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Originally Posted by ladyjane  Placing dogs is not a problem...the problem is that there are not enough responsible pet owners in this country to care for all of the dogs that people and breeders continue to pump out right and left, willy nilly. No one gives a hoot who takes an animal...they just care that it is out of the shelter....there SHOULD BE stats on how many are returned to shelters over and over and over again...
We live in a ridiculous country where the life of a dog is worthless....they are looked at as property, not living beings.
Why can't we pass laws to make people responsible? Ask the breeders who care about nothing but protecting their cash cows.
Don't EVEN get me started today on this topic of spay/neuter. I will weigh in at a later date but today is not the right one. I simply HAD to say something about how we can surely place all these homeless dogs. I have a few fosters who have been with me for a long time....little dogs with special needs. Could I find *A* home for each today? Yes I could....would it be a permanent one? The answer is NO. I could place dogs all day long but not properly. Properly is the key and I say it is high time people realized this. The root of the problem? Is it spay/neuter? Oh that is part of it....but the people who breed dogs are the real problem and any breeder who takes offense at this claim will simply tell me where they stand when it comes to the welfare of dogs. IF they took the time to properly place dogs, there would be less homeless dogs...and honestly they would not breed so many of them because they would not be able to find appropriate homes with responsible pet owners. |
Great post! I agree, if breeders really cared about placing pups/dogs properly, that would solve the problem at the starting point.
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Originally Posted by ladyjane How do I screen? I only adopt to people with a track record. People who have purchased Frontline or other necessary preventions and know the cost. I don't care if a person is wealthy or not....I care that they have shown themselves to be responsible pet owners. They must have done the routine vet care including dentals if recommended by the vet and needed. I don't just ask the receptionist if a person is "good". I ask very detailed questions about vetting.
Does this limit who I will place dogs with? Yes. Is it fair? Yes, in my mind it is fair to the one I owe something to: The pup! There are plenty of pups in shelters that people with no track record can get a pup from...they can prove themselves that way and come back to me later after they have established themselves as responsible pet owners. |
If we solved the problem with breeders and the shelters ran empty, then we would have a problem of establishing a track record. Would be a great problem to have.
Would be very nice for breeders to lay out pet care costs for potential buyers, especially the vetting costs. Make that part of the screening and contract. When I picked up Max at the breeder's house, we sat down and she re-read parts of the contract before allowing us to sign. We had not had a dog in 20+ years, so she could not contact our previous vet, who had long since retired.