My late father used to tell me that some people don’t have the common sense that God gave a dog.

Growing up, I often thought it was just one of his old-time sayings.

But in the last few days, there’s been a rash of animal cruelty and abandonment around the area.

Dad’s words came to mind, and I realized they just weren’t a comment on someone’s level of intellect.

A lifetime later, it occurred to me that they were probably a statement on basic instinct, survival and loyalty.

Any animal lover might agree that a dog has an innate common sense. They know who protects it, it understands — down to its very bones — the concept of a pack. They protect their own and stay when told. Their loyalty is unconditional.

Lately, we’ve seen humans — people with opposable thumbs and often capable of complex logic — making choices that might leave even the smartest dogs scratching their heads.

Over the last few months, our area has been confronting all sorts of animal cruelty.

Unattended pets are left, under cover of darkness, tied to trees or left in crowded crates outside a local shelter. Others go for a final ride and are pushed out of car doors along some remote back road.

Consider the plight of Sally, a young German shepherd mix found wandering along Dinkey Road in East Penn Township in the dead of night.

Volunteers found her about 1:30 a.m. wearing a rusty chain collar and suffering from a life-threatening level of starvation that veterinarians called the lowest scale of body condition possible. Her overgrown nails told the real story: she wasn’t a wild stray surviving on instinct.

Instead, she was locked in a crate or tied up by a human, hidden away and denied food for months before being discarded like garbage.

Right on her heels, another pup was rescued from deplorable conditions in Tresckow.

They’re the latest in a long line of animal neglect incidents in our area that appears to be growing faster than they once did.

At some point, common sense would force the question: How does a domesticated animal end up emaciated, dehydrated or discarded like a broken toy?

In the worst cases, cruelty is exactly what it looks like — malice or possibly indifference.

But many cases come from something quieter, like financial strain, ignorance and pride.

Good people sometimes fall on bad times and can’t afford food or medical care. Instead of asking for help, their plight turns into something tragic. Pride hits a wall, and Fido or Fluffy pays the price.

This is where a little common sense should kick in, sprinkled with a bit of humility.

Local rescues in our area do extraordinary work on limited budgets.

Places like Starting Over Animal Rescue, Hillside SPCA and local shelters can help, offering free or low-cost pet food, subsidized spay or neuter service and temporary aid to pet owners in a tight spot.

Officials of those groups say it constantly: There’s no shame in asking for help.

The disgrace, though, comes when those responsible let a creature suffer in silence.

Imagine things the other way around.

What if dogs were in charge and mistreated their human pets? A shepherd might leave its owner chained behind a shed, or terriers could dump their humans at a shelter after hours.

It may be absurd to think that way, but it’s only because we understand how cruel the situation is.

At the same time, we see people treating pets poorly, many just shrug it off and don’t pay attention to how bad it was.

Most pets, especially dogs, are unconditionally loyal. They trust us. They’re our companions.

They ask for little more than food, shelter and kindness in return.

When owners don’t bother to meet those needs, they need options available in the larger community.

If you struggle to care for a pet, reach out before things go sideways.

If you see a pet or animal in distress, report it.

And if you have the means, support the shelters and rescues that are carrying what might be the largest burden they’ve ever seen. They’d welcome donations, volunteers and help with fostering animals.

If we don’t start doing that, I think my dad would have been right.

Because when we look away while animals like Sally are left to starve on a back road somewhere, it just might prove that some folks truly don’t have the common sense God gave a dog.

ED SOCHA | tneditor@tnonline.com

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 45 years’ experience in community journalism.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.