The Busiest Day Of The Year At Animal Shelters Is One Week Away!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Every year on July 5th, I start seeing the posts about lost doodles in all the dog and doodle groups on Facebook, and every year I'm sorry that the owners weren't given the information they needed to keep those dogs safe. I feel sad for the dogs, and I'm often angry with the owners, because the information is widely available, and because these tragedies are so easily prevented. I have no doubt that I will feel that way again 2 weeks from now, but hopefully none of those sad, frantic posts on FB will involve any doodle or owner who belongs to DK. 

PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE. YOUR DOGS' LIVES MAY DEPEND ON IT. 

http://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/lost-cats-and-dogs-your-pets-vers...

Key points from the article:

No matter how much fun you think it would be to dress your dog up and take him out to parades, barbecues, and fireworks, please leave him at home. Safely indoors at home. Check that gates on fenced yards are closed, and if you have a dog door, close and lock it. Don't leave any dog in the yard alone, even for a minute, even if it is fenced. Terror has caused many a dog to leap a fence. Put your dog's leash on before you open the door to take him for a walk, and hang on to it. Hang on to leashes when taking your dog out in public for normal errands. This applies not just to the 4th, but to the days leading up to it. If your neighborhood is like most, there are going to be people shooting things off at any random moment for days before the actual event. Be prepared.

If you will be having guests, or if there are children coming in and going out, use crates, gates, and/or any other means at your disposal to prevent your dog from bolting through an open door when you have people going in and out of your home. 

Keep your dog's collar and tags on him at all times.

If you are going to be away for the 4th, make sure whoever is watching your dog knows this information and can be trusted to follow the rules.. It is stunning to me how many of the July 5th FB posts involve dogs who were with sitters, groomers, relatives, etc when they bolted.

And if you were thinking of taking your dog out of town with you for the 4th, please rethink that decision. 

Make sure your dog is microchipped and your microchip registration info is UTD. 

There's lots more. PLEASE, read the article now. Share it with every dog owner everywhere. And have a happy, safe 4th of July. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lest anyone think this is not a major issue, I just saw this article. At one single county animal shelter in Ohio, 95 stray dogs who ran from fireworks came in during the week of the 4th. These were well groomed, well-cared-for dogs who clearly were peoples' pets. Of the 95 dogs, only 35 have been claimed. 60 dogs are still sitting in the shelter waiting for their owners to claim them. This is a kill shelter, BTW. 

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/64-shelter-dogs-still-unclaim...

[Carol and Truffle]

So sad.

Truffle was 15+ weeks on the 4th. I was out of town. My husband was charged with treating her through the evening to hopefully make sure she was comfortable. 

I am happy to report that he said she did fine & just wondered why he would intermittently stop feeding her cheerios!

[Stacy]

I don't understand this at all. Dog forbid, if I ever lost one of my girls I would be scouring the earth for them immediately. I would be camped out in front of the shelter. I see all this *stuff* and I get more and more upset that people consider their pets disposable. It makes me want to become a vigilante!

[Carol and Truffle]

Too true ... wish this forum had emoticons~!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's why so many rescue people burn out or become weird. Imagine having to hear stories all day every day about why someone is dumping their dog. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

You guys probably didn't see this, but such a sad story from around here :(

The day after Canada Day (basically works out the same as July 4th, shelters are super full) a fire at a shelter killed most of their animals.  So sad.  It's also an overflow shelter for a smaller shelter up in the Arctic where there are a lot of strays.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iqaluit-humane-society-spca-fi...

[Carol and Truffle]

Oh no!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is just horrible. Beyond horrible. 

[Stella]

This is a great podcast by a behaviourist with some suggestions to start now in preparation for next year. 

https://soundcloud.com/sarah-stremming/surviving-the-fourth-of-july

[Amy and Annabelle]

I'm still seeing posts of dogs lost on July 4th that haven't been found yet. Some of them must have jumped the fence. Years ago when my kids were still young, the neighbor behind me's dog tried to escape by jumping the fence that was between us. Unfortunately he was also tethered so he hung himself. Luckily we didn't see it, the neighbors got to him before we got home from the fireworks. My kids would have been so traumatized had they seen that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Bumping this up in the forum, for our newer members.