated, people-loving Aussie to be alone each day.
3. She has a secondary in your son, and she has many people who love and interact with her where she is
If you can let her go, that’s what I’d recommend. She will miss you deeply, but she will have a better quality of life where she is.
But I also understand if you can’t.
Can you trust the people you’re leaving her with to give you weekly updates on how she’s doing? If she seems to be depressed and not doing well, you can always go back and get her.
Sending you a virtual hug…