For the Love of Dog
For the Love of Dog / April 18, 2009 / Puyallup, WA
“Okay, alright” I tell her. “but I don’t think we should do this after dark.” “Its just too dangerous.” Unfortunately, the call comes through at 7:30pm. “He’s ready. His brother will be there in 45 minutes. The mini- mart at 19th & MLK in Tacoma.
”I kiss my three dogs goodbye as though for the last time and head out following Susan Hartland of Dogs Deserve Better to trade $250 for a pitbull whose ears had been cut off and who has been bred for puppies many times over. Its owner, had a striking resemblance to a person featured on the Fox News Q13 program Washington’s Most Wanted just days ago, and has flipped flopped several times about selling the dog, the only thing he has in the world. “I love her.” he had told animal rescuer Kelly Page who brokered the deal. But tonight he’s changed his mind. $250. He needs it.
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Susan Hartland, an advocate and instrumental force in this area for the banishment of continuous dog chaining, has been trying to get the laws changed in our area for a year. The issue was first brought to the Metropolitan King County Council last October 2008 where it has been lively debated. She has taken it to the City of Tacoma, Snohomish County, and in the next week will appear before the Pierce County Council. Hartland volunteers on behalf of Dog’s Deserve Better, a non-profit rescue organization working to raise awareness of the plight of chained and tethered dogs who are often neglected and abused.
About a week ago I rode along with Hartland, Page, and Page’s two- year old daughter Maggie on a tour of chained dogs in the Tacoma area. Hartland had been concerned about a pitbull tied up on a six-foot cord in a yard next to the Indian Smoke Shop on the Puyallup Tribal Reservation along Pacific Hwy E. Someone had called Hartland to report he had seen this dog with a litter of puppies and was concerned about her.
At first it was hard to see that there was even a dog there. Hearing us she peaked out from within her plastic igloo. Her bark was old and tired. Woof. Woof. Scared but lacking energy. She was shaking and holding one paw up like it was injured. Her ears had been brutally cut off. Her eyes depicted a sadness of untold horrors and loneliness. Her teats hung so low they almost touched the ground. Page went closer, through the feces, crouching down to the dog’s level, offering food and water. The pit moved towards her and Page’s hand brushed her face. The large golden pit soaked up the touch. She just wanted to be loved. Eyes closed and leaning in towards Page she seemed desperate.
After inquiring about the dog and receiving vague answers in the smoke shop we left. The pit watched us walk away, stepping through her litter strewn yard of old wooden pallets, sleeping bags, trashcans of empty water bottles. A hatchet. What went on here?
Days later, none of us could get the pittie out of our minds.
So Page went back.
As an animal rescuer Kelly Page roams neighborhoods in her car and searches for chained dogs. Not associated with any rescue group she is a one-man band. On a grassroots level she just wants to make a difference for these dogs. Once she finds one she talks to the owners and tries to educate them on the problems of continuous dog chaining. Her car is filled with dog treats, water, and often a bale of hay. She always brings her two-year-old daughter who like her Mom, loves the Bubba’s (dogs) and cries when her Mom won’t let her get near them for a pet.
On this day, about a week ago, a couple days after the three of us had been there, Page describes it as a stroke of luck. The dog’s owner was there. He lives in a beat-up trailer parked on the property. They made eye contact and started a conversation. He found her, and her daughter beautiful. He said they could have the dog for $100. He had been featured on the program Washington’s Most Wanted, turned himself in, and figured he would be going to jail. She promised she would find the dog, Missy, a good home. They exchanged phone numbers and Page said she would return the next day.
The next morning he called her. Now he wants $250. Sigh. She agreed. But by the time she got there he had changed his mind. His sister wanted the dog and he said he was getting on a plane. Page cried. No deal.
“Its always like this” Page says of rescues. They’re never easy.
Back at home, Page did some research and discovered the man featured on the Most Wanted program was a Level 3 sex offender, the most dangerous level, for raping two women back in 1983, amongst several other crimes.
Concerned about the dog she called the Puyallup tribal police. She called Milton Animal Services. She called the Milton Police but the bottom line is there was nothing anyone could do.
“You see,” explains Officer Connie Ellis of Milton Animal Services, “It may not be the way you or I treat our dogs but that dog is within the law.” Currently there is no ordinance against leaving your dog outside continually chained up, nor is it illegal to breed your dog multiple times for puppies. Ellis feels strongly about the chaining legislation and would love to see it passed in Tacoma. She believes it creates anxiety in the dogs “and it will literally drive them insane. Once they go over the edge,” she says “they won’t come back.” Ellis says the city of Milton would probably follow the ordinance if it passes in Tacoma or Pierce County. Currently the dog has to be in a life threatening situation for animal services to remove it but the chaining ordinance would give them the authority to take Missy.
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Its dark and I’m driving on I-5 into what I perceive is the heart of darkness. This is stupid. What if there are gangsters there? What if we are just being set up? What if they pull out guns?
Nervously, Hartland, Page, and I are on the phone the whole way down. Its almost 9:30 pm and both Susan and I are lost.
When we got there it wasn’t nearly as bad as we feared. There was a guy, alone, standing in the light at the Speedy Mart, with an earless pitbull wagging its tail. A third rescuer, Robin Booth, was in a car nearby, watching, phone to her ear, ready to call the cops if anything bad was to happen.
His name was Mr. Right and he was signing the dog over to Susan.
What?
Every girl dreams of the day she will meet her Mr. Right but I never imagined it would be at a Speedy Mart parking lot in Tacoma.
He is really nice, friendly, about 30, and signs over the dog. From around the building’s corner emits a hooded figure. Nervous. Muttering that his brother doesn’t need to sign the papers. “You need to GO!” he says. I see under the black hoodie it is HIM… he guy in the (Most Wanted’s) mug shot. We linger with questions to the younger guy. “Is the dog spayed? How old is the dog? The younger guy doesn’t know anything. It’s his brother’s dog he says. Several more people have shown up, curious. “Lets GO!” the older man says. Afraid the deal will go sour Susan hands over the money and loads the pit bull into the back of her car.
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Minutes later, we’re in a Jack in Box parking lot nearby feeding the dog a chicken sandwich. This is the biggest pitbull I have ever seen. The dog with no ears is very sweet. She’s nervous but really pretty, golden, and thick.
Now begins the hard part says Hartland – finding this dog a home. Its going to be difficult because of her age, breed and the mental scars she’s got from her former life. In addition to the initial $250 forked over, the dog will be boarded for $25 a day out of Susan and Kelly’s pocket. They can only afford 20 days. After that, they don’t know.
Robin Booth, the rescuer standing by at the scene said she overhead the older man saying that he knew exactly what he was going to do with the money. Buy alcohol.
Days later the City of Milton Police, Chief William Rhoads, said they went to the address where the dog had been but the dog’s owner was gone. The guy featured on the Most Wanted TV program was later admitted into the Pierce County jail for several offenses including failing to register as a sex offender since last October.
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Donations or adoption inquiries about Missy the pitbull can be given to Susan Hartland at Dogs Deserve Better hartlandsf@yahoo.com or 206-786-4288. Dogs Deserve Better does not advocate the exchange of money for dogs.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________This story originally ran in the Seattle Post Globe
