Cold summers

It's around 100 degrees outside. There's little to no shade. You're thirsty, you're hot, and the only thing you can do is lie down and take the heat on a flat, hot surface, or in hot grass. You want to go inside to be with your friends and family, but the door is closed, maybe locked. There's no way you can get in to enjoy more comfortable surroundings unless you get lucky and someone comes to open the door and let you in, or at LEAST remember to make sure you not only have water to drink, but that it's at least cold enough to keep you hydrated.

Or worse. All of the above applies to you, but you're tied and can only move around so much. Your very freedom has been severely limited, and is under the total control of the one who tied you up outside. You'll vocalize your need for company, for attention, for love. Simultaneously, you'll accept your current situation and just deal with the card you've been dealt.

I live in a 2-story house with my partner and our 2 awesome dogs, Apollo and Ares. They're both big, mixed-breed dogs. They're domesticated. We treat them like our children...because to us, they are. We love them, feed them, take them to the doctor, teach them, play with them, clean up after them, etc. They're loved and completely cared for, and they know it. Then I look out a window upstairs that overlooks our backyard and the backyards of the neighbors who share our back fence. One house has 2 dogs, and from what I can see, they both stay outside. They're not tied up, and they do have a small area of shade provided by the rear patio. I have no idea if they'll stay outside, or if they're just out there to do their business before they're readmitted into the house. I don't know. But when I see dogs outside in the heat, I just want to go to them and show them someone cares.

I grew up with smaller dogs, and they weren't really "family", but rather, pets in the background, accessories. When I think about how I could've done so much more for them had I known what I know now, my dogs would've been so much happier. I grew up in one house where we had our Italian Greyhound, Grigio, living indoors with us. When I got to high school, we moved to another house, and Grigio became an outdoor dog. We only brought him in when it was too cold, too hot, or it was raining severely. But he had a dog house with a comfy bed in it with blankets. He was given good fresh food, and fresh water, sometimes with ice cubes to keep him cool. He also had a large shaded area where his dog house was. I'd go outside to play with him periodically. He had regular trips to the vet. So as far as all that, he was treated very well. But he could've been treated so much better.

When I think about Grigio, and especially other dogs we had after he died, I feel like an asshole. We could've done more, but we didn't, and I feel this way for dogs who've died under circumstances that, though good, could've been a lot better. Now I have Apollo and Ares, whom we treat so well that we even share our bed with them. They don't get under the covers, but they sleep in our bedroom; one on our bed with us, usually Apollo, and the other, usually Ares, on the futon across from the bed. When I get into bed, Apollo is either lying down at the foot already, or I'll crawl in, he'll jump up, and rest alongside my legs, and I feel his weight press against me as he lies down, and that contact, his body weight pressed against my leg is such a great feeling. I feel connected to this creature, this adopted child of ours, whose love and loyalty to his parents is unconditional. Our dogs live a great life.

But not all animals are as lucky as our babies.

It's taken a few years for my perspective to change. I didn't see things back then the way I see them now. When I drive through my neighborhood, and I see a loose dog running about in the street, my heart breaks for it. I want to find the owner and reprimand them for not being more responsible.What if that dog gets run over? What if they leave the neighborhood and become a stray? Can you imagine a child in such a situation? The police would be called and the child would immediately be returned to their home. The parents may even be charged with child endangerment or neglect. But in the case of an animal? Nope.

I feel like I'm starting to prattle here, so let me get to my point which I was trying to make in my first paragraph:

Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. The Golden Rule that Jesus himself taught us.

When you see an animal in need, do you think to yourself, "Someone else will take care of it", or do you take action? If you have a dog or any pet that stays outdoors, please reconsider, at least for the summer, to let them stay inside with you. If you're unwilling to do that, then FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL. Give the dog away to a family who will take care of it the way it needs to be taken care of. It's so sad to know so many animals are suffering, and so many of them need good, loving forever homes. But we're all too busy taking care of our own lives. People don't want the responsibility of taking care of an animal who just wants to be loved.

If you ever think, "They're animals. They can take it" if they're out in the heat, you're wrong! We've been domesticating dogs for years. They're no longer capable of "taking it". Once they're domesticated, it's unlikely they can re-adapt enough to survive as a wild animal.

Though I'm primarily addressing dogs, the same holds true for cats, though they are more self-sufficient in taking care of themselves. Dogs are incredibly social creatures, and no other species of animals works with social human cues the way dogs do.

I know this summer I'll be seeing dogs kept out in people's back yards. They'll be taking the heat, and probably enduring intense thirst. In worse scenarios, there'll be animals outside tied up, their freedom limited, kept in the background, enjoying human company when their owners feel like it.

If you have a dog, please think about how you're treating it this summer. If you don't want your dog to be indoors, but you love it too much to give it away or sell, then make their outdoor living tolerable. Play with it daily, or take it for a walk. Make sure their water bowl is always full, because they can't tell you when they're thirsty. If you ever try to rationalize how you treat your dog because...they're a dog...then ask yourself if you'd like that same treatment. If not, make your treatment of them more humane.