# Dog Rescuer or Dog Thief? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994 "2005-02-20T04:40:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/1 "2005-02-20T04:40:45Z")
At what point does your desire for a dog have a more happier and “appropriate” lifestyle (in your opinion) become an invasion of other person’s pet ownership rights? The farmer may not have been maximal use of the dog’s potential, but is it really the job of other people to make that call? From Slate [Rescuing Fly - A journey on the dog underground railroad.- By Jon Katz](http://slate.msn.com/id/2113564/#ContinueArticle) > [@](#): > > Most people would have driven by without slowing, but “Patsy Beckett” (a pseudonym) is a dog rescuer, so she noticed the young border collie tethered to a tree outside a Northern Florida farmhouse. Beckett made a point of passing the farm on her way to work the next day and for weeks thereafter. Each time, she saw the dog—whom she christened Fly—either sitting forlornly or straining at her rope. “She was a beautiful dog, very alert, keen,” Patsy said. At one point, spotting a neighbor outside, she stopped and asked about the dog. > > When Fly first arrived, the neighbor said, she was a playful, busy pup, but she bothered the farmer’s cows and sheep and obsessively chased chickens, cars, and trucks. > > Evidently, the farmer didn’t realize that border collies aren’t born knowing how to herd; it requires long, painstaking training before they’ll go whizzing around on command. Pressed for time and money, farmers have little patience for creatures that have to be fed but can’t be sold. But having paid $200 for Fly, the farmer figured he could at least use her as a watchdog. So, day and night, rain or shine, heat or cold, the dog lived out her life attached to a tree, barking and circling some of the time, lying down and staring at the road the rest. > The neighbor, disturbed by the sight, had actually called the police. But tethering was not illegal, the cops said. She was fed; she wasn’t beaten; there was no crime. > > Beckett made a few telephone calls. One night, when the farmer’s truck was gone from his driveway, she and a friend from her rescue group parked their creaky Windstar on the highway out of sight, crept up and cut Fly’s rope, and walked off with the startled but friendly dog. “You will never be treated this way again,” Patsy promised her. A few hours later, Fly’s collar was replaced, her tag destroyed, and her picture posted on a Yahoo mailing list about rescued dogs. > > Fly’s life had changed forever. She was now in one of the country’s most interesting animal subcultures, the dog rescue system—a semi-underground network of devoted pet lovers willing to do practically anything to help neglected and abused dogs find good homes. > > Type “Dog Rescue” into Google and you will get 4,650,000 hits. Nobody knows precisely how many people are involved in the rescue movement, but it’s reasonable to assume there are tens of thousands, in every city and state. (If you doubt this, visit [petfinder.org](http://petfinder.org), one of the rescue culture’s primary communications networks.) ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/2 "2005-02-20T05:12:15Z")
Dog thief. Did they even offer to buy the animal before they stole it? Yeesh. I like dogs an awful lot– **Metadog** sleeps on my bed just about every night, and is and always will be a loved “indoor dog,” but I wouldn’t presume to tell someone else how to treat their dog, barring unambiguous abuse or neglect. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/3 "2005-02-20T13:40:18Z")
Dog thief. No question. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/4 "2005-02-20T14:49:43Z")
Thief. A casual observer driving by my place at the same time every day would see a Border Collie tethered too, because he runs and chases cars and livestock too. But what they’re not seeing are the times every single day when I take him for a run, and all the times he’s off the chain to play, and the times we do take him out to work. It’s not some random stranger’s call to make, what I do with my dog, as long as I’m not being cruel. And cruel is for a police or animal control agency to decide, not some moron off the street. Hope she stays out of rural areas, because almost ALL the dogs are tied up or kenneled most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/5 "2005-02-20T15:49:15Z")
