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04-16-2007, 06:48 PM | #1 |
YT Addict Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: wisconsin
Posts: 272
| Must read..sad but so true (About Dog Shelters) WARNING: Graphic Content My Job 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. 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. 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? . 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 bringing her inside, 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, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? 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 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, rottweiler, 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, though not for long. Most pets 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. That is, until they get to ?The Room?, when 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 their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They 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 it's leg. I? ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don?t just ?go to sleep? - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pet's 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 and I hate that it will always be there unless 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 is DON?T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one person's 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 to adopt?. That would make it all worth it. |
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04-16-2007, 06:55 PM | #2 |
DEBRA'S DORKY YORKIES4 Donating Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Highland Scotland
Posts: 712
| How sad....but not the case everywhere. We have shelters that never put a dog to sleep, and I personnaly will take back any puppy for any reason. Also, my first litter is going to people I know, possibly only myself, if she only has one, and Yorkshire Terriers are in demand here, as they are so few and far between. We don't seem to have the same problems you are talking about here in Scotland, though there are dogs in shelters, and they get homes fine. You seem to have a huge problem there....but not everyone is in it for the money....me included Debra x x x x |
04-16-2007, 07:00 PM | #3 |
YT Addict Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: wisconsin
Posts: 272
| Debra, This post isn't directed towards anyone. I didn't write it. I just saw it on Craigslist tonight and it got me to thinking. A lot of our shelters here are no-kill but some still do especially due to overcrowding, unless a rescue group steps in. I think the main point I got out of the post is that our society on the whole needs to begin looking at animals not as things or possessions, but beings with emotions and feelings etc. Even when I was on craigslist tonight reading pets for adoption the excuses (I'm sure some are valid) are unreal..WE had a baby, we are moving, I don't really have the time etc. I know life gets in the way sometimes and circumstances change but it is just so sad that folks don't realize when you adopt or puchase a pet, its supposed to be a lifetime committment..we don't turn our kids in (even tho we might want to sometimes!!!). So, its just general. AS for breeders, I am sure that responsible breeders do care where their dogs are placed and screen potential owners, but lets face it, there are probably more that just want the money and have the puppy sold without making sure potential owners have the means to care for that animal...Its just sad thats all. I'm glad when I read this board I can see how much people care about their babies.. Kathy |
04-16-2007, 07:09 PM | #4 |
YT 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: California
Posts: 3,025
| This is sad indeed, but I too have worked in a shelter, and it hasn't stopped me from wanting to buy a purebred from a breeder. The majority of dogs in shelters are from backyard breeders, or owned by uneducated people, and because these sorts of people are so ignorant, the shelters will probably never be empty. I donate a large portion of my meager savings to rescues and no-kill shelters, my home is also home to an almost embarrassing number rescues of all species. However, I have one purebred dog, and I'm getting another one. As important as it is to save the animals that are needlessly being killed in shelters, it is also important to maintain the breeds that we love through responsible breeding.
__________________ Anna and Wobie |
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