We are shelter animals...

[SableCollie]

I think it's important to put faces on statistics. These are real shelter animals, and their reasons for intake.



Name: Maggie Sex:F Age:2 years
Reason for Intake: Born into a hoarding situation. Rescued by Humane Society. transferred to different Humane Society. Adopted out. Family let dog run loose. Picked up by animal control. Family did not claim dog. Animal control called our shelter for help. Transferred here. Adopted out. Owner went into rehab, returned.


Name:Rocko Sex:M Age: 1 year
Reason for Intake: Older man purchased as a puppy from his friend who bred them. When dog reached adolescence, could no longer handle dog. Breeder would not take back. No training.


Name:Pistol Sex:M Age:8 months
Reason for Intake: Teenaged owner got puppy from friend who bred them. Owner going to college. No training, no medical history.


Name: Amber Sex:F Age:2 years
Reason for Intake: Originally a stray. Picked up by animal control. Shelter was overcrowded with pit bulls, asked us to take in. Adopted, returned--growling at strange men, boys.


Name:Bella Sex:F Age 5 years
Reason for Intake: family moving. Dog never allowed in the house, lived chained up in the yard, slept in garage or basement.


Name:Gumdrop (hamster) Sex:? Age:less than 1 year
Reason for Intake: Granddaughter not caring for hamster. Bites.


Name:Lily Pumpkin (and babies) Sex:F Age: 5-10 years
Reason for Intake: Stray. Being fed by local business. Workers noticed she was pregnant, called shelter.


Name:Eddie Spaghetti Sex:M Age:8 months
Reason for Intake:Stray. Already neutered when found. Vet discovered bite wound that because of unknown vaccine history requires 6 month quarantine in shelter.


These are real animals, and their real records. Some of these animals will be adopted. Some may not. Their common thread? Human ignorance. Humans not spaying their pets, humans not researching breeds before they buy, humans not providing simple obedience training, humans dumping their pets on the streets.

Please please please spay/neuter your animals. Adopt an animal from a shelter/rescue. Make sure you can commit to taking care of an animal for the rest of their life. And please, volunteer at your local shelter. Shelters are almost always looking for volunteers: people to clean cages, walk dogs, answer phones, fundraise...every little bit helps.

Please remember these animals, and their stories. Through no fault of their own they ended up here. They are hoping that maybe, just maybe, their stories can inspire one person to help make a difference.

[Shamrock]

Oh SableCollie.. that is heartwrenching beyond words.. tears are filling my eyes.:sad: A picture speaks a thousand words.. but these speak ten thousand.:sad:

It's not just statistics, numbers... it's these lovely animals and sooooo many like them every single day, every single city, town and village.

Heartbreaking...but so important to convey. Thank you for posting this.

I'd vote to have this made into a sticky, a permanent reminder of a glimpse into the stark reality that many try to "deny", and what each of us can do to help.

[TeriM]

Great post Sable Collie . Hopefully it will help to get the message through .

[SableCollie]

I brought in my camera today to take some pictures of the hamster to go on petfinder. I started taking pictures of the other animals, and I thought "you know, if people could just *see* these animals, look into their faces...." These aren't all the animals in the shelter, I just picked a few...I apologize about the quality of the pictures, the lighting is very bad in the kennels, and it's hard to take pictures of animals that are bouncing around in their cages.

[Smiley14]

Oh Sable, this is so powerful. I would vote for this to be made into a sticky as well! Nothing more powerful than actually *seeing* the faces behind the numbers. Those poor babies. I imagine my Petey or Billy in there and I just cry.

[Prin]

Aww. :sad:

Jemma's one of those. We're her 5th owners through absolutely no fault of her own. It's just terrible what people do to these babies. :sad:

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by Smiley14

I would vote for this to be made into a sticky as well!

Good idea !

I wish we could have a pound for the owners.

[wdawson]

i wish we could ....dish out the eye for an eye policy.....so many horiffic stories lately.

