Good Dog, Bad Owner

Good Dog, Bad Owner

To the members of the Lawton City Council:

Hello. I am writing this letter addressing the problems of dog overpopulation and dog owners that abandon their dogs, whether it is to a shelter or on the streets. My wife and I currently have four dogs in our home that we treat like our own children. After living a life of abuse and fear, our oldest dog, Sophie, came to us from a rescue in northern Idaho in 2002. Our second and third dogs, Flutter and Karma, entered our family from another giving away a litter of puppies three years ago. The fourth dog, Rambina, has a rather unique story and her arrival into our family changed our lives forever. The love and understanding that my wife and I have for dogs is what caused us to bring the issue of maltreatment of dogs to your attention.

The way I became aware of this problem is when I found Rambina's mother. She was wet, cold, her fur matted, clearly a stray, but a very sweet dog that was apprehensive of people, but warmed up to us very quickly. I called my wife out of the house to show her what I discovered under my vehicle. She took the dog into our garage, where she fed her and gave her towels in a cage to sleep in. She then called every shelter and animal control in the greater Lawton area to see if this dog was reported missing. After having no luck, we decided to allow her in the house and let her get to know the rest of the dogs. In doing this, we bathed her to get rid of flees and to untangle her fur. After taking her to the veterinarian on Fort Sill, we found out she was pregnant.

Two days after Thanksgiving 2008, she gave birth to four puppies. Shortly after the birth of the puppies, we got a visit from the City of Lawton Animal Control Department. They inform us that since we took in a stray, we by law assume ownership of the dog and have to pay a $250 fine. In addition, we must pay a $100 fee per year per dog in order to allow them to live with us, once they reach six months of age. Also, we were informed that we could not give away the puppies without a permit that cost $250, and we do not believe in selling dogs. We were given a week to pay the fine and fees, in which I told my wife over the phone to kick this guy off of our property and if he came back, he had better bring a police escort and a search warrant, or I would file trespassing charges. Well, I found a family of another Soldier in my unit willing to take the mother and the puppies to a farm in another state, where they could be free to roam around and live a dog's life. I felt that the mother, as sweet as she was, didn't get along with our other dogs, and having eight dogs were too many in our house at the time. If we could have, we would have kept them all, but given the situation, kept one puppy, Rambina, who we absolutely fell in love with.

The reasons why I am writing

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