Buzz Kill for the Holidays

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

A friend posted this on her FB wall. I thought about not posting, it's the holidays after all, we don't need sadness. But the awful truth is this could happen by February to some unsuspecting family and worse, some adorable, helpless little puppy. This place is after all a place to come for knowledge.

My biggest wish this year is that no dog, not just doodles, finds a short lived home and ends up somewhere like this.

The shelter manager's letter:

"I am posting this (and it is long) because 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.
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.

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.

No shortage of excuses
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?

Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking!

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.

The grim reaper
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".

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?

Liberty, freedom and justice for all
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."

Author unknown

[Camilla and Darwin]

Completely true, I hope a lot of people read this. I thought I knew the full truth about what happens at shelters, but I didn't. It's tragic and sad. They had to put down a huge number of cats a couple of weeks ago because one litter of kittens was infected with something and it spread. They had to put down 20 or so in a day simply because there was no room in the shelter. My biggest pet peeve is when people demonize kill shelters for putting down animals, yet  don't want to pay the 40 dollars to get their cat fixed. Shelters are being completely bombarded by abandoned pets and there simply is not enough room or resources to keep them all alive. Fix your animals people... and don't get a pet if you aren't prepared for the commitment. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Our local County Dog Pound (Animal Shelter) was recently taken over by the Humane Society.  The HS always did work with the Dog Warden but there was a lot of friction.  There was a gas chamber on site that was old and didn't work correctly.  Finally, after several attempts the local County Commissioners approved turning over the operation of the Shelter to the HS.  It is still a kill shelter, but the HS works tirelessly to save every single animal that they possibly can.  The gas chamber was demolished and now any of the ones PTS are done by a local Vet.  It is very rare that one is PTS as they are almost always saved by a rescue.  The set up "transport trains" just like the DRC's Doodle Trains and move the dogs to places that have shortages or where ever they can find fosters.  It is a great bunch of volunteers that work really hard for the animals.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Sheri, thank you for sharing this this is how it should always be don't you think, more work to save and not just a final place with 3 days in between.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I agree! 

[Camilla and Darwin]

I am volunteering at a Humane Society actually. The shelter does do everything they can as well. They contact breed specific rescues, have fosters, and one dog that I photographed is still there and he came in during August... 

The cats though... no kill shelters just can't take all the cats that are being brought in from them. They can have 40 or 50 surrendered in a single week, and it is NOT a big shelter.  And if cats come in that have a bad spreadable disease... they have to do it otherwise it would spread to all the animals. They don't have a vet come in, a staff member does the euthanasia. I've never been present but I know the people who do it and they are animal lovers, and very serious about what they have to do. I am positive they aren't neglectful or abusive about it. 

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

That so many unwanted dogs are euthanized is tragic, but what really breaks my heart is the suffering they endure before they pass over the Rainbow Bridge.  Not even a dignified, peaceful ending for them.  

Thanks BG.  I AM going to go hug my doodle, who is asleep at my feet.    

[Sue & Lily Grace]

I am too with tears falling for all the pain the poor souls go through.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between this process and what actually happens when one has to make that terrible decision to have their loved family member PTS?  Everyone always says they died peacefully in our arms, but this tells a completely different story.  Never having been through this I have no idea. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

It's has to do with who is there, who does the procedure and how it's done. My son and I took Rex to the vet and we were with him the whole time. He was treated gently when they prepped his leg, and he was first given a shot of tranquilizer. We held and talked to him as he fell asleep. Then the pentothal was given IV. He was not frightened and there was no drama. Just a peaceful ending with people he knew and loved. So although the pentothal may be the end result, the way it is done makes all the difference.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

So true, our son put his dog to sleep this year and the vet led them to a room with a couch that he laid the dog on, left the two of them alone, and let DS do the injection when he felt it was time and he'd said his goodbyes. Same medication, but totally different experiences. His dog just closed his eyes and went to sleep peacefully, knowing he was loved.

[GBK]

Exactly F,  when I had to put down my last dog, he was in my arms and passed peacefully after the IV was given..

[Donna, Emma, Bender & Busby]

Same here...when we had to put our Max to sleep he also was first given a sedative and I held him while the IV drugs were given.  No trauma, no spasms; he simply drifted off and crossed the rainbow bridge.