[Dracko]

All of my pets have been cast offs from someone as well. They are all simply adorable and I still find it hard to believe a person couldn't see that as well. When you get an animal it's for life. The only alternative would be to rehome it if there was a reason out of your control (death of owner, etc). And, in my will it says my animals go to Prin.

[LynLyn]

These poor babies, I only wish we could save them all.

[ladybugs78]

hey those animals are really cute and i hope they all get a really good home i would adopt every single one of them but i cant there really cute and i hope they get great homes and every house pet deserves a good home there so cute it makes a great differnets for u to do that it will make people reallize what they can to to help the pets they could adopt one and then the animal would have a real home i pray that everyone of them gets a home!!

[SableCollie]

Here's a new one. I was limited to 8 pics, so poor Honey got left out.


Name: Honey Sex: F Age: 9 mo-1yr
Reason For Intake: Stray. Residents found dog running in street--difficult to catch. Extreme fear of people, especially men.

Just to stress the sadness of this all, 3 of the dogs and one of the cats are questionable adoptability...meaning if their temperaments/behaviors don't improve, they are considered disposition for euthanasia.

[luckypenny]

And the chances of that happening in a shelter? Really sad. Hopefully, some people willing to take a chance and work with them will come by. I know it's rare, but I'm still hoping.

This ought to be put up on all pet shop windows, grocery store bulletin boards, classified web sites, etc. to help make more people aware.

Both my dogs are from shelters too and I would never again consider getting one from anywhere else. Thank you for sharing this with us SableCollie.

[SableCollie]

How much the dog gets worked with depends on how many volunteers we get in who want to help out with the dogs. Right now I think we have only 2 adult dogwalkers, 1 on saturday, 1 on monday. Of course we have our core group of volunteers (maybe half a dozen people) and myself, but we are so busy trying to just keep the animals clean and fed and the shelter running smoothly...I always feel like I should be working with the dogs after I finish cleaning, but it takes me so long to do the kennels, the cats, and the office, that by the time I finish it's time for my lunch break. Sometimes I finish early, but then I'm so tired I just sit down for a while, and then I get mad at myself that I should be working with a dog. One thing I should really start doing is to start them all on the clicker and then I can click for sitting quietly in the kennel, that's something I can do while I'm cleaning.

If 3 dogs and a cat do end up getting euth'd, it will just kill me, I am so close to burnout at this point.

[Loves Labs]

Thank you for posting this SableCollie. I also vote this be made a sticky - if only we could educate ALL those ignorant people....*sigh*
It is just so heartbreaking - these little guys never asked for this life or deserve it. It is just so unfair...all those owners should be locked up in there instead.

[SableCollie]

Wow, I just realized how incredibly crappy our kennels are. I must have gotten used to them, but when I look at photos, I can see how bad they are.

Luckily we are getting a new shelter, as soon as we are able to fundraise a million $, which could be in about 50 years.... But the pictures now are a good representative of the typical municipal "dog pound" buildings.

[otter]

I propose: When dogs get brought into a shelter, we let them go live in their owners house (with good friends of course so they are cared for) and LOCK up their owners in a kennel for a few days.

I saw a shelter somewhere that did a fundraiser where people slept overnight in a kennel at the shelter. Sure opened some people's eyes to how horrible it can be for a scared pup.

License owners, not animals!

[SableCollie]

I've gotten accidentally locked in dog kennels more than once, it's pretty dull waiting for someone to find you and let you out. Especially since I'm not interested in kongs or squeaky toys!

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by SableCollie

Wow, I just realized how incredibly crappy our kennels are.

