They keep coming, and coming and coming
When I leave work in the evenings, I have posted every animal I have received during my day. They are either shared on my Facebook page or covered in the blog.
When I wake up 5 or 6 hours later, I have just as many new dogs and cats waiting in my in box or my Facebook page as I had when I went to sleep.
Being the eternal optimist, I keep hoping I will wake up and there will be no needy animals. The numbers over the last 20 years have gone down, but are still extremely high in my opinion.
The shift in human outlook towards responsibility is one of the reasons I believe the numbers seem stagnant for the past few years. The trend towards shifting responsibility of your animals to anyone else but yourself seems to be the number one reason for the overcrowding of animal shelters.
"I can't afford to have my pet fixed." I hear this all the time. If this was coming from an uneducated, backwoods person I would be a little more accepting of this excuse but that is not the case. I have heard this at least 10 times in the last month from educated people who should know better. This attitude creates more litters of puppies and kittens which end up in shelters and rescues and exacerbates the whole problem.
"Vets are too expensive." Newsflash: Veterinarians must go through years and years of college and vet school before they can actually put DVM in back of their name. Many have college loans which must be paid off and their own households to run. They donate their time and money to rescues and shelters to help as many homeless animals as they can. They run low cost vaccination clinics in many areas and are not out playing golf and relaxing all week. If you feel you cannot afford vet care for a pet, don't adopt one to become someone else's problem when you tire of it.
"My dog (or cat) keeps ____________. They can't be trained." If one more person tells me their animal is stupid and can't be trained I believe I will simply scruff them and throw them out the door. What exactly are you putting in the relationship? Are you working with a trainer? Have you identified the problem and discussed a possible medical issue? Is the dog or cat simply in your home with no interaction from you?
Betty, my hound mix has decided she must pee on the floor every night while I am at work. This behavior just started and I am trying to figure out what has changed in my house. She was on a schedule and now she isn't, so we need to work on the schedule again. I am not giving her back.
The thought of responsibility in today's society seems to be shifting. People want to make everything in their lives which is not perfect, someone else's problem or fault. This attitude is not doing the animals any favors. Please don't take on the responsibility of a pet if you are not willing to follow through. The end result is the death of many through the actions of a few.
When I wake up 5 or 6 hours later, I have just as many new dogs and cats waiting in my in box or my Facebook page as I had when I went to sleep.
Being the eternal optimist, I keep hoping I will wake up and there will be no needy animals. The numbers over the last 20 years have gone down, but are still extremely high in my opinion.
The shift in human outlook towards responsibility is one of the reasons I believe the numbers seem stagnant for the past few years. The trend towards shifting responsibility of your animals to anyone else but yourself seems to be the number one reason for the overcrowding of animal shelters.
"I can't afford to have my pet fixed." I hear this all the time. If this was coming from an uneducated, backwoods person I would be a little more accepting of this excuse but that is not the case. I have heard this at least 10 times in the last month from educated people who should know better. This attitude creates more litters of puppies and kittens which end up in shelters and rescues and exacerbates the whole problem.
"Vets are too expensive." Newsflash: Veterinarians must go through years and years of college and vet school before they can actually put DVM in back of their name. Many have college loans which must be paid off and their own households to run. They donate their time and money to rescues and shelters to help as many homeless animals as they can. They run low cost vaccination clinics in many areas and are not out playing golf and relaxing all week. If you feel you cannot afford vet care for a pet, don't adopt one to become someone else's problem when you tire of it.
"My dog (or cat) keeps ____________. They can't be trained." If one more person tells me their animal is stupid and can't be trained I believe I will simply scruff them and throw them out the door. What exactly are you putting in the relationship? Are you working with a trainer? Have you identified the problem and discussed a possible medical issue? Is the dog or cat simply in your home with no interaction from you?
Betty, my hound mix has decided she must pee on the floor every night while I am at work. This behavior just started and I am trying to figure out what has changed in my house. She was on a schedule and now she isn't, so we need to work on the schedule again. I am not giving her back.
The thought of responsibility in today's society seems to be shifting. People want to make everything in their lives which is not perfect, someone else's problem or fault. This attitude is not doing the animals any favors. Please don't take on the responsibility of a pet if you are not willing to follow through. The end result is the death of many through the actions of a few.
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