Question About Rescue ...

Marie, I have dealt with shelters for MANY years.

In my area, they not only treat the dogs like crap, they also treat humans like crap.

Also, in my area (Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange County, San Diego, etc)
We cannot figure out the "RULES". Big surprise, as they can't seem to know their right from their left. You would think, within a shelter, the same rules would apply, yet can't get a flippin' answer to save your life.

I've been set, many times to pull a dog. The shelter knew the time I was coming, just to find out they euthanized the very dog, THEY KNEW, I was on my way to pull.

I've also had a "hold" on many dogs, which I drove, thru LA traffic, for hours, just to find out they adopted a sickly dog to a private party, with small children, and the dog needed extensive medical treatment. Yep, I've had those little ones, ultimately, surrendered back to me. What a shame the dog had to go thru that crap.

We do have a handful of good "shelter" people, but the majority are a death sentence to most.

Bless Sarah, and the little pooch. Sorry, I don't have an answer. You would think, thru the years, I would.

3Maltmom said:

Marie, I have dealt with shelters for MANY years.

In my area, they not only treat the dogs like crap, they also treat humans like crap.

Also, in my area (Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange County, San Diego, etc)
We cannot figure out the "RULES". Big surprise, as they can't seem to know their right from their left. You would think, within a shelter, the same rules would apply, yet can't get a flippin' answer to save your life.

I've been set, many times to pull a dog. The shelter knew the time I was coming, just to find out they euthanized the very dog, THEY KNEW, I was on my way to pull.

I've also had a "hold" on many dogs, which I drove, thru LA traffic, for hours, just to find out they adopted a sickly dog to a private party, with small children, and the dog needed extensive medical treatment. Yep, I've had those little ones, ultimately, surrendered back to me. What a shame the dog had to go thru that crap.

We do have a handful of good "shelter" people, but the majority are a death sentence to most.

Bless Sarah, and the little pooch. Sorry, I don't have an answer. You would think, thru the years, I would.

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Thank you so much, Deb, for replying to my post. I was hoping you would be here to give me some feedback ... because I know you have tons of exerience with shelters, rescue, and adoption.

Sarah has such a kind heart. And, I would do anything to help her. I even called the shelter today ... but, of course they didn't answer the phone, even though they were supposed to be open for business. They had promised to call Sarah today ... but, they never returned her call.

It's so darn sad when we have wonderful people who want to adopt these precious pups ... and, then something like what you and Carina have shared ... unfortunately happens for the worse.

Sarah is making that seven hour drive to Georgia tomorrow. If someone at that shelter can't see how much she cares to adopt that precious puppy ... then I wonder how they can sleep at night.

Bless you, darling Deb, and all of the rescue workers, who make every effort to help save these innocent and precious creatures.

maltlovereileen said:

Holding good thoughts for your friend/that poor little dog... shelters who do that stink. Doesn't sound like they really care about finding new homes, just not getting sued.

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Some shelters do not like to work with breed rescue groups. I do not know why that is, perhaps it goes back to some of the folks there seeing breed rescue as snooty. They may have the idea "Why give a chance to the "pure-breeds" when the others do not have the same chance?" I can't say. But that is one of the only explanations I have been able to figure out.

But honestly? I don't think that most shelters are worried most about not getting sued. I think shelters like this one in GA are likely very overwhelmed by the dogs they take in due to irresponsible pet owners. So it isn't the shelter I blame. Their hands are often very tied. They have to make room for new dogs to come in and they have no space, but they also have a law that says that strays must be kept for a certain length of time. They are between a rock and a hard place.

The real problem is people not being responsible. So many people, especially the AR folks, focus it on breeders producing too many pets (i.e. creating overpopulation). I don't think that is the relationship at all. Pets in shelters come from people not making a life-time commitment when they take their dogs. Dogs such as these come from BYBs and Mills because responsible breeders offer a life-time commitment to the dogs they breed. Either the dog stays with new owners or comes back to them. The other source of shelter dogs are from people who let their dogs get loose, either as strays or as un-altered dogs who reproduce mutts. How we change those factors I do not know. But the blame for the dogs being PTS in shelters is on people who do not take responsibility for their pets and see them as disposable. It is truly tragic.

CloudClan said:

The real problem is people not being responsible. So many people, especially the AR folks, focus it on breeders producing too many pets (i.e. creating overpopulation). I don't think that is the relationship at all. Pets in shelters come from people not making a life-time commitment when they take their dogs. Dogs such as these come from BYBs and Mills because responsible breeders offer a life-time commitment to the dogs they breed. Either the dog stays with new owners or comes back to them. The other source of shelter dogs are from people who let their dogs get loose, either as strays or as un-altered dogs who reproduce mutts. How we change those factors I do not know. But the blame for the dogs being PTS in shelters is on people who do not take responsibility for their pets and see them as disposable. It is truly tragic.

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That's an excellent point, Carina...it does boil down to irresponsibility - people don't have the time/patience to train a puppy, they don't realize that small child/children allowed to run wild can be a very bad mix with small dogs, they get one to be part of a current 'trend' (the handbag/accessory pet, the emulate the movie pet-Beverly Hills chihuahua, 1001 Dalmations etc [never good news for a particular breed when a movie or celebrity features it]) while knowing nothing of the characteristics common to the breed, etc etc I think AR people do tend to focus on breeding a bit because it is so overwhelming at times (like now when the shelters are bursting at the seams). I wonder outloud if this is because they know that breeders (the good and ethical ones) do care about the breed and would actually care about those scenarios (when the rescues/adoptions don't seem to be making much of a dent) while we all know the millers/bybers don't give a fig. Maybe easier to get the good people to slow down a bit while at the same time trying to shut down the millers and bybers (a monumentous task). Truthfully, maybe there really is no good solution/answer since you are talking about the population of the world - quite a few of whom are totally self centered/irresponsible when it comes to decisions like bringing pets into their homes. Happily, more and more celebrities (whom so many people seem to listen to) are taking up the cause (Oprah, Ben Stein, etc) and showcasing what goes on inside these puppymills (still astounding to me how many people don't know what a puppymill is even so many years down the road of trying to get the word out). Whatever the case, it's awfully sad right now seeing how so many precious pups, regardless of lineage, just want to be loved and feel safe and warm and fed, through no fault of their own end up on death rows or left to moulder for God knows how long in scary shelter environments. Breaks my heart.

If this little one gets sprung in time, it will be such joyous news... rayer: