How To Rescue Chained Dogs and Practice Nonviolence At the Same Time [View all]

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http://www.alternet.org/how-rescue-chained-dogs-and-practice-nonviolence-same-time



My friend Amy was walking home from work when she noticed a dog laying in the yard of a house in her neighborhood of West Oakland. The dog, a toffee-colored pit bull mix, was chained to a post in front of the house. Amy stopped and peered through the chain-link fence and the dog lifted her head and wagged her tail. The next day when Amy walked by, the dog was in the same place. She seemed lethargic, though she thumped her tail weakly against the ground when she saw Amy.

On the third day, the dog had not moved since the day before. She didn’t raise her head or wag her tail; she just lay still. Was the dog dead? Amy had to know. She unlatched the gate and walked into the yard to take a closer look. The dog was still alive, but up close Amy could see how sick and emaciated she was. She was so weak she could not stand. Whoever owned this dog was leaving her to die at the end of her chain. Amy did not have to think about it another second. She slipped the dog’s collar off, gathered her up in her arms, and took her straight to a veterinarian.

That was seven years ago. Today Peanut—for that is what Amy named her—is a beloved house dog who likes to sleep on Amy’s bed in a nest of soft pillows. She is playful and happy, though she is still fearful of many things: thunder, fireworks, the sound of a chain.

I hope I would have had the courage to take matters into my own hands the way Amy did when she rescued Peanut. Sometimes, compassion takes a lot of guts. Other people in the neighborhood must have seen Peanut in that yard, getting weaker and sicker day after day. Maybe they were too afraid to speak up, or maybe they believed it wasn’t any of their business. But being a good neighbor means looking out for both our human and our animal neighbors.