Dog left out in the cold

The Ontario SPCA warns that if it’s too cold for you to go outside then it’s too cold for your pet too. But one Hamilton woman says her neighbour’s dog that lives outside has been left to suffer in the extreme cold temperatures. The concerned woman says she’s called the SPCA several times but nothing has been done to help the dog.

Tiger is a Portuguese Fila and lives outside at a Hamilton concrete forming business on Glover Road. Tiger’s got a friend. Her name is Jill Forsythe. She’s worried about her neighbour, Tiger: “It’s not right how he’s living, not right at all.”

Jill has talked to Tiger’s owners about bringing him inside when it feels like minus forty outside but she says they refuse to do it. Tiger’s a guard dog. He’s chained to this dog house which Jill has stuffed with some blankets for warmth: “My lips are frozen and we’ve only been out here a few minutes so I can imagine 24 hours, 7 days a week of this is just not right.”

Jill says when she comes to check on the dog his water is frozen solid so she brings warm water out to him and he drinks it instantly: “You can actually hear him as it hits an empty stomach, it’s just not right.”

Jill says she’s called the police, animal control and the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA to try and get some help.

Vivian LaFlamme is with the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA: “Those animals will climatize to the weather and will build up an undercoat beneath their outer exterior that protects them from the wind and cold temperatures.>”

The SPCA says an outdoor animal must have an elevated and insulated shelter that has its entrance facing away from the wind and covered with a flap. Tiger doesn’t appear to have these things.

Jill said: “I’m kind of stuck in a hard place. I don’t know what to do.”

The only thing the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA would say about Tiger’s case is that they’re investigating his living conditions.

The Ontario SPCA says the law requires that animals have proper shelter and care. If a pet owner fails to do that, they can be fined, jailed or never be allowed to own an animal again.