Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
Phoebe's blog "I need to vent" got me started thinking about this topic again this morning, so I wanted to start a discussion to just brainstorm some ideas. In the part of Ohio where I live there is a huge problem with not spaying or neutering ...... everyone thinks dogs should have puppies ..... they think nothing of dumping liters of puppies in a box on the side of the road or dropping them off at the kill shelter. How many more lab/coondog/beagle/shephard/pitt mix puppies do we need. It is enough to make a sane person crazy! I've tried thinking of ways to attempt to educate people, but I think that I've decided we have to just start with the next generation. We need to start in pre-schools and grade schools. We need to teach them early. In our County you have to purchase a dog tag .... It costs $10 per dog in January of each year. Do most people buy them ..... NO, is there enforcement, NOT REALLY! If your dog gets picked up by the dog catcher or someone complains about you you might get a fine, but they don't go door to door checking! This is one of the main forms of support for the local Dog Shelter (and I use the term shelter loosely). So I thought what if it costs more if your dog isn't spayed or neutered .... well, those stupid enough not to spay or neuter probably don't buy a tag anyway so that wasn't a good thought! When I was reading Phoebe's blog I was thinking maybe dogs should be like guns, there is a 3 day wait to buy a gun! or a database that if you have ever turned in a dog to a shelter you can never own another dog, or maybe you need to attend a 4 hour training class to purchase a puppy! Would any of these ideas help, or would it only lead to more homeless puppies? What is the answer, how do we train the next generation that puppies/dogs are not disposable items? That you have to be a responsible owner, spay/neuter, train, groom, provide medical care .... you don't just get tired of them and turn them lose or take them to be killed!
So, are there any programs in your area or does anyone have any ideas about how you get people to responsibly spay/neuter? What incentives could be offered?
What educational type programs have you seen in your areas that might work or what ideas do you have that might work to get the message across that we must stop having litter after litter of puppies?
What other thoughts or ideas do you have on this subject?
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I think that the Vets need to step up and take some for the team as they say. You can't educate someone that doesn't have any reason to learn. They have free or low cost rabies clinics and get droves of pets being brought in. Maybe low cost spay and neuter program run before puppy season along with mass advertising before and after. The advertising could also address the common misconceptions of the locals regarding pets and fixing them. EX every dog should have a litter.
People who have a cash incentive will do it. Otherwise the free dog in a ditch works well for them.
As I sit here in my office taking a break from what doesn't excite me (work) and I sneak a peak at DK (which does excite me) I realize there are an awful lot of us that really do LOVE and ADORE their pets. I at the same time wonder what happened to those individuals in their lives that changes that about them. I have always considered our pets to be a part of our family, they have always mattered, they have always had rights. There are others in this world that care for their pets but not the same way as we do. They nourish their pets with food and water and play with them on occasion in their back yards but otherwise keep them as animals in outdoor enclosures or kennels. They don't love them, allow them to be part of their family as one of them.
I have the great privilege of having my sweet Daisy with me at work. I can look over at her sweet sleeping self and know she is comfortable, not alone, gets lots of attention and is truly loved. She meets new people every day that adore her, my UPS and FedEx drivers come in to give her a cookie even when they do not have packages. To me this is how a dogs life should be.
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