Don’t Breed and Don’t Buy!

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Annvi in Barkin' Doggie Bloggie, Rescue Dogs

Ever wondered what a high-kill shelter is like from someone who works there?

Here is the truth.  From what I see at our Houston shelter, BARC- I think it is pretty accurate.

Letter from a Shelter Manager

I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day. 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 my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So 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 my 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 too that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say “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 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 & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, 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 in 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, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.

Those dogs just don’t get adopted. It doesn’t matter how ’sweet’ or ‘well behaved’ they are.

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, but not for long . Most dogs 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. Until they get to “The Room”, every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes 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 the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will 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. 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 pets 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 deal with everyday on the way home from work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you 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 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 persons 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 and it made me want to adopt”. THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT

For those of you that care— please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let’s see if we can get this all around the US and have an impact.

Cheers and Happy Barkin’!

Annvi and Tobiah

The Benefits of Walking and Dog Walking

Posted on 15. Jan, 2010 by Annvi in Barkin' Doggie Bloggie, Interesting Dog Tidbits

“A house is not a home until it has a dog.” ~ Gerald Durrell

As  a kid, there was a time when my dad traveled a lot.  To make up for lost time, every Sunday, Dad and I would go on walks.  It became a sort of ritual.  We’d walk about two miles to the closest gas station from our house and pick up the Sunday paper (I’d read the Sunday Funnies when we got home) and a gallon of milk (for Mom and Dad’s morning chai).  I used to love those walks.  It was a time when it was just Dad and me and no other distractions.  There weren’t cell phones either back then- so really nothing else that could take you away from the walk.  Even during college, I’d sometimes come home for dinner (I attended the University of Georgia in my hometown, GO DAWGS!) and after dinner, Dad and I would take an after-dinner stroll.  Looking back at it, walking was such a simple way of spending time together, clearing our minds, and getting some exercise.  Too bad we didn’t have a dog back then.

My first dog walking experience was before Rocky.  In fact, I would say it may have been the catalyst to our adoption of Rocky.  A friend of mine was dog sitting and she needed help walking two dogs (her dog and the other one).  I just happened to be around- and so, I got dragged into walking.  By now, it had been probably 4-5 years since my last leisurely stroll in the park with Dad and I had forgotten how much fun walking was.  Having a little companion and walking down the street made it even more fun.  Watching the cute pup sniff new smells, mark his territory, greet other pups… was just a riot for me.  This is what convinced me that maybe owning a dog wasn’t so bad.  And then the next day, I get an email at work- how a cute little yellow lab needs a home.  Life works in mysterious ways.

Rocky and Zeus don’t have a yard where they can get their business done. What does that mean?  It means we have to walk them EVERY DAY twice or three times a day so that they get their daily exercise- rain, humidity, snow, etc- it does not matter.  If our two very active pups do not get outside to play- it is not a pretty sight.  Zeus finds a towel or sock or a pillow to do damage too and Roo starts…humping (but that is another blog entry).  Sometimes, I am glad we don’t have a yard; I think it may make us lazy about putting on our shoes, grabbing the leashes, and getting outside everyday because we’d just throw them in the backyard when we weren’t in the mood to brave the weather.  Getting outside and playing with the pups also helps to remind me that there is much more to life than bills, work, and chores.  And there are a ton of benefits to walking your dog even if you do have a yard.

For us, some of the benefits include:

• Bonding: I try not to take my cell phone so that they have all of my attention.  They need our undivided attention just like our friends, co-workers, family, etc. do.  Maybe it is just me, but I feel that our daily walks have helped in my relationship with our dogs.  They listen more and understand my commands much better.
• Helps with Dog Socialization:  With rescue dogs, you do not know their history.  We know Rocky has had some very bad experiences, he was abused with an electric shock collar as a puppy, but in general, you may not know the history of your rescue dog.  Walking your dogs will teach them how to play and meet other dogs and humans in a controlled environment since they are on a leash.  It gives you the opportunity to correct bad behavior, such as growling at other dogs or people on your walks.  No one likes an aggressive dog on a dog walk.  Plus, many dogs can be dog aggressive only when on a leash, walking your dog every day will help curb this; it teaches the dog that there is nothing to be insecure about when on a leash- no one is attacking the dog’s owner or the dog just because he is on a leash.
• Mental and Physical Exercise: Just like our minds and bodies need to be challenged, so do our dogs’.  A dog that is going on new adventures- even a new street or a new fire hydrant is an adventure for our pups- is a happy dog.  Putting your dogs in the backyard every day to do their business is simply not enough to curb boredom.  They need those new smells and activities to keep them sane.  I know I couldn’t handle doing the same thing day in and day out.  I believe that walking your dog will extend the life of your dog.  A healthy dog is a happy dog.  And happiness can do a wonders of good for the mind, body, and soul- even your cute pup.

