Okay this is going to be quite the rant so if your not interested now would be a good time to stop reading!

Puppy-mill1

 

 

It is Monday and my phone is going crazy with people wanting to just simply dump their dogs on anyone and anywhere! In the past 24 hours I have had two calls that are so similar that it caused me to do a little digging. It is the end of January and Kijiji is exploding with puppies for sale, to give away or up for adoption, Hmmmm??…… Based on the time of year it’s time for the next batch of back yard breeders and puppy mills to get their spring puppies up and ready for sale. These back yard breeders are buying up the dogs off Kijiji of specific breeds to make some quick cash and turn a profit. You guys who are selling these dogs are simply picking applicants who have money, your not doing your research or do-diligence because for the most part you simply don’t care, you make me sick! I am not saying that all the people who have dogs on Kijiji are this way but most are so if your one of the good ones please do not send me hate mail because your not the ones I am talking about so relax. As for those of you that do get offended by this blog well, your probably one of the offenders I am talking about so again keep your thoughts to yourself because it’s people like you that make my job damn near impossible.

These back yard breeders and puppy mills simply pick a dog by breed, mate several times, usually before it should be because it’s not about the health and welfare of the dog it’s about the old mighty dollar, you have not done premedical check ups to check for health or genetic issues that can be passed on like hip displacement or temperament. Nope you breed it over and over again to turn a profit and when the female or male can no longer service your needs you discard these animals like trash, if your not making money from them then they are worthless and you either cage them, abuse them because they are ” hard to deal with ” and really don’t give a shit.  You will not even provide the basic in health care, these dogs are very ill and near deaths door most of the time and these ” breeders ” I use the term loosely simply want rid, not spend one red penny on making these  guys good candidates for adoption. Nope this would mean they had compassion for the animals and we know clearly they don’t.

This is where I seem to be coming in, I got a call a six year old male, intact, and aggressive needs a new home!! Are you kidding me? I asked why he was not fixed? The reply I got was ” the vets want like $300 or more to castrate these males! ” Okay so let me get this straight he was good enough to make you thousands of dollars but not worth $300 to save his life! You tell me that when he tries to hump your females that are not ready for breeding you kick the shit out of him to call him off and don’t understand why he is aggressive towards you and you are legitimately shocked that he bit you!!!!  You have got to be kidding me!!!!!  Do you have any idea how hard it is to place a dog in general never mind a six year old stud male that wants to hump every female, whether the female is in heat or not….. now you have a fight. He will want to fight every male he see’s for breeding rights……. now you have a fight. He will be too unpredictable in public because he mistrusts humans because they have abused him for six years and kicked the shit out of him……. now he dies for biting someone!!

So please explain to me again Sir how you would like me to find this dog a home? You inform me that If I don’t pick him up your just gonna shoot him because he is no longer worthy to you, and if I pick him up and can’t rehabilitate this guy he is going to wind up dead anyway. In all of my experience this dog is so far gone and institutionalized that there my be no coming back for him……… This dog will end up dead one way or another! You as humans should be ashamed! You created this dog and now kick him to the curb because you can no longer make profit from him and have sentenced him to death one way or the other! Not only do I feel sick to my stomach over this but you were kind enough to dump this on my door  this morning!  People PLEASE! stop buying and selling dogs for profit, most of the ones that are bought and sold on Kijiji and like sites end up just like this guy, I know you would all like to believe that they are going to great new homes…… some are, very few! Most of these dogs end up like this or WORSE!

So it is now Monday at 1:26pm and I am fighting to save this dogs life in anyway possible, he can not be housed with children, animals and with out a fenced in yard he will require a lot of training, if even possible? He will need to be neutered ASAP and I am sure vaccinated at the bare minimum. His owner will not provide one red cent towards these cost’s so now you have made it even harder for me to place this guy. I have to try and find a foster home or forever home who is willing to take on the challenge of this guy and also pay any and all medical expenses. I have a huge task ahead of me today as I am going to this dogs rescue tomorrow at 11am. I am going to have to try and convince this dog that I am here to help him not hurt him anymore and that he can trust me.

If you are one of those people who feel that they are better then these guys because when you had to give up your dog you were responsible and sent it to a shelter, let me explain something to you….. here is a touch of reality for ya! Ready? Here it is……….

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know – that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in a shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. How would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at – purebred or not!

About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner surrenders” or “strays” that come into a shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are:

We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat). Really? Where are you moving to that doesn’t allow pets? 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 bringing her inside, 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, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?

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 about 25 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 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, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted. 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, though not for long.

Most pets 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 shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

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. That is, until they get to “The Room”, when every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks 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 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They 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 it’s leg. 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.

When it all ends, your pet’s 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? 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 that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

 

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this is DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to – the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one person’s mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want to adopt”. That would make it all worth it. I will add to this: If you think you might not want to keep your pet for it’s ENTIRE LIFE, then, for heaven’s sake, DON’T GET ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE