Adopt a Dog
Abandoned Pets
Adopt a dog from the
shelter. Once an animal is relinquished, there is only a window
of 72 hours to find a home.
 Most people don't realize that the vast
majority of
abandoned
pets never find their forever homes. They become a statistic. And join
the ~12 million animals that are put to sleep every year. Most
of these pets are perfectly healthy.
Support your local shelter and adopt a dog.
Below is a letter written by an impassioned
shelter
manager. The job is
an extremely tough one. And it is only made harder by people that
relinquish their animals without a second thought and think dog
adoption is the likely outcome.
A Letter From A Shelter Manager
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, all of you breeders/sellers
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 and why did you
choose that place instead of a pet friendly home?
- "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.
It doesn't matter how
"sweet" or "well behaved" they are. 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, but not for long.
Most
dogs 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 out and put the brakes on
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
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 deal with 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 further 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 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 and
it made me want to adopt.
A dog is truly a faithful companion. One
that will love you
unconditionally and be there for you through
thick and thin. Please return the favor and adopt a dog from a shelter.
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