After Monday night's storm the dog's champion, who writes that she lives nearby on the 29000 block of CR 390, turned to social media to try to pressure action on the dogs's behalf.
The Kalamazoo Gazette has received calls and emails from Ohio, New York, and South Africa, among other places.
"Chewy is outside in a blizzard still tied to a tree," said an email blast sent to media and shared on Facebook. "We are expecting 8-10 inches of snow and it is 19 degrees right now."
The writer complains that the dog is not properly fed or sheltered and that she has complained to authorities, who she says wrote a ticket for the dog not having a license but failed to follow up.
The post includes contact numbers for authorities and media, though no contact for the originator of the post, nor the dog's owners.
Attempts by the Gazette to reach Van Buren County Animal Control and the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office were unsuccessful Tuesday morning.
Katie Timber, director of the SPCA of Southwest Michigan, said she drove out to the house last Thursday to leave straw, a dog house, food and a heated water dish as part of the nonprofit's program "Cold noses, warm hearts" after she was contacted to help.
"I have been in touch with Van Buren County Animal Control, but we are a nonprofit with no authority," Timber said Tuesday.
She said many people have expected her to do more, perhaps to seize the dog. "I cannot just take the dog," she said. "That would be stealing."
In addition, she said, "I can get charged with trespassing" for continued visits to the home. She said she has offered to be a resource, and to take the dog if the family does not want it, but added, "I have to walk the fine line."
Timber said that while dogs can be cared for outdoors in the winter, they need adequate shelter, food, access to water that is not frozen, and straw or some other insulation -- all things that are especially important for a small breed.
She said Chewy is "really cute, a small small breed that appears to be a Corgi long hair Labrador mix. "He didn't appear to be emaciated, and had no signs signs of injury," she said.
"They did say they take the dog in at night."
Timber said the trip to Gobles and back took her about four hours in Thursday's storm.
According to the letter circulating on social media, "the straw the SPCA provided them still sits in a bundle next to the dog house."
Dotty Podiak called the Gazette to say she saw the story on Facebook in Dayton, Ohio and wanted to express her fury.
"I am an advocate for these types of dogs. I don't understand why your Animal Control in Michigan hasn't done anything," Podiak said.
She said the owners should be shamed. "If you don't want the dog, you should give the dog to someone who would care for it. My service dogs stay inside," she said.
A Facebook posting on a site called Dogs Deserve Better had 1,848 likes at 10:25 a.m. and 1,248 shares.
"This is total animal cruelty," Podiak said.
Timber said she suggests people who are concerned about dogs being left outdoors in hazardous weather contact local agencies and work to change ordinances concerning animal care. "No one wants to see dog freeze to death," she said. "It's a gruesome, gruesome death."
(MLive - Nov 18, 2014)
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