I was lucky enough to grow up with a dog in our family and a mother who by her example taught my brother and I what it takes to provide an animal with a good life. Many children do not have that opportunity.
Our dog slept in the laundry on her bed,
or if Mum was particularly lenient, on the end of our bed.
We are heading into winter and the truth is that there will be many animals that have no other choice but the cold hard ground as their sleeping ground.
Shelter is not a choice to give, nor is it a pleasant gift to bestow on your pet, it is a requirement by law to provide.
The Animal Welfare Act of 1999 states adequate shelter be provided. That includes from the sun and heat, the rain, and the freezing cold of winter.
I have personally never understood the mindset of putting your cat out at night.
To me the thought of my beloved cat having to find shelter and avoid all manner of stray cats is unthinkable, but at least they have the ability to get up off the ground and find a spot.
Well, hopefully.
But dogs haven't a hope of doing that and their shelter is in the hands and decisions of their owners.
To provide a kennel is what many people automatically do and in summer just that kennel would be an effective shelter measure, but in winter that same kennel won't cut it.
Some sort of polar fleece or blanket needs to be provided to ensure the containment of heat.
And now we come to the dogs whose lives at night must be all-consuming sheer misery, the ones with no choice but the freezing ground. No amount of education will change some people's minds that it is inhumane, and a breach of the law, to do this to their animal.
The SPCA takes the lack of shelter very seriously and if you are found to be one of these owners we will take serious measures to ensure a positive, humane future for that animal.
Nicolle Smith is the education officer for Tauranga SPCA
