E emailed us informing of a beagle she has seen who seemed to be chained up all the time. Each time she passes by that household, the beagle is chained to a short chain, attached at an angle to the wall of the porch. The angle is at quite a height, which provides the beagle with lesser leeway to move about in a distance.
For the nature of a dog as a beagle, it must have been distressing to be restricted for the whole day, when you have so abounding energy to share with your human companions and so much scents to sniff out and wondrous stuff to discover just steps beyond that metal gate that never seems to open for a walk for you.
You can't even walk a metre without the chain pulling on your neck.
Such is the life of the beagle seen by E each time she passes by, and she emailed us for help to check on that dog.
Much as I wish to make a quick trip over, I was so tied up with other cases i just couldn't handle this myself, thus informed SPCA and they promptly responded with a home visit. The inspector advised the family on better care for their dog, eg, sharing on the importance of walking their dog regularly, avoid chaining for long periods of time, lowering the height at which the chain is attached so that the beagle is able to walk about a slightly bigger area.
During the visit, the inspector was informed that one of the reason for chaining up the beagle is cos he is aggressive. At that moment, I thought, hey...aggression, if any, could be a RESULT of prolonged chaining rather than the REASON. Any animal, chained up and isolated for long periods will be behaviourally altered in some ways.
After a week, SPCA visited again and the chain was still not lowered. The family explained that it was cos the family was handling some issues and had no time to look into this and promised to do so soon.
It seemed that there is nothing much to be done about this chained up beagle, cos as shared in my earlier post, there are NO regulations in Singapore about chaining up your dog 24/7 so long as the dog has food, water, shelter and the chain is not visibly too tight or too short. A dog can spend his entire 15 years chained up or caged up, and there is nothing the law can nor will do to charge the family for animal neglect/abuse. This is accepted in our country at this moment.
So, after quite some time and having the beagle on my mind all this while, and giving assurance to E that we will make sure we do what we can to better the life of this beagle, having engaged SPCA for assistance, I was visited by nagging thots that I am not doing all that I can -- so we sent out a post for volunteer dog walkers around that area, for which we have a volunteer K who came forward, being herself a beagle owner.
And today, with a last minute change of plan, I could make some time to pop by the beagle's home with JT to take our very own look at the situation.
Before we went there, I was getting myself prepared for an aggressive dog, and thinking ahead of ways to resocialise this fellow before the volunteer walker comes to take him out regularly to offer him the freedom he so desires.
The dog who greeted us the minute we stepped into the home has no shred of aggression in his bones!! He is just a simple, happy, jolly, so welcoming boy that my heart was immediately filled with great relief and also that familiar slight anger at his humans for depriving him of a fuller life.
In short, we took him out for a good long walk. He was putting his sniffer nose into everything he could, ocassionally we broke into a short sprint for him to run off his energy, then we rested at the bus-stop for awhile before bringing him back home.
Always a delight to see an animal enjoying freedom in nature. Regardless of what circumstances we are born into, FREEDOM is the gift each and every one of us has. FREEDOM should never be robbed from us.
The family was friendly to us though and open to advice. It is the usual case of working adults who do not have time for the family pet, though they did explain that they try as much as they can to walk him at nights, and sometimes bring him to the nearby petshop to play with his friends.
We will be arranging with K to meet up with the family to see how she can plan to bring BB the beagle out a few times a week for his much anticipated walks, partly to relieve the family if time is truly the reason, and more so to just give back to BB the joy of freedom that will bring back more happy wags we're all so glad to see.
Thanks JT for helping out!rse case This family, I believe, does try to walk BB at
For the nature of a dog as a beagle, it must have been distressing to be restricted for the whole day, when you have so abounding energy to share with your human companions and so much scents to sniff out and wondrous stuff to discover just steps beyond that metal gate that never seems to open for a walk for you.
You can't even walk a metre without the chain pulling on your neck.
Such is the life of the beagle seen by E each time she passes by, and she emailed us for help to check on that dog.
Much as I wish to make a quick trip over, I was so tied up with other cases i just couldn't handle this myself, thus informed SPCA and they promptly responded with a home visit. The inspector advised the family on better care for their dog, eg, sharing on the importance of walking their dog regularly, avoid chaining for long periods of time, lowering the height at which the chain is attached so that the beagle is able to walk about a slightly bigger area.
