‘Dogs chained in own mess’

Press, 7 December 1976, Page 1

‘Dogs chained in own mess’

Dogs are forced to sit, stand, or lie in their own vomit and excreta for two hours in the morning heat during hydatids dosing at the Heathcote County dosing strip, according to an upset dog owner. Mrs C. Alison, has asked that the Heathcote County Council investigate the conditions under which dogs are dosed at the dosing strip in Whaka Terrace. “I took my dog to the strip on November 10,” said Mrs Alison. “The dogs were chained up, on chains only about 18 inches to 2ft long. They couldn’t move. AU they could do was sit or lie down.” “During the dosing at

least half of the dogs I vomited twice, and they

were left to wallow in this and their slimey purge until their owners came for them," she said.

The dosing is a two hour performance and about 20 dogs were crammed on to the dosing strip.

Mrs Alison said her animal, a Dutch-bred Keeshond show dog, was a long-haired dog that could not stay in the sun for more than a few minutes. But the dosing officer refused to tether him in the available shade — he said it would confuse the order. "It was not until the dog was frothing at the mouth that the officer allowed me to move him into the shade,” said Mrs Alison. The chain was so short on one small dog that he was rolling, with his head off the ground, she said.

“The quiet, gentle dogs that didn’t purge in the given Time were given an enema — in a very rough manner. The bigger or vicious dogs were taken for a walk, so that they could do it naturally.”

The dogs were forced to sit in the hot sun until they were claimed. The dosing officer did not hose them down until they were collected, and they had to sit or lie in their own mess, said Mrs Alison. Mr Alison considers the treatment unfit for her dog, and says the fact that he is an expensive show dog is beside the point. “I wouldn’t expect a mongrel to suffer that sort of treatment.”

She is waiting to hear from the council, and has also contacted the S.P.C.A.

“Many dog owners just drop their dogs there and collect them later — I'm sure they don’t realise how they are treated,” she said.

The works and reserves committee of the Heathcote County Council decided to send Mrs Alison a letter from the hydatids dosing officer, replying to her criticism.

The officer said chains were the regulation length, owners were often not punctual, making an ordered routine of dosing impossible, and there was an unlimited supply of water for the animals.

Enemas were given only when a dog had not purged within an hour, and it was quite usual for dogs to vomit, he said.