Tethered

The deaf dog repeatedly barked, loud, timely, bellowing, sharp.. Tethered tight in his back yard, his family slept as he kept guard.. Day after day on an eight foot leash, he pulled at his chain as far as it reached.. He was not aggressive. He had never bit. This was life as he knew it. His children hadn't played with him since he was quite small. No one ever walked him nor even played ball. His daily testimonial mark was a persistent, resonating, boisterous bark.

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Kim Rodrigues

Date: 1/28/2024 10:46:00 AM

Aww…this is so sad. Some animals live it up and others are chained to their unfortunate circumstances.

David Fisher

Date: 11/5/2023 4:13:00 PM

Enjoyed this, from a human perspective, sad poem. With a great line-life as he knows it. We'd like to reach into the poem and show it some love. Funny thing, I just posted a poem today called Tethered, too.

Nancy Kaufman
Date: 11/6/2023 3:38:00 AM

I am on the verge now of checking your poem out with the same name. I just wanted to bring attention to the life of so many dogs. There's a lot of people out there who also live out their lives on a short leash as well of course. It's just that dogs unfortuntaely don't live as long.

Sara Etgen-Baker

Date: 11/5/2023 2:35:00 PM

I felt twinges of sadness for the 'tethered dog.' It reminded me of my neighbor's dog who's tethered to the front tree of their yard. Whenever I walk by it barks relentlessly...not a mean bark but a bark that says, "come on over here and pet me, play with me please.' I tried petting the dog one day and she came barreling out of her house telling me, "He's not to be petted." Without explanation she went inside...breaks my heart. Enjoyed the read and have a great evening, Sara

Nancy Kaufman
Date: 11/6/2023 3:43:00 AM

Hi Sara, I spent a part of my weekend with my ex who has two deaf but very spoiled dogs that are an integral part of his life. It was the barking of one of that inspired me. I have had neighbors like you did who felt that the dog's purpose was to be a timely alert to tresspassers and nothing else, so sad.