Shelter dogs 101 Are animals dispoasable?

Question

This was posted in the "Best of Craiglist" It was not written by me.

"I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge 'Wake-up' call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, this is a forum to for adoption and/or rehoming as clearly stated in the rules. All of you breeders/sellers on craigslist should not only be flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will continue to do so with blind fury), but you should be made to work in the 'back' of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know, that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore.

So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are 'owner surrenders' or 'strays', that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are; 'We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat).' Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets? Or they say 'The dog got bigger than we thought it would'. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? 'We don't have time for her'. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! 'She's tearing up our yard'. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me, 'We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her, we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog'. Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy; if it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the 'Bully' breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, not for long though. Most get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression, even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being 'put-down'. First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash, they always look like they think they are going for a walk, happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to 'The Room', every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door; it must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process, they will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the 'pink stuff'. Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just 'go to sleep', sometimes spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind, it was just an animal and you can always buy another one right?



I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.


My point to all of this: DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!


Hate me or flag me if you want to, the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say 'I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want adopt,' that would make it all worth it."

FEEL FREE TO COPY AND PASTE IT EVERYWHERE!!! I GOT IT OFF A PUBLIC SITE...

Answer 1

Please, post this morning, noon and night on a daily basis to reach as many of the people that insist on breeding their pets as you can. I applaud you for this. It is a message I try and try to get across. I would like your permission to copy and paste to use over and over. I have 5 pets. 1 dog, 4 cats. All are rescues and all are neutered/spayed.


This is for the person that calls herself "me" your id says it all. What was posted here was a FACT not an opinion. Learn the difference so you won't sound so...............uninformed.

Answer 2

Wiping the tears from my eyes i know what u are saying is true, I only wish that i could rescue every animal that is taken to the shelter but unfortunately i cannot. I have adopted several pets in the years that were ready to be put to sleep and for some reason i picked the older ones so they could live out the rest of their life. I have a couple dogs i rescued that were so old they only lived about 6 months longer, but that was six months longer that they could be happy and taken care of. The older ones never have a chance as nobody ever wants to adopt an old dog that may die on them in a day or two, but that is my preferance as i give them a longer time to live instead of being put down in the way u explain.
Alot of people believe that these animals do not know what is about to happen to them and they supposeably do not know what is going on, i know that is the wrong belief as they do know and it is so sad it has to happen.
People do not want to believe these animals get rendered into their pets food and their loving pet is eating another fido, but unfortunately that is true also.
I do wish that there was a differant approach to the unwanted pets, but there is not. I Thank u for trying to get out a message, but unfortunately u will have those that will argue the point and say u do not know what u are talking about.

Answer 3

We adopted our sweet and friendly basset hound Tucker from the Basset Hound Rescue organization... I don't know how anyone could possibly spend 5 minutes with him and not completely fall in love with him.. We were told that he was a pet shop dog that the owners decided they didn't have the time for. Although it breaks my heart that he ever had to face a day where he felt neglected, I am so happy that he was able to come live with us.

I would ask people to please consider adopting a pet instead of buying a puppy. There are tons of great dogs out there that would make great pets, they just need someone to love them... Also most of the time they are already trained and housebroken.

I know puppys are cute, but can you honestly look at this face and know that other great dogs like Tucker are being euthanized as you are in the pet store...

http://www.steveleblanc.net/tucker/1.jpg


I am not a wacko PETA person, I am just a dog lover..

Answer 4

Bravo!! It's easy for those who leave them behind because they make the dogs/cats someone else's responsiblity. I think that anyone wanted to turn a dog in, should be given a needle and make them inject the dog then and there. If you did that, no one would leave them behind. I foster dogs for a rescue group, and daily I go to our local animal control and take the dogs that are considered "adoptable" ie: popular breeds, cute, healthy etc. .. and leave behind hundreds that I know, come next morning, will experience what you have described. To go on, I have to concentrate on the ones that we can save, although I see the eyes of the ones we don't nightly. It's very simple people, if you are not willing to make the committment to an animal, that is forever, and will involve sacrafices on your part - DON'T GET THE ANIMAL IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Answer 5

Unfortunately this is the truth.
Animals are disposable to people and I see far to many wonderful dogs in rescue. At least I get to see the lucky ones who make it to rescue.
We work very hard to place them and make sure that their new life is better than the old one.
I too wish uneducated, inexperienced, people would not breed more disposable pets.
I am not sure how to make that happen until then I will
stick with rescue no matter how many times I cry about it I will always go back another day.

Answer 6

I think getting an animal from a shelter is the best place to get one...because 1)you're saving an animals life and 2) most of the animals ive come across in animal shelters have been really sweet, i guess because they are happy to get the attention

Answer 7

That is so correct.

To the person called ME Getting a pup from a breeder or a friend is no guarantee that dog won't bite. The dog may have had medical issues that weren't addressed, even the friendliest dog can turn and bite if it's in pain or if you don't train it correctly. Don't blame the shelters over one incident.

Answer 8

I got my kitten from a shelter. I love him. I agree with you. People should go to a shelter get a pet. My kitten is great and he got dropped off there. Thank you for posting this, lets hope more people read it and you change their minds. Good job!!!!

Answer 9

true