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!