Don't worry , I don't think they're crappy. My last foster (aopted by otter) came from a pound , the man that got her out of there (a saint , he pays the adoption fees from his own pocket to get the dogs out and place them himself, without a fee, in good homes and with rescues) he sent me pics of the shelter, the dogs are kept in rusted crates (too small for them) and there's poop on the walls. It's a city pound for pete's sake ! and there's nobody there from saterday 5:00 pm until the monday mornings, they never get to go outside. :sad:

[SableCollie]

Okay, I feel better. The cages are rusted, and a couple days ago we had to use bolt-cutters to cut Bella's foot free, (she had reached her paw through the chainlink and it got stuck) BUT I do scrub the walls and floors daily with disinfectant.

there's nobody there from saterday 5:00 pm until the monday mornings

That's terrible!!!! Does that mean they don't get fed over the weekend either?? We are closed to the public on sundays, but we have people go in 3 times a day-in the early morning to open the dog kennels so they have access to the outside and to clean and feed all the animals, in the afternoon for feeding suppers and recleaning the cat's litterboxes, and then at 8-9 at night to reclean litterboxes, and shut the dogs in so they can't go in the outer parts of their runs (it's not safe at night for them to be out). I can't believe what the place would look like if no one showed up on sundays!!!!!

I have seen some pretty bad shelters, one we work with a lot is in a rural area, and the guy who's supposed to run it spends all of his time working as a mechanic (at the shelter!) instead of taking care of the animals. The animals there never have any bedding, and the guy doesn't see a problem with it, his "hunting dog" lives in the shelter kennels because it's not allowed to live in his house! One time one of our volunteers went down there to pick up a dog they asked us to take, and they had the heat shut off in the animal rooms, in the dead of winter. The volunteer walked into the cat housing room, and the litterboxes were all overflowing with feces. (She told the guy off, made him turn on the heat, and cleaned the cat room herself.) We also used to take dogs from a high-kill shelter, and it was just horrible walking into the place knowing that 90% of the animals would be killed just for lack of cages. :sad:

[Frenchy]

Nope, they don't get food, water , they don't get to go out (even when she's there, she doesn't let them out) they're stuck in crates too small for them. A complaint was placed but they announced their visit (a week before) so everything was clean when "they" got there. But don't worry, I know people who are working on it.

[SableCollie]

Oh I hope something gets done, isn't there a law that says animals must have adequate food, water, and shelter? I hope they do an unannounced visit next time! has someone been able to document the normal conditions with pictures/video?

And I don't know why people would want to work at an animal shelter if they didn't love animals, it's not like the pay is great.

[Frenchy]

I don't think anyone works there, it's only one woman , she has the "city contract" (it's a small , rural city) there,s about 4-5 dogs top. But they shouldn't have to live this way. Yes there's pics, I saw them , but here in Quebec, pics are not enough

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by Frenchy

Don't worry , I don't think they're crappy. My last foster (aopted by otter) came from a pound , the man that got her out of there (a saint , he pays the adoption fees from his own pocket to get the dogs out and place them himself, without a fee, in good homes and with rescues) he sent me pics of the shelter, the dogs are kept in rusted crates (too small for them) and there's poop on the walls. It's a city pound for pete's sake ! and there's nobody there from saterday 5:00 pm until the monday mornings, they never get to go outside. :sad:

Good news ! The same man sent me an e-mail this afternoon, I don't have too many details , but he got the pound to close ! She will be out of business on May 31 ! woohoo ! He got the remaining dogs and put them up for adoption himself. He also warned other municipalities in the area about the woman.

[CyberKitten]

Oh my, you are so right!! Those stories hit home!!! I love those orange kittens - and their mama!! But I already have 4 cats and that's all I can handle for the moment. These stories are similar right across the country - and the world for that matter and it makes one sad for the animals and hope that they find a forever home but also really angry at the people who abrogated their responsibility. When ones adopts an animal, s/he becomes a family member and emotionally, I have never been able to understand how anyone can willingly give up on a family member. I think I can see if someone dies and they are alone but even then, in the same way we make provisions for our children if something happens to us, we also need to do the same for our pets!!

Maybe if it was somehow made more difficult to adopt pets? Through legislation or something like that - I am thinking out loud again, sigh!