During the visit, the inspector was informed that one of the reason for chaining up the beagle is cos he is aggressive. At that moment, I thought, hey...aggression, if any, could be a RESULT of prolonged chaining rather than the REASON. Any animal, chained up and isolated for long periods will be behaviourally altered in some ways.
After a week, SPCA visited again and the chain was still not lowered. The family explained that it was cos the family was handling some issues and had no time to look into this and promised to do so soon.
It seemed that there is nothing much to be done about this chained up beagle, cos as shared in my earlier post, there are NO regulations in Singapore about chaining up your dog 24/7 so long as the dog has food, water, shelter and the chain is not visibly too tight or too short. A dog can spend his entire 15 years chained up or caged up, and there is nothing the law can nor will do to charge the family for animal neglect/abuse. This is accepted in our country at this moment.
So, after quite some time and having the beagle on my mind all this while, and giving assurance to E that we will make sure we do what we can to better the life of this beagle, having engaged SPCA for assistance, I was visited by nagging thots that I am not doing all that I can -- so we sent out a post for volunteer dog walkers around that area, for which we have a volunteer K who came forward, being herself a beagle owner.
And today, with a last minute change of plan, I could make some time to pop by the beagle's home with JT to take our very own look at the situation.
Before we went there, I was getting myself prepared for an aggressive dog, and thinking ahead of ways to resocialise this fellow before the volunteer walker comes to take him out regularly to offer him the freedom he so desires.
The dog who greeted us the minute we stepped into the home has no shred of aggression in his bones!! He is just a simple, happy, jolly, so welcoming boy that my heart was immediately filled with great relief and also that familiar slight anger at his humans for depriving him of a fuller life.
In short, we took him out for a good long walk. He was putting his sniffer nose into everything he could, ocassionally we broke into a short sprint for him to run off his energy, then we rested at the bus-stop for awhile before bringing him back home.
Always a delight to see an animal enjoying freedom in nature. Regardless of what circumstances we are born into, FREEDOM is the gift each and every one of us has. FREEDOM should never be robbed from us.
The family was friendly to us though and open to advice. It is the usual case of working adults who do not have time for the family pet, though they did explain that they try as much as they can to walk him at nights, and sometimes bring him to the nearby petshop to play with his friends.
We will be arranging with K to meet up with the family to see how she can plan to bring BB the beagle out a few times a week for his much anticipated walks, partly to relieve the family if time is truly the reason, and more so to just give back to BB the joy of freedom that will bring back more happy wags we're all so glad to see.
Thanks JT for helping out!rse case This family, I believe, does try to walk BB at
Yes! A much awaited walk for BB with JT.
Walking on......
....and on.........
Time out at the bus-stop before heading home.
Walking on......
....and on.........
Time out at the bus-stop before heading home.
There are many more worse cases like BB out there. This family, I believe, does try to walk BB at night after work, though it is highly suspected that BB's time off the leash is not as often as is desired.For the many chained up/caged up dogs out there, some could be just in your very neighbourhood, DO WATCH OUT FOR THEM. Do not just walk by that household day after day after day, knowing that the animal is wasting away on chains, imprisoned in cages, living a dying life moment by moment, and YOU SIMPLY WALK AWAY EVERY SINGLE DAY....YOU CAN MAKE A LIFE BETTER TODAY. YOU CAN. Just speak up. Let us know. Let SPCA know. Things CAN be better. YOU can make it better.
6 comments:
could a longer leash be given to the owner to allow BB more movement space? Alternatively, could a bigger confined area be given to allow movement?
Good job, i am touched; your commitment, love and action. Thank you so much and to the volunter who is helping out.
A longer (and lighter leash) should be given to BB, as well as a longer walking leash. It would be easier for both the dog and walker. With BB's exuberant personality and all that energy, he should be taken to the Bishan Dog run some day! :) jt
Good Work! A very encouraging article.
I'll think facing the owner is a more challenging task than the 'agressive' dog.
yes, we have advised the owner to lower down the wall hook for the leash to begin with so that BB can move about more. steadily we will advise the family more n more on how to improve BB's quality of life.
http://adoptstrays.blogspot.com/2007/06/whats-in-store-for-him.html
exact same case here..though this lil thing is out in the open and is not even fed properly...talking to owners failed...so do the next best thing play with him for some time, feed him, and walk him whenever I pass this street...which is almost 4 days a week. Besides the penalty is a fine for 20 rs here so doesnt make sense, confiscation will make him end up in a shelter which again will be not a great idea...sigh so many odds...only if ppl who cant keep dogs stay away frm them.
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