During a conversation with a good friend last night, she mentioned that her Sister no longer had love for her dog that she has owned for around 6 years. I was astounded, I haven't seen her in years, but she always loved that dog. She is now saying she might get rid of "it". As I was listening I felt my stomach twist. Dogs are not disposable! When you adopt a dog or puppy you are making a lifetime commitment which if you are lucky will last 15 years, but usually is much, much shorter. You have deprived that dog the opportunity of finding a better lifetime home and now that it is older and less adoptable you are going to give it up?
What the hell is wrong with our society? A dog is wo/man's best friend, no one will ever be as loyal to you as your dog. I adopted two dogs from my local Humane Society and while I was sitting in the lobby waiting to meet them (on two separate occasions, a year apart) I watched person after person come in surrendering animals. A volunteer there told me they have on average 60 animals surrendered a day and I live in a city of slightly under 500,000! It made me sick. Are these people ignorant enough to not realize that as they are walking through those doors that they are signing their dogs (or cats) death sentence? That in most cases if their former pet is not adopted within 72 hours and the shelter is full they will have no choice but to euthanize him/her? Do they not realize how scared and alone that dog will be? That he/she will cry constantly and that even the sweetest dog will become agitated by living in a cage, with constant barking and zero exercise because most shelters are understaffed and run with Volunteers. Volunteers that can not possibly take care of the amount of animals that they receive? Over 5 million healthy pets are euthanized a year and to make matters worse they are euthanized by people that volunteer their time to try to help animals. It's hard to imagine what some days must be like for them. A nightmare, I imagine.
I don't know how to change how people think about their pets. Or how to stop some people from buying puppies because they are cute and then spending no time training them and then getting rid of them for behavioral problems. Would we like to be case aside as they are? I know people who have cried longer over a failed three month relationship than a dog passing.... Something has got to change.
What the hell is wrong with our society? A dog is wo/man's best friend, no one will ever be as loyal to you as your dog. I adopted two dogs from my local Humane Society and while I was sitting in the lobby waiting to meet them (on two separate occasions, a year apart) I watched person after person come in surrendering animals. A volunteer there told me they have on average 60 animals surrendered a day and I live in a city of slightly under 500,000! It made me sick. Are these people ignorant enough to not realize that as they are walking through those doors that they are signing their dogs (or cats) death sentence? That in most cases if their former pet is not adopted within 72 hours and the shelter is full they will have no choice but to euthanize him/her? Do they not realize how scared and alone that dog will be? That he/she will cry constantly and that even the sweetest dog will become agitated by living in a cage, with constant barking and zero exercise because most shelters are understaffed and run with Volunteers. Volunteers that can not possibly take care of the amount of animals that they receive? Over 5 million healthy pets are euthanized a year and to make matters worse they are euthanized by people that volunteer their time to try to help animals. It's hard to imagine what some days must be like for them. A nightmare, I imagine.
I don't know how to change how people think about their pets. Or how to stop some people from buying puppies because they are cute and then spending no time training them and then getting rid of them for behavioral problems. Would we like to be case aside as they are? I know people who have cried longer over a failed three month relationship than a dog passing.... Something has got to change.