Recently, the NY Times reported on whether it is better to have a dog walking partner or a human walking partner.  According to the article, those who chose a dog as their walking partner demonstrated a bigger improvement in their fitness than those who chose a human as their walking partner.

“New research from the University of Missouri has found that people who walk dogs are more consistent about regular exercise and show more improvement in fitness than people who walk with a human companion. In a 12-week study of 54 older adults at an assisted living home, 35 people were assigned to a walking program for five days a week, while the remaining 19 served as a control group. Among the walkers, 23 selected a friend or spouse to serve as a regular walking partner along a trail laid out near the home. Another 12 participants took a bus daily to a local animal shelter where they were assigned a dog to walk.”

The reasoning that walking with a dog may be better for you than walking with a human?  You can’t tell your dog, “I am not well, let’s reschedule our walk.”  Walking speed was another factor.  I know I definitely walk a lot faster when I have two pups with me whether I want to or not.   “C’mon Mom! There’s a new pooch in the neighborhood!“  or “I think someone dropped a fry!” is totally what they are thinking when our speed has slightly increased.  This research showed that those who walked with dogs improved their walking speed by 28 PERCENT compared to the human partners- they only went up 4 PERCENT.

“What happened was nothing short of remarkable,” said Rebecca A. Johnson, a nursing professor and director of the Research Center for Human Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “The improvement in walking speed means their confidence in their walking ability had increased and their balance had increased. To have a 28 percent improvement in walking speed is mind boggling.”

What are you waiting for?  Grab your shoes and leash, get that dog off the couch!  And those of you who don’t own a dog, get to your local shelter or go walk a friend’s dog.  It just may be time for my dad to make an upgrade from his old walking buddy.

Cheers and Happy Barkin’!

Annvi and Tobiah

Rescue Dog plus Rescue Human equals PERFECTION.

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Annvi in Barkin' Doggie Bloggie, Community Efforts, Companies doin' cool things, Rescue Dogs

“It’s impossible to be around them and stay in a bad mood.” ~ John Grogan

I just found this blog post.  I had to immediately share it.  It made me cry.  Goodness.  I LOVE RESCUE DOGS.  Go out and get you one.  You will never regret it.

Cheers and Happy Barkin’!

Annvi and Tobiah

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY by Janine Allen

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her.

I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn’t be afraid. As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn’t want her to know that I hadn’t been walked today. Sometimes the overworked shelter keepers get too busy and I didn’t want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn’t feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone’s life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.

Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms.

I would promise to keep her safe.
I would promise to always be by her side.
I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes.

I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven’t walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I rescued a human today.

http://rescuemedog.org/dog-blog/i-rescued-a-human-today-by-janine-allen/

Written by Janine Allen CPDT, Rescue Me Dog’s professional dog trainer. Janine’s passion is working with people and their dogs. She provides demonstrations for those who have adopted shelter dogs, lends email support to adopted dog owners that need information beyond our Training Support Pages, and aids shelter staff and volunteers in understanding dog behavior to increase their adoptability. Copyright 2010 Rescue Me Dog; www.rescuemedog.org

Rescue Dogs & Separation Anxiety

Posted on 20. Sep, 2009 by Annvi in Barkin' Doggie Bloggie, Rescue Dogs

I have been fortunate enough that neither of my doggies have separation anxiety to the point where they are tearing up furniture, walls, or barking until they lose their voice. Zeus whined for a few days when we first got him, but he now seems to have adapted. A rescue dog may be more prone to this anxiety than a dog that comes from a breeder because shelter dogs are rarely left alone (they can hear/smell/see the other shelter dogs at all times) and there is always a kennel attendant on duty. When you remove a shelter dog from this environment and bring him home, he may feel that he has once again lost his pack. Don’t lose hope! Separation anxiety can be handled!

I thought this article does an excellent job of explaining how to deal with separation anxiety. Please do not let a bit of anxiety deter you from rescuing your best friend. Your dog will adapt! Just takes a bit of patience!

Tips on Separation Anxiety

Cheers and Happy Barkin’!

Annvi and Tobiah