My morning rant: You got a poorly bred husky puppy from a backyard breeder selling dogs in a parking lot because it was cute and your kids really wanted it. You took it home and put it in the back yard where the kids played with it for hours and you took lots of photos and posted your new family member all over your Facebook page. The next morning the kids went out and played with it some more and then came inside to watch t.v. and play video games. Fast forward a few weeks. The kids dont want to be outside all the time because its hot and there are mosquitos, so they only go out to feed and water the puppy after you have nagged them to do it. Now the puppy is lonely, so every time anyone goes in the backyard, he jumps all over them. He is bored so hes digging holes in your yard. Fast forward a few months. You never got your puppy neutered, so now that he is starting to mature and looking for love, hes beginning to try to escape. Your neighbors are complaining because he barks a lot and charges at the chain link fence between your properties. They can no longer enjoy their back yard either. Huskies arent bred to live outside in the Texas heat, so he is starting to lose his hair in large patches, and looks mangey. You decide to go out of town for a few weeks, so you ask your neighbor from across the street to take care of your dog while youre gone (he really wont be any trouble--all you have to do is refill his water and drop some food in his bowl.) While youre gone your dog gets out. Animal control finds him and returns him home, and the neighbor who is caring for him is told that if he gets out again, you will get a citation. Your neighbor lets you know what happened. So you call me (on my personal phone while I am trying to enjoy my day off with my family) from your vacation in the tropics to tell me that you need me to let your neighbor bring your dog to the shelter right now even though were closed because the dog is tearing up your yard and you just cant deal with it any longer. I tell you the shelter is full, and surrendering a pet to a shelter should really be a last resort--its much like taking your child to an orphanage. I suggest that you try to re-home your dog when you get back from your vacation, so that you can screen potential adopters and make sure its a good fit. Ill even help you. You say you have to do something about the dog today. The dog has to go right now. I tell you that we are not a No Kill shelter, and there arent a lot of people breaking down the doors trying to adopt a nine-month old, unsocialized husky mix with behavior problems, patchy fur and probably positive for heart worms, so there is a good chance that your dog will not be adopted. You respond by cursing me out, and yelling I thought you were supposed to care about animals! If you really cared, you would help this dog! He cant stay at my house any longer! I cant afford the damage hes doing to my yard and now I might get a citation. Next day the dog gets out again and animal control brings him to the shelter. We know hes yours, so we call and let you know. You never come get him, even though you know there is a possibility that he will be euthanized. Thanks a lot for making your bad decisions my problem. Thanks for giving me job security. As long as there are people like you, people like me will have plenty to do. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. (By the way, stories strikingly similar to this are frequent. . . we see several a week, sometimes several in one day. Every day I love animals a little more and people a little less.)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:36:25 +0000
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