Poor Puppy

I feel sorry for the dog next door, and I feel sorry for me, too--for, you see, our fates are in at least one aspect intermingled. 

But let me start from the beginning. 

A while back, the people who live next door bought or otherwise acquired a dog. She is just a young dog, perhaps six months, but already a large dog. There is one middle-aged woman who seems a permanent resident there, and then others who have come and gone. There was what seemed to be a husband or a partner at one time, but he has gone (or rather, was rather suddenly and violently ejected). There was a young man, whom I took to be a son, but he has also gone, leaving only his motorcycle behind.

Most recently, there has been a young man and a young woman, who seem to be a couple, and the young man would seem to be the owner of the dog. Whilst he was there in the house, he would pay a fair bit of attention to the dog, playing with it, taking it for walks, and such like. But now he has gone as well, along with the girl, and only visits the house each morning to feed the dog. 

The dog itself has been kept in the carport--a rather restricted space for a young, active dog--but for the past two weeks or so, she has been tied to a chain perhaps five feet long in a corner of the carport and the young man has set out a pile of dirt or sand for her to sleep on. Why this chain is necessary, when the dog is already contained in the carport, I cannot fathom.

And so this healthy young pup has thus been confined most the day long and all the night long. During the nights in this season, it often rains quite hard, and it becomes rather chilly outside, and so she does what most dogs would do--she cries and howls. The older woman, the permanent resident of the house, seems oblivious to this pitiable canine sorrow, and yet I, and likely the other neighbors are keenly aware of it--for we are awake and have nothing else to do but listen.

Now, I'm certain that it will be apparent to most folks that this young dog ought to be running and playing and meeting other dogs and not just sitting on a little hill of sand in the corner. Why these people have purchased a dog, I cannot understand. One hopes that they will find a happier situation for her before long. In fact, one may have to speak to them about it. One may even have to be downright blunt.