To All the Dog-Dumpers: Stop Your Whining! (Part 2)

When I was writing To All the Dog-Dumpers: Stop Your Whining! (Part 1) my natural tendency to insult anyone who causes me to feel so much anger was almost overwhelming.  However, the degree of sarcasm and facetiousness which is normal for me did not really seem appropriate to the seriousness of the problem. 

After reconsidering, it struck me that the one or two (I may even be up as high as 3 now) readers of this blog might find it interesting to see the real, unfiltered, and somewhat strange thought-processes that I can go through when really, really angry. I have limited the degree of editing to try and give a flavor of what I was thinking. Enjoy (and please don't call the psychiatrist)!

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The usual problems that pet-dumpers claim leave them incapable of looking after their animals are exactly what they seem to be: excuses! “My child is allergic”; “We don’t have the room (or the time)”; “When my baby is born the animal might hurt it”.  Every one of these problems is relatively easy to resolve and a quick Google search will provide umpteen solutions that do not involve dumping the pet. 

I get especially furious when I hear the last excuse above: we have a new baby on the way.  The animal might be jealous, the animal might hurt the baby, the baby might be allergic . . . yeah, and you might get hit by a falling space-station. What are you now? Freakin’ psychic? If so, I don’t see you moving into a cave to avoid Sputnik landing on your noggin! There are screeds of information available on the Internet about how to introduce an animal to a newborn baby (and vice versa) and many studies showing that frequent contact with animals may actually reduce the frequency of certain illnesses in children, the latest of which is from Finland.  

The only problem that these solutions pose is that they require a little effort on the part of the animal's owner, and that seems to be the root problem: not the animal but the work it might cause for the owner. But then, why should that surprise me . . . they can’t even bother to come up with original reasons for why they can’t keep the animal.  Or perhaps they don’t want to exert the effort on that either!  Perhaps there is some kind of negative underground-railroad, some kind of anti-animal-rescue cabal somewhere that instructs pet-dumpers on what to say so they won’t look bad.  Perhaps something like “dump-your-dog-without-guilt” with a website and a Facebook page and a Twitter feed and everything.  The CEO is some kind of Darth Vader-looking dude that for $5 will give you a guilt-free way to blame your animal for your lack of loyalty!

If that is the case then get some new writers! We in the animal rescue business are sick of hearing the same old crap time and time again.

Of course, my theory about some anti-dog think-tank might be proven true if I now start seeing loads of dogs being dumped because the dogs are Scientologists!

To All the Dog-Dumpers: Stop Your Whining! (part 1)

There are genuine cases of hardship where a family may have to give up a pet for genuine reasons, where rehousing is for the good of the pet.  But for those involved in animal-rescue it is difficult to sympathize when we hear the same whining and complaining over and over again.

This was highlighted when, as one of the administrators for the Pet Rescue North Facebook page, I was posting a rescue “plea” at the same time that our friends at River City Community Animal Hospital were posting the same “plea”.  As a volunteer rather than an employee, I tend to try and maintain a degree of objectivity and diplomacy when posting on behalf of the shelter; I simply incorporated the content of the original e-mail without comment. I may sit and fume and perhaps throw the occasional ornament or two, but I tend to say nothing on these posts.  Fortunately, RCCAH did not have the same qualms, and they stated exactly what I was thinking (find their comments here).

As they point out, this particular plea contains all the usual keywords and phrases pointing to allergies and problems facing their children. These excuses serve only one purpose: to assuage the guilt of the animal-dumper.  They are a blatant attempt to evade responsibility for their actions by subliminally placing the pet in the role of the guilty party and portraying the family as the victim! By making these excuses the animal-dumper attempts to minimize damage to their reputation and social standing.

So, when approaching an animal-rescue organization with a plea to take your pet off your hands, don’t be surprised if you are met with a lack of sympathy.  We have heard it all before. We will help but we are not helping you, we are helping the animals . . . we are helping them find a home with someone who will appreciate them, with someone who will not try to get rid of them at the first sign of difficulty.

Oh, and one more thing . . . stop your whining!     

At Least give the Dogs a Chance!!!

There are times when animal rescue volunteers just want to throw their hands in the air and give up and I'll admit that this is one of those times! Just now, I am so angry that I'm having trouble finding words.

As we entered a holiday week, the week of July 4, Pet RescueNorth received notification of a senior dog in the Putnam County, Florida, animal control shelter that was scheduled to be euthanized. We advertised the need for help on our Facebook page and two people were interested in rescuing this particular dog. This could've been a happy ending but we then discovered that the dog had already been killed. It had taken a few days for the plea for help to circulate around Facebook and by e-mail before reaching us, and the dog had been killed several days before we even found out that help was needed.

This particular animal shelter has become somewhat notorious in North Florida for its seeming enthusiasm for pulling the trigger. It is only in the last few months that, under pressure from rescue groups, the shelter stopped automatically euthanizing bully breeds. If you go to the County website and try to find a website for the shelter you are directed to the Sheriff's Department website. When at the Sheriff's Department website you click on the link for animal control you are taken directly back to homepage of the Sheriff's Department. There is no website run by this department advertising the need for foster homes, adoptions, or in any way letting people know of dogs available for adoption. The only publication of information regarding available dogs that I could find was a Facebook page run by volunteers who had no affiliation with the shelter. So my question is: how can anyone rescue the dogs if they don't know that they exist?

Through my volunteer work with Pet Rescue North I have learned that this is not an uncommon situation with shelters that are run by Police Departments in small counties. Whether it is lack of finances, staff, or other resources is unclear. However, many such shelters do not advertise the occupants and then, after the mandatory seven days, euthanize them--apparently without a second thought. Whatever the reason, this is a disgrace! Laws must be passed that such shelters MUST advertise what dogs they have, and when they are scheduled to die. In this age of communication technology it is abhorrent that government run institutions do not have this capability! Even if they do not have websites or Facebook pages they all have e-mail capabilities; it doesn't take much to compile a list of local rescue shelters that they could send blast e-mails to. In this way potential interest in saving the dogs could at least be distributed within the seven day window and if any interest was shown the death sentence could be commuted for a few days!

 AT LEAST GIVE THE DOGS A CHANCE!