I hope those adorable and sad little faces make people think tho you are speaking to the converted! Do yiu have a web site? On Petfinder, hopefully, this will make people be more interested- if their stories are known.

[Love4himies]

I am bawling right now over these poor innocent animals. I wish I could rescue them all. How can humans, that call themselves civilized do this to animals. I JUST WANT TO SCREAM GET YOUR ANIMAL SPAYED/NEUTERED!!!!!!!

[SableCollie]

Good news ! The same man sent me an e-mail this afternoon, I don't have too many details , but he got the pound to close !

That's great! I hope there's another facility that can step up and take care of homeless animals in that area.

Do yiu have a web site? On Petfinder

Yep, we have our own site, we're on petfinder, and 1-800-save-a-pet.com. The main problem is we are getting in these animals (dogs and cats) that are basically semi-feral. Of course feral cats are not uncommon, but I have seen such an increase in dogs that you basically cannot touch...along with the animals that just do not have good behaviour. Dogs that leap up, hard body slam and mouth people when they get overstimulated (that's like 90% of the dogs in-house right now), cats that aren't feral, but if you pat them for more than a minute or try to pick them up, they will scratch and bite. No one wants to adopt these animals, and really could you blame them? Most people don't want to take a cat that bites when they can go out and find a little kitten form an ad in the newspaper. Every shelter in the area is having these problems right now. It's tough.

[SableCollie]

Just a little update on these animals.

Poor little Honey is beginning to approach people and show signs of friendliness, although she will still freeze if you try to touch her. No more growling though. I think she'll come through okay.

Rocco (shepherd) has had dozens of applications on him, unfortunately he seems to be an "idiot magnet", we've had to deny basically every application for various reasons. His behavior is improving, and we are thinking of either putting him in shepherd rescue foster, or into their working dog program, which trains shelter shepherds for police work, as he has great drive.

Poor Maggie has had no lookers...I don't get it. She's a great dog, only high-energy and needs a job, I am hoping we'll get someone in interested in doing agility, or rally-o, she is so so smart and has been through so many homes...

Amber we are trying to contact the former owner. She is showing some behaviors, such as cowering when you reach towards her, or when I put down her food dish which she never showed before. :sad: the owner is not returning our calls which makes us very suspicious. The dog is also showing NO aggression towards men or kids, which was the reason for surrender.

Bella, I love Bella. She's been with us since before christmas. No real interest in her because she's a pit bull. Actually had a woman look at her this week who said she couldn't take her because "her kisses are too slobbery"!!!!

Pistol (now Brisco) is a tougher dog, since he is unneutered and completely untrained. He gets overstimulated easily, and then begins jumping forcefully on people and mouthing. Not aggression just high arousal at this point. I would love to get him neutered and then trainer evaluated and worked with, but I don't know if that will happen, because he is a pit bull, and they are so hard to adopt out anyway.

Gumdrop (hamster) is still with us. I have been working with him, and I can pat him while he is eating, but I still can't pick him up. We had someone who saw him on our website and expressed interest, but they never came in.

Orange kittens are vetted and healthy and they will be adopted no problem, because they ae lucky enough to be young and cute and desirable. Lily Pumpkin (the mother) will be spayed in a couple of weeks. She is extremely shy, and we will have to try to get her to become more confident and friendly if she is to be adopted.

Eddie Spaghetti (or Edward Spaghedward!) is a great kitty, who unfortunately will be in our quarantine room until August. Even though he probably had his shots, as he was already neutered when we found him, we couldn't prove his vaccine history and he had a possible bite wound, so he has to be quarantined for 6 months. Because he has such a good personality, we decided to go ahead with the quarantine instead of euthanising him. Unfortunately, this means he will be taking up cage space throughout most of the summer, which is when the cat overpopulation problem hits us the hardest and we often run out of cage space and have to turn cats away.

And of course there are many other animals in the shelter (and in shelters all over the world!), all with similar stories, all here because of people, many waiting for the decision to be made whether they get to live to have another chance, or whether this life will come to an end for them.