My parents have a place in Arkansas. Every weekend they go out there and take their dogs. After a few weeks, a little black dog started showing up in the driveway. He had a collar but no tags. Not too strange for the country. Our dogs aren’t particularly friendly to other dogs, but this one knew how to get along. After a few weeks, we’d decided to call him Pete, after a friend of ours. For the first few months, he’d stay with them during the day, coming in and out of the house, eating with our dogs, but sleeping outside. Gradually he started moving inside. Still he stayed in Arkansas. My dad had talked to the guy across the street. It was one of his dogs. His name, and this is just weird, was actually Pete. And then one weekend they came, and Pete walked up looking pitiful. He was clearly sick. So Pete got taken with my aunt to the vet where, sadly, they couldn’t save him. Are we rescuers or thieves? We sure didn’t think to ask the guy before we took him. He didn’t seem to miss Pete every weekend, after all. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Foible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Foible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foible)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/6 "2005-02-20T15:56:53Z")
“Dog Rescue” is not about stealing dogs. Jon Katz’s attempt to paint every web site using the term as a vigilante is dishonest. The rescue movement is about finding homes for unwanted dogs, not stolen ones. Jon knows this, having written a couple of books about dogs already, so I can assume this is just sensationalism to boost his readership. I just hope he doesn’t harm legitimate rescuers with his implications. As for the specific case of Fly the dog in the story, just how good of a watchdog was she if she went off with the first strangers to pay attention to her? Stealing her was wrong, especially without trying to buy her or trade for her or even offer to train her to do the job she was bred for. A dog shouldn’t spend its life tied up, where I live it is illegal to do so for more than ten hours at a time, but there are better ways of handling the situation than theft. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/7 "2005-02-20T18:40:00Z")
I want to say theif, but I think rescue. I wish they would come rescue the boxer that lives next door to me. She’s in a pen 24/7 365 days a year, never gets walked or exercised and barks constantly. Calls to the animal control officer did nothing- she’s being fed and kept in sanitary conditions. So she sits out there all day and night with no attention whatsoever. And yes, I’ve talked to the neighbor numerous times- she gives a lot of yes nods and OKs, and nothiing changes. I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought of grabbing her, driving her to a town an hour or so away, and bringing her to a boxer rescue. She’s so beautiful and so sad. I don’t know. Theif or rescue, it’s a tough call for me. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/8 "2005-02-20T19:12:03Z")
Hi, I think this is theft- especially since I get a pretty strong feeling that the farmer would have been fine with selling or handing over the dog if asked to do so. A close friend of mine was in a similar situation- we both had a few Border Collies that lived in a kennel at the barn where we spent every moment that we were not going to school (college at the time) or working. I would say were were there an average of 5-6 hours a day- both in the morning to feed and let out dogs, in many cases at lunch time as well, and often late into the night after work. Our dogs were extremely well cared for, socialized, working dogs. Daily they were taken out for several hours to either go with us while we rode our horses, to work their sheep, or just to hang out for hours. My friend got a new pup from working lines that was kennelled with her older dog. A lady who also had her horse at the same barn decided that the pup was “neglected” (very, very untrue) and stole her. For over a week, we had no idea where the pup was until we heard through the grapevine that this lady suddenly had a new pup. My friend had already had the pup (which was quite a promising working prospect and a sweetheart personality too) for several weeks and was very attached to her. The torture she went through that week I can’t imagine- I lost one of my dogs for one night (after an auto accident) and it was horrible enough not knowing where she was for those 12 hour, let alone for a whole week. Luckily, the lady was stupid and also stole a pair of expensive hand braided rawhide reins- so while law enforcement wouldn’t get involved over the pup- they did get involved over the stolen property and the pup was given back to her rightful owner. This pup grew up to be a fine Open cow dog and my friend also spent alot of money and cared for her when she contracted spinal menigitis as a young adult dog and nearly died of it. Today, “Audrey” is about 12 years old and has had a great life (aside from her illness). So whenever I hear of people “rescuing” dogs that were not given over to rescue or taken for abusive instead of “subjectively inadequate” surroundings- I think of this same situation. I