I felt the comment on a previous post deserved it's own space. The phrase "Dixie Cup Love" so well describes the state of our animals today. When you consider that fifty percent of marriages in this country end in divorce, it only stands to reason that it applies to the animals as well.
People who take vows and break them so easily will do the same to their pets. How often do you hear of custody of the family pet being in the divorce decree? I have known one and yes, the pet was in the decree. The wife got the child and the husband got the 10 lb. fluffy poodle, Dew-Dew. Fortunately the husband loved the dog and took Dew everywhere. Dew was quite a magnet for the ladies it seems. He lived the good life, traveling the country, attracting the lovely ladies for his dad.
But the point is that we are definitely a disposable society. And the programs for our shelters need to reflect this. No animal should be turned away from our shelters, ever. To think that a lecture during an owner surrender will save the day is ridiculous, beyond ridiculous. I recall the story of the man who tried to turn over his dog only to be turned away. He then took the dog into the parking lot of the shelter and started beating it. The man was frustrated and took it out on the dog. Is this what we want?
Social change is one of the hardest things to accomplish, yet we have to have a social change in order to help the animals. Just to keep harping on animal control and the shelters to make changes isn't going to get the job done. We need to work for a social change. If you can influence just one person, then you have done a great thing. Look at Oreo and Music Man. Oreo influenced Music Man and now he is working to influence others. Just that chance meeting at the dog park can end up with many people changing their attitudes toward animals. Don't pass up any chance to bring people to the light or you will end up in darkness.
3 comments:
One person at a time, one day at a time.
I am not much of a commentor, but Oreo said you had a good blog and here I am. I read more than talk, but I agree with the support for animal control. Where do people like Mr. Robison and his group think these animals will live forever, treated and fed but undisiplined yet maintained ? It is not fair to the animals to keep them caged forever and everytime damn time I see the humane society bragging about a 2 week turnaround. I want to scream, Those include the "one day" pets. A co-worker found her pup at the pound. She put her name on it, the stray period was up, she got the dog. It only landed in NHS long enough to be adopted. Naturally they took credit for that in their numbers. Or they get sent to foster and come back as a new dog. If you look you know. Working to find homes for Cockers has been a real eye opener for me. I am not in a situation to bring a dog home, but I can lissten and when anyone expresses an interest in my girl I mention they have one at NHS.
Glad to have you onboard, Sharon. Seems you're a fine commentor on Oreo's blog and I'm sure you will be here too.
Sharon, you can post on Craigs list and advertise locally about this dog. One "rescuer" I know has an agreement with the shelter that they will hold the dog while she advertises it for adoption. That's okay as long as the shelter isn't sacrificing others to kept the one. When I found cockers in our shelter, if they need a good groom, I usually would take them for a day, pay for the groom, and take them back. This makes a difference when people look at them if they look cute. Cockers usually end up at the shelters looking like crap.
And yes, it does hurt to know that animals are warehoused, it is okay to use that term here. Some do okay with extended stays but many do not and kennel stress can set in as early as 3 days. My concern is that there is adequate staff and volunteers to walk the dogs and play with the cats every day. I again bring up Rancho Cucamonga, an affluent community, and their volunteer hours were only averaging 10 hours a day. If you divide that by the number of dogs and/or cats, someone is not getting enough attention.
Also on the subject of cockers, please make sure that any cockers you encounter for adoption passes a temperament test. In California, they have been so inbred that they have ill tempers and are dangerous to take home to children. So many end up in the shelters because of this inbreeding causing all kinds of problems.
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