In another reality, Mistie Lucht could have been the quintessential cat lady, but in this one, she is a champion for dogs.
“Some of my friends call me the ‘crazy dog lady,'” she said.
In a small room at the back of her flat, Lucht paints dog portraits for customers – mostly friends and co-workers – who commission them. She has pencil-sketched a dog from a photograph onto a canvas sitting on an easel. Blank canvases and other works-in-progress line the walls. There is little room to maneuver.
“Everyone has a passion, I guess,” she said. “I just kind of fell into this one by mistake.”
Lucht has been writing to city officials for more than seven months, trying to get Evanston to ban chaining dogs. As an area representative for Dogs Deserve Better, an organization that fights for anti-chaining laws, she also keeps track of dog-chaining cases across the country. She said she would be satisfied to have the city limit the number of hours dogs can be chained but would like to see the practice outlawed altogether.
So far the city has been slow to respond. Overshadowed by issues such as the recent smoking ban, racial profiling and affordable housing, the chained dog problem has seemingly fallen off the docket since it was briefly introduced at an Evanston Human Services Committee meeting in February.
City officials said no ordinances regarding dog chaining have been written for aldermen to consider, but they are collecting information.
Still, Lucht said she is happy with the aldermen’s response, saying they have been warm and enthusiastic about the issue, even if they are not making it a priority. She said she will continue lobbying for the better treatment of dogs.
“People who chain their dogs out 24 hours a day usually neglect them,” Lucht said.
She said she once took care of a dog named Summit who had scars on his ears and nose from fly bites because he had been chained outside all his life.
Chaining has also been proven to make dogs more aggressive, she said. Sometimes that’s the point, particularly in areas where dog fights are common.
“What (owners) will do is keep (the dogs) outside and not feed them so they get angry and fight,” Lucht said.
Her own dog, Hudson, a 4-year-old Malamute-Labrador mix, doesn’t look like he could fight if she asked him. At 106 pounds, he is enormous – especially compared to Lucht’s own slight stature – but quiet and subdued, with curious eyes and a tail that wags continuously.
“He’s a ham,” Lucht said.
Hudson chews sticks, boxes and colored napkins but not his toys, the little plush puppies, dinosaurs and other creatures piled into a bone-shaped box.
“He sits on the couch and pouts” when Lucht fosters other dogs as part of Dogs Deserve Better’s program, she said. In rural areas, where chaining is more comMonday, organization members drive around and offer to buy chained dogs they find. The owners often are happy to be rid of the dog, which is then put into foster care. Members then help the dog find a new family.
In Evanston, where the current laws about dogs are vague, Lucht said she hopes to help create clear regulations, “so a neighbor can call in and have a concrete complaint.”
Lucht isn’t fazed by the fact that only a handful of communities across the United States, and none in Illinois, have anti-chaining laws. She said she sees the list growing longer all the time.
Reach Jenny Song at [email protected].
