How Shrinking Yards Are Changing Life for Dogs
Shrinking yards are changing how dogs live — and how people understand freedom.
A backyard used to be a dog’s first promise of freedom.
It was the simplest kind of independence — barking at the fence, rolling in the grass, finding the sun, or moving to the shade — all without permission.
But as neighborhoods pack in closer and home lots shrink, that shift is reshaping daily life for the dogs who live there. Yards are getting smaller, more paved, more shared. The space that once gave them room to run is being redesigned around people’s needs for storage, patios and square footage.
So what happens to our dogs when the space that once defined their freedom is no longer guaranteed? Or maybe the better question is whether dogs ever needed that freedom in the first place.
Read the Full Story
I’ve moved my reporting to a new home online. The rest of this article — and everything else I’m publishing — now lives on my website.