In response to Kim Bauer”s letter regarding her two dogs getting shot for killing the neighbor”s cat (“Dogs were their family members,” Readers” Views, Aug. 12):
Ms. Bauer, I am sure, is suffering from her loss of her “beloved dogs,” but not once did she apologize to the cat”s owner, who I am sure is suffering as well.
I, too, had a pair of dogs come on to my property and kill my beloved 17-year-old cat who was sunning herself on her porch. If I had been home, I would have shot both dogs; I am a dog lover, but these dogs not only killed my cat, they killed my landlord”s cat, the neighbor”s sheep and ran prize llamas through fencing causing major trauma to these very valuable llamas, not to mention all the owners involved. These dogs needed to be stopped and so did Ms. Bauer”s dogs. I can assure you that your two dogs suffered less from a gunshot than that cat did from your dogs killing it.
Once a dog starts killing, it doesn”t stop. It is a very self-rewarding behavior and if you take a dog with a high prey drive and combine that with a few kills under the belt you have yourself a very dangerous dog. A child could have been next.
I moved to this county six years ago and when I sit outside at night I am disgusted at the number of dogs barking around my home. I can hear dogs barking from blocks away and I wonder, if I can hear them barking blocks away, why can”t their owners hear them barking? Shouldn”t dogs be with their family members at night, inside the house, safe and sound?
Citizens of this county need to wake up and start caring properly for their animals. I have been a dog owner my entire life and lived in several counties, and Lake County, by far, is the most primitive when it comes to animal care. Things need to change, people need to wake up and see all the animals suffering in and around their neighborhoods. Start reporting animal cruelty (I am sure Hero is happy that someone stood up for him and reported his horrible neglect), and start treating your dogs like the family members you say they are.
Dogs are pack animals, they belong with their pack, not tied outside, not left outside, not left to roam neighborhoods. When I go inside at night, my dogs come with me. This assures that they are not only safe, they are not escaping from my yard, barking at all hours of the night, keeping my poor neighbors awake and they certainly are not killing my neighbor”s cat.
Just imagine if those two dogs were properly cared for and brought inside at night, they would still be alive and so would the neighbor”s cat. Ms. Bauer, if you truly meant what you said about these dogs being family members, then you will learn a very valuable lesson from this tragedy. If you ever own a dog again, I hope you can look back and maybe not make the same mistake twice.
For all those dog owners in this county who leave your dogs chained or unattended in a backyard all night, shame on you. Your dog is suffering; if it could talk, it would beg you to bring him in with his pack every night and keep him safe.
H. Sentz
Lakeport
