Or dropping one off at the pound READ THIS FIRST!!!!
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. First off,
this is a forum for adoption and/or rehoming as
clearly stated in the rules. All of you
breeders/sellers on craigslist should not only be
flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will
continue to do so with blind fury), but you 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? Or
they say "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 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. 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 not for long
though. Most 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
freaks out and puts on the brakes 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 deafened by the yelps and screams.
They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes spasm
for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets 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 & I hate that it
will always be there unless you 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;
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me or flag me if you want to. The truth hurts and
reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one
persons 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 WORTH IT.
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. First off,
this is a forum for adoption and/or rehoming as
clearly stated in the rules. All of you
breeders/sellers on craigslist should not only be
flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will
continue to do so with blind fury), but you 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? Or
they say "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 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. 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 not for long
though. Most 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
freaks out and puts on the brakes 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 deafened by the yelps and screams.
They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes spasm
for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets 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 & I hate that it
will always be there unless you 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;
DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me or flag me if you want to. The truth hurts and
reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one
persons 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 WORTH IT.
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