Very interesting read - dog underground railroad

He seems to have some mixed feelings about it, doesn't he - even though he's adopting Fly.

I read his essay, "Dog Bites Man" and although he makes some very valid points, he completely misses fact that it was the responsibility of the aggressive, off leash Peke's owner that the entire scenario happened - including her grandson being bitten! Spice was merely protecting his owner from a reasonably perceived attack. Once again, people cause the problem and a dog pays.

I agree, dogs, unlike humans, attack for a reason. We may not know exactly why they attacked, but they had a reason. They either felt threatened or that their owner was being threatened. It is terrible when a child is bitten, but again it is usally the fault of the person who is supposed to watching over the child. You should never leave a young child alone with any animal unsupervised.

He had some good points. I mean, I am fairly obsessive about my puppy. I love him so much it hurts, but why is it that we are so willing to save dogs when there are people who need our help and aren't getting it. And I am sorry but stealing is stealing. I don't agree with the farmer and if the dog had escaped surely I would not return her but that is blatent theft. How would one of us feel if someone percieved that we were mistreating our dogs and snuck up when we weren't there and stole them. Sure this was in the yard and not from the house but what if someone justified stealing your dog since you were at work most of the day and came home for lunch to take out your dog and then left again. In their mind that could be neglect since you don't have time to devote to your pup. I dunno. Something about that sits wrongly with me. It is one person's impression that the farmer doesn't care but that could be skewed. I dunno. Yes, there are many dogs that need help from abusive neglectful people. I am not saying that we don't need these rescues but some of the applications for instance require as much history as if you were applying to adopt a CHILD. Just my 2 cents.

The older I get the more inclined I am to help animals over people.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be a dog if a suffering situation and watch people go by and not care...how forlorn, how woeful can that be...there was a short story in stories international about a small child that was harmed, three polititions found him in the road in only a shirttail, and each one knew that if they did something, he would only be returned eventually to the bad person..so they set him back in the road and left....i do not see any difference in the dog as I do the child. The pain is the same, the same cold, or thirsty, hungry or hot..i always do the "if it were me" and I would hope that someone would see my plight and not worry about the reprocussions..i would hope they were smart enough to get me the heck out of there and keep their mouth shut about it. Stealing should be about money or property, not about a life in pain.

That is no way for an animal to live, especially a Border Collie. They are very high-energy and very intelligent, requiring both physical and mental exercise, plus lots of human contact.

There's no doubt - based on what was described in the article - that 'fly' will be better off. However, why would you steal the dog? If the farmer didn't have much use for him and these people have money to put into recuing dogs, why not aproach the farmer and offer to buy him??? In fact, if the farmer didn't report the dog stolen, he probably would have sold fly for a fair bit less than he paid to begin with - and that would remove the need (in this case) to go 'underground' and well....you get the idea.

I'm all for action when it's nessessary - however, avoiding criminal offenses if and when possible is always a good first action.

People are funny. For many, it's not whether they want the dog (or anything else) so much as it is a matter of OWNERSHIP, and they're not willing to relinquish that most of the time. They'll get their backs up if they get an idea that you don't approve of what they're doing with THEIR property and that's that.

What's legal or illegal often has nothing at all to do with what's Right.

I'm not disputing right vs. legal - they're sometimes the same thing and sometimes not. I'm not even saying taking the dog was wrong in itself. However, I do believe that by not trying a more legitimate & simple option first garners the title of 'wrong'. If this liberator walked up and said 'I really love your dog. Would you consider selling him/her?' - or even if they had someone else do it, you at least know what your next action has to be - and it's rumpled no feathers...and perhaps even spared everyone the head-ache of coordinating such a lengthy flight - including Fly.

I'm glad the dog is safe now, but stealing is wrong. They could've just pulled out $50 and said, "Can I have your dog?" He might've not accepted, then they could've accepted. Then, if he didn't accept, they could steal the dog .