Mme. Chaucer Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) As I said, I worked in a no-kill shelter for years. I love dogs and often have rescue dogs here. I own a LOT of dogs and train dogs for other people (and train people on training dogs) for a living. You know what? I am NOT in favor of making all shelters no-kill. There are millions of unwanted dogs. There are millions of irresponsibly bred dogs, and millions of people who keep either breeding them on purpose, or allowing them to breed on their own. There are also millions and millions of dogs that are unfit to be pets for "regular" (i.e. not extremely experienced and committed "dog people") families. This is not their fault. It is the fault of human beings, but nonetheless, these dogs are messed up. Many of them have genetic problems that often express themselves with temperament issues, as well as problems that are simply caused by bad management and lack of socialization. Or health problems and basically simple behavior issues that nobody addressed. So, no-kill shelters like the one where I worked get filled with virtually unadoptable dogs. Some of them will be there for life. If they have a history of biting people, the shelter has liability for that if they let the dog go and it bites again (I will add here that the "no-kill" shelter I worked at would euthanize a completely vicious dog - but I am talking about the kind of dog that is not vicious, but mostly fearful, that will bite a child that tries to kiss its nose simply out of fear, for example). Very rarely, a knowledgeable hand would take one of those dogs, but usually, they had to live their life in a kennel, exposed to people walking by and staring at them all day, with no place to "disappear," and getting more and more paranoid and fearful as time went on. So did the old dogs, or the "misbehaving" dogs, or the ones with a stinky yeast infection in their ears that could never be completely eradicated. The highlight of their life was when volunteers walked them on a leash on a path or brushed them. That's it. That was their life. Meanwhile, very adoptable family pets were turned away from the no-kill shelter because there was not room for them. I'm not "for" killing dogs, but I think that until people stop benefitting from their irresponsible behavior with dogs, the dogs are the ones who are going to suffer. This will probably be unpopular - but I don't think that death is the worst thing that can happen to a dog; not by a long shot. In fact, I think that it would probably be preferable for many a dog to go to sleep forever than to live forever in a cyclone fence, cement floor kennel in a shelter where people walk by and stare at him all day, every day. I think my dogs would choose the big sleep over that. I think my dogs would choose the big sleep over being left to obsessively run in a circle in a fenced yard, overstimulated by passing cars (I have working border collies - some of them can get obsessive/ compulsive if allowed) So, RP, if you go buy a dog from a breeder, you might be helping to perpetuate the cycle you are railing against. For the record, I am not against breeding dogs, either. I think that the general population needs to ONLY support very conscientious and responsible breeders - those who will take a dog they are responsible for being on this planet back at ANY TIME, for any reason, if the puppy buyer no longer wants to keep it. That, along with other things the "good" breeders do makes the "responsibly bred" dogs expensive. You're not going to EVER find them on Craigslist, or selling their puppies at a "wholesale" price to pet stores, or creating fake "designer" breeds (Daisy, as cute and lovely as she is, was probably bred on purpose with this in mind), or mass producing puppies. Anyway, if you are not willing or able to deal with a very conscientious breeder, I think you are morally bound to rescue. Rescues and shelters have problems, and I am very aware of some misuse of the terms by people of ill repute. Still, rescues and shelters are all we really have to handle the problem of "throwaway" pets in our society - even if the people who run them are doing a bad job. I'll step down from my soap box now. Obviously, this is a topic I have a lot of opinions and emotions about. Edited February 16, 2012 by Mme. Chaucer 2
Author RecordProducer Posted February 18, 2012 Author Posted February 18, 2012 She is 4.5 months old. Annie is a very good and smart girl. I got her from an Amish family. She is a mix of God knows what (but hopefully all is dog ). She loves dog food from a can and provolone cheese. The little stinker is getting a bath in a minute. I'll take pics and post them soon. 1
2sunny Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 Ok... So now we understand when you obsess and focus on something - you have the ability to make it happen. Have fun with the puppy! 1
Author RecordProducer Posted February 18, 2012 Author Posted February 18, 2012 Wow, why do people tell me that I have a tendency to obsess with something? Maybe because it's true! Anyway, Annie was from a family, not a shelter, and I paid $100 for her, so it wasn't that difficult to make it happen.
mickleb Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 Annie was from a family, not a shelter, and I paid $100 for her, so it wasn't that difficult to make it happen. Way too easy, in fact.
Mme. Chaucer Posted February 18, 2012 Posted February 18, 2012 I hope it wasn't one of the horrible breeding operations I referred to in my diatribe - the Amish are very notorious for that.
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