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

[Sue & Lily Grace]

This is so true. Cassie passed in my arms in her own house. The most important thing I could give her at the end was a lack of fear. She had seen so many vets so many times and at the end, the vet made sure it was just Cassie and me in her chair in my arms.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Actually, in many shelters, it is not even as pleasant as described here. There are still places that use gas, and other places that use a method called a "heart stick", which I will not describe to spare you all the horror of it, and if you are smart, you will do yourself a big favor and don't look it up. Just trust me that anything would be kinder.

As F said, the main difference I see in the procedure described here and my experience (which has sadly been four times now) is that a sedative is administered first intravenously, and they are peacefully asleep when the "pink stuff" is administered.

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

What everyone says is absolutely true. I had to go to the vet with my Beloved Golden, Chloe, last March. I honestly think she felt relieved. She had bone cancer and a broken front leg. Instead of waiting for us to help her out of the car, she jumped out and practically ran to the door. It's almost like she knew they were going to help her. It was the hardest thing I have ever done! I have heard some people say that you should just drop them off and go to make it easier on yourself. But that's not what its all about. I think that without her family who loved her, she would have been very afraid at the end and I did not want her to think we had abandoned her when she needed us most! She gave us everything she had and she deserved nothing less than for us to hold her and speak gentle sweet words to her.

My husband says that those frightened animals give off pheromones at the end and that is why all the other dogs "hit the brakes" when taken to the room. In the room where the family goes, The sole purpose of that room is not the same.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I would talk ahead of time with your vet, but my experience with both of my two previous dogs has been a peaceful passing.  Everyone was gentle and caring. Teddy showed no distress at his surroundings as long as I was there. First a mild sedative and then I held him as he peacefully fell asleep in my arms. Then he was given an IV, which I must admit I didn't really notice as I was so focused on just being close to him and letting him know he was loved.  There was no drama.  No struggle.  No added pain.  Perhaps it speaks to how much they love us and we love them.      

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Thank you all so much for your responses.   It is comforting to know that those of you who have faced this awful decision have felt that it was a peaceful event! 

[Donna K & Quincy]

This sends chills down my spine, the truth really is frightening.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Well said Camilla.  I don't blame the shelters.  They are overwhelmed.  I blame the stupid selfish people who don't fix their pets.  The rural "hunters" who let that old lab breed and breed again hoping to get another good hunting dog and disposing of all the puppies that don't work out.  Those pups come in packed transports to be dumped here, up north.  I've been there to pick up foster pups...it's not pretty.  The greedy puppy mills that breed pups by the dozen. And the irresponsible people who buy a dog on a whim without understanding what it means.  There should be a crime in here somewhere.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

The real crime is that people think of puppies as objects and dogs as things.

We all live in a happy place with our doodles, they are "beings" that we love and cherish. The key is to make the others realize what a joy our fur babies are. This forum helps but we all have to take that extra few minutes and opportunity to enlighten people whenever we can.

Yesterday a young woman was walking by my store and saw Daisy, she just had to come in...her first thought was to go out and get her child from the car so she could meet Daisy which she did. During the excitement the Mom said "you really take good care of your dog, I want to take her home, can I have her", before I had a second to answer her little girl said "Mommy, you can't just take some ladies dog, she loves her" I said "yep, just like your Mommy loves you" and the lady said "maybe we can get you a puppy" and I kid you not the little one who was about 7 said. Mom, you don't have the time, dogs are a lotta work. Out of the mouth of babes.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Sign this child up as a DRC volunteer immediately!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Smart little girl!  Lisa, I like the word "enlighten."  You're so right. Each of us can be "ambassadors,"especially since so many people ask about our dogs. It always starts with "Ohhh he's so beautiful and he doesn't shed right? Where did you get him?  I'd love a dog like that! He seems so smart and well behaved!" Alarm bells!  I try to give a gentle but honest response. " Thank you, he is wonderful but what you're seeing takes a lot of work and love. No shedding means lots of grooming.  Easy to train means smart enough to drive you crazy.  Especially during puppy madness. People-oriented means this dog needs to be an active part of your life.  Always.  Too many end up in shelters. Still interested?" :)  Yay for the few who truly are! Finnegan has enriched my life.  He sees things I don't, he celebrates things I'd miss, we meet people I would never have met without him, he makes everybody laugh, and his devotion and trust in me are pure grace.  I thought I was buying a puppy but what I was given was a "gift."  And when I come on DK, I see this multiplied by a thousand dogs/doodles!  My Christmas "wish" is that more people say "this is for life" before they buy that puppy or rehome that dog.        

[F, Calla & Luca]

You've made so many good points.

[F, Calla & Luca]

What a brilliant kid!