also was subjected to people who thought, just because they lived at the barn (in very comfortable, clean kennels with more interaction with their owner than most house pets get) that my dogs were in need of better surroundings. One lady was constantly trying to give my dogs away- she would approach me nearly every month with a “home for your dogs”. By this time we had a lock on the kennel, but I have little doubt that if we didn’t, I would have come out one day to find my dogs missing. Both of those dogs are now 10 years of age, having had very satisfying working and home lives and do now take residence on my couch. They are healthy, well cared for and happy dogs. The dog in the story doesn’t sound like she was having a satisfying life- but I do think there were other ways to get her out of that situation than outright theft. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/9 "2005-02-20T19:12:42Z")
Thief. Thievery By nitwits. There are X dogs being killed in shelters and pounds everyday. It is probably safe to say that thousands are euthanized everyday. There just aren’t enough homes for all of the dogs which are brought into the world. So they grab up a spot for, and use resources and time, to save a dog with food, water and shelter because they “observed” as they drove by their way to work that things aren’t how they think things need to be. That isn’t really the “because” though : They did this is to feel morally superior and, I suspect, because they don’t like farmers in the first place. By cite let me call out this: “… farmers have little patience for creatures that have to be fed but can’t be sold.” [Over generalize much you sanctimonious [insert pit language here]. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/10 "2005-02-20T19:31:09Z")
Rescuer No animal should have to live like that. It may have been the wrong way to go about it, but it sounds as if Fly is living a much better life now. I had some neighbors who had a yard full of dogs, maybe four or five, and they were all constantly left outside. One of them was always tied to a tree, and I never once saw the people come out and play with the dogs or give them any attention whatsoever. People like that shouldn’t have animals if that’s how they’re going to treat them. A dog is better off dead than forced to live like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/11 "2005-02-20T19:44:23Z")
That article’s been bugging me too ever since I read it a couple days back. It would seem simple enough to merely purchase the dog, especially since the farmer apparently is unhappy with ownership. Instead, we have to bring in the dog underground, which undoubtedly ends up being more expensive, not to mention illegal, just to satisfy a sense of righteousness against “abusive” owners. I’ve been wondering, how do they know how much the dog cost and what the farmer thought? ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/12 "2005-02-20T20:10:41Z")
Yeah, it’s theft. But I wouldn’t be the one to turn you in. 😃 There is a fine line (IMHO) between abuse and not-abuse. A dog on a chain with no exercise, abuse. A hunting dog that lives in a metal crate in the back of a truck? Not abuse, but it kills me to hear about it. We have neighbors who let their dogs run free in the 'hood. One of them is a wee little lad who is smaller than the bunnies in the yard (which the coyotes love to prey upon :eek: ) I’ve returned them quite a few times and the owners don’t seem to care. Lots of people just don’t have fences around here. I know my girls wandered out the front door and over to the horse stable ACROSS THE ROAD! I was so mad at myself–luckily they came back unharmed. So I try not to be too hard on the owners. We all make mistakes, BUT the continuous neglect and abuse of animals is abuse and I’d steal the dog myself… True sad stories (and truimphs) [www.pasadosafehaven.org](http://www.pasadosafehaven.org). ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-rescuer-or-dog-thief/290994/13 "2005-02-20T23:26:32Z")
Theft. The thief knew nothing but what she observed as she drove past. The dog was apparently feed, watered and sheltered. It may not live the life she _thinks_ it should live. Let me tell you about my dog Siddhartha. Sidd was an Afghan hound. He was an outside dog, by choice. I wanted a dog who would sleep on my bed, but whenever I brought him in the house, he’d stand by the door and stare until he could go back out. He could jump a 6’ fence and was on a chain. He got lots of love and attention every day. He had more room than most dogs in pens. He lived to be 14 years old, a very long life for an Afghan hound. In his later years he chose to come in the house, but throughout his life I kept his happiness in mind, and he was happiest outside, even though he was on a chain. StG