LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Sir/Madame/and Dog Owners and Friends:
My name is Tippy and I want to share my life situation with you.
6:30 AM: I can see and hear people moving around in the house, but no one comes outside to check on me. They are talking and laughing; I wish I could be with them.
6:45 AM: I’m hungry and thirsty. I tipped over my food and water bowls last night when I got tangled in my chain. I’m still tangled in my chain.
7:00 AM: The chain is too tight, and it’s cutting into my neck.
8:15 AM: The people who live in the house are all leaving. I try to run toward them with my tail wagging, hoping they will notice me, but my chain snaps me backward and I fall to the ground. It’s no use.
8:15 AM to 2 PM: I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with myself. I can’t protect the house from my chain. I don’t have any toys to play with, and there are no other dogs to keep me company. Maybe if I bark, someone will show me what to do. I decide to bark all day.
3:15 PM: The smallest person from the house has returned. Maybe he will play with me! He does not. I go to the bathroom in the same place I always go, a few feet from my shelter.
5:30 PM: The rest of the people are home. One of them yells at me to stop barking. I pace back and forth, confused.
6 PM: I smell food in the house. I am still hungry and thirsty.
7 PM: One of the people from the house comes out to see me. He fills my food and water bowls and I am so happy for this attention that I jump up in excitement, spilling both bowls, and now I have nothing to eat or drink .
7:30 PM. Another lonely night. I try to dream about a better life and hope that people understand that I have value and don’t want to be apart from my pack, my family.
Please be willing to change how you think of me, and all my four legged friends, who never get off our chains. Make our lives different - know we are sad and lonely this way. Let us be part of your family, or let us run and play, or even find us another home if you cannot do these things.
Sincerely,
Tippy
For information or help getting your dog off a chain contact Friends of Madison County Animals (FOMCA) at 828-649-9798 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For other links, go to website: "A Day in the Life of a Backyard Dog." BC SPCA. BC SPCA, 2013. Web. 39 Mar. 2013. <http://www.spca.bc.ca/welfare/campaign-issues/tethered-dogs.html#.UzclPvldWDt>. (photo and article)