Importance of adopting pets from shelters.

[VC94]

We are at our limit of 4 dogs, all rescues. They are all precious! My inlaws pup is over visiting too.

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So we we foster and transport for www.AsianDogRescue.net Our little pack teaches them so much and gives them the comfort of fitting in as they rehabilitate. Our most recent success was Chyna, who lives in South Carolina now:

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So yesterday we picked up this little boy in Atlanta. He is so gentle, and sweet, but has spent his whole life in a cage.
It won't take long to teach him how to play!

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[Bulljacket]

We are at our limit of 4 dogs, all rescues. They are all precious! My inlaws pup is over visiting too.

[Broken External Image]:

So we we foster and transport for www.AsianDogRescue.net Our little pack teaches them so much and gives them the comfort of fitting in as they rehabilitate. Our most recent success was Chyna, who lives in South Carolina now:

[Broken External Image]:

So yesterday we picked up this little boy in Atlanta. He is so gentle, and sweet, but has spent his whole life in a cage.
It won't take long to teach him how to play!

[Broken External Image]:

That is a wonderful thing you're doing! All are so adorable!

 

[Bulljacket]

I read all the time where some members say "I'm not reading all that", well this is not for you but for the ones that care enough about pets to spend a couple of minutes to read this. Thanks, and share as much as you can!

You can't keep your pet? Really? By: A Shelter Director (Everywhere)
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 people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society 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 stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.



The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too 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 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 the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.



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 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) 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. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don’t forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don’t spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a “making money issue” and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia’s so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.



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? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? 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 who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going.



Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around the US and have an impact.

 

[Dbodt]

I adopted this sweetie today

Think her name will be Lilly.

 

[Bulljacket]

I adopted this sweetie todayView attachment 348057
Think her name will be Lilly.

Great name for a beautiful lady!

 

[righter13]

I read all the time where some members say "I'm not reading all that", well this is not for you but for the ones that care enough about pets to spend a couple of minutes to read this. Thanks, and share as much as you can!

You can't keep your pet? Really? By: A Shelter Director (Everywhere)
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 people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society 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 stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.



The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too 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 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 the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.



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 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) 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. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don’t forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don’t spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a “making money issue” and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia’s so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.



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? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? 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 who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going.



Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around the US and have an impact.

Couldn't read it all. Started tugging at the heart strings too much.

 

[Bulljacket]

Couldn't read it all. Started tugging at the heart strings too much.

I know me too! Sometime hearing about what goes on behind the scenes from a person actually behind the scene can be hard to hear.

 

[jaybees]

We foster for SOAPS ( sweet onion animal protection society) We have 7 personal dogs and from 1-??? other dogs at any given time. We have managed to accumulate about 20 cats. Pets are therapeutic as well. Any one of mine can make me smile when Im pissed or just had a crappy day. Wont ever buy a pure bred...high maint. Lots of health issues seems like. Lots of good dogs are lost forever every day unfortunately. SOAPS "fix's" every animal that comes through as well but that is slow to see benefits from.

Yeah, SOAPS is a great organization. on two different occasions, dogs have been hit by cars in front of my old home. Both times, the city police were called and when they showed up, they would call SOAPS. Both times, SOAPS showed up to pick up the injured animals, no questions asked (one was around 2 a.m.). I've paid for vet visits regarding similar circumstances before, so I know what the vet bill can run. Trust me when I say this organization needs all the support it can get to help offset some of these vet bills.

 

[Swampbogger]

I know the kind of money they spend. We have a 3 legged dog here right now. His foot was pretty much cut in half by a trap. They amputated the leg and he is staying with us while he heals. That was not cheap!!!! They could most deffinately use contributions! Oh...Huntington will go to dogs with disabilities when he is healed.

 

[Bulljacket]

I know the kind of money they spend. We have a 3 legged dog here right now. His foot was pretty much cut in half by a trap. They amputated the leg and he is staying with us while he heals. That was not cheap!!!! They could most deffinately use contributions! Oh...Huntington will go to dogs with disabilities when he is healed.

I've got one Weshie and three cats right now. The cats were all dropped off at different locations around town by ignorant people that didn't care for the welfare of any of them! I had five cats, but I lost two to cancer. It cost me more money to give those two a fighting chance at staying alive than anyone would probably ever believe, unless you have been down the same road! One of my cats now "Mr. Paws" is diabetic and has to take two shots daily and will do so until he is no longer alive. It cost me well over four grand before the vet diagnosed his problem! If any of you have a diabetic pet you know how expensive the insulin is and that's just the start of it. All I know is Flat Creek Animal Clinic in Fayetteville help themselves to about seven to eight grand last year from my retirement! I'd do it all again in a heartbeat and the only thing that scares me is what happens when I can't afford it anymore? The time will come at this rate and that will be a very sad day for my wife and I! Then for the ones of you that know me also knows my wife has cancer and I'm scared to death I'll lose her way too soon after almost 34 years together! I know God has a plan for us, but dang I wish he could alter it just a bit in my favor! LOL Just kidding. Sorry to ramble on guy's just having a bad day I guess.