Dear Dick,
Okay. I was hoping that we wouldn’t have to have this conversation, that common sense or compassion or decency would finally catch up with you and smack you around a little, but alas the job of telling you something that you should already know falls, once again, on my shoulders.
Dick, how you treat your dog is NOT acceptable. At All. No living creature deserves to be locked up in solitary confinement for 22-24 hours a day, every day of their life. As humans, we consider this kind of treatment so harsh that we reserve it as a punishment for our most hardened and violent criminals; rapists, murders, child molesters.
What exactly did your dog do to be rewarded with isolation and lockdown? Solitary confinement is second only to the death penalty for our strictest punishment, and solitary confinement doesn’t generally last for more than a few days at a time.
When was the last time that your dog had more than a few hours out of his kennel or off his lead?
You see Dick, I understand kennel training your pet. I also understand that what you are doing is not kennel training. I have only known you for a few short months, and in that time, I have seen you only socialize with your dog once. That was when your girlfriend thought it might be fun for the two of you to walk him around the block. You two were back in less than ten minutes. Too hard to walk the dog, you said, and back in his kennel he went.
Excuse me, but just what exactly did you expect? That somehow, maybe as a ploy to stave off boredom, your dog would magically train himself while locked up in a kennel that he can’t even completely stand up in? That suddenly, despite the fact that he gets virtually no chance to play, all of his puppy-energy would dissipate the moment your leash clicked on his collar and he would walk nicely? You’re delusional, Dick.
Training a dog doesn’t have to be hard nor does it have to include dominating or cruel behavior, but it does require effort and time. And if all the time and effort you can muster to train you dog includes buying the wrong sized kennel and locking him in it, then you have officially failed. I don’t care that you “have always wanted a dog like him,” or that you just “love the breed.” you have proven that you cannot handle the responsibility of caring for another living creature, and the dog needs to go to a new home.
Animals are not toys or accessories to be taken out and played with at your convenience. They are living, breathing, thinking, feeling beings that are not to be used or abused for your personal pleasure. And the next time I catch you treating anything so poorly, I will lock you in a kennel.
Sincerely,
Your Roommate,
Kim Higley
