LA family leaves dog at shelter... because

Little Kopit wrote:
I haven't read the full thread or looked at the video.

When I was a child a dog of ours lost his mother and had never been separated from her. My parents put an ad in the paper. "Well behaved dog with personal loss for sale." A family in the oldest of cars came to see him and my parents were sure he would be cared for.

A year later they brought him back for a visit. He ran to all of his favourite places, gave us all lots and lots of kisses and returned to his new family car when called.

Our dog with a great big grief had an excellent happy rest of his life.

(His name was Tawny. Look up the fiction book about the hero in a cowboy story, who had also suffered a loss. It's an oldy but goodie available on the used bookstore market. By Thomas C. Hinkle. 1927 original publishing date.

:C

Are dogs capable of recovering? Sure. But the question remains: WHY do you get rid of a dog because your other dog died? For what purpose? And why would you then turn around and get a new dog (as in regards to the OP's story)?

Animals aren't matching bookends - just because one is gone doesn't make the other obsolete. And it is easier for an animal to adjust to a loss in a familiar setting than to be displaced right after that loss.

I adopted two parrots several years back. One, Dog-bird, was at least 30 years old (they found him in a parking lot and it is believed he was wild caught). The other was 28 years old and hand-reared. They had been together for the entire 28 years. I took them both (the owner was 80 and couldn't care for them anymore). Within 6 months, the 28 year old died of cancer. I was extremely worried about Dog-bird - he had never been alone in 28 years. Within a few weeks, he got over his grief. In the past 3 years, he has become a camping bird and has created a new "flock" with the dogs. He didn't need to lose his home - he needed time to get over the loss and to develop a stronger bond with his existing family.

I haven't read the full thread or looked at the video.

When I was a child a dog of ours lost his mother and had never been separated from her. My parents put an ad in the paper. "Well behaved dog with personal loss for sale." A family in the oldest of cars came to see him and my parents were sure he would be cared for.

A year later they brought him back for a visit. He ran to all of his favourite places, gave us all lots and lots of kisses and returned to his new family car when called.

Our dog with a great big grief had an excellent happy rest of his life.

(His name was Tawny. Look up the fiction book about the hero in a cowboy story, who had also suffered a loss. It's an oldy but goodie available on the used bookstore market. By Thomas C. Hinkle. 1927 original publishing date.

:C

colliehauler wrote:

LJAZ wrote:

magnusfide wrote:
At least they didn't just put the dog out by the roadside to be hit by a car. Or dropped off in the wilderness to be eaten by a predator. I agree these people shouldn't have another pet; at least the dog is safe though.

Absolutely! Before I adopted him my GSD had been abandoned on the Indian Reservation with no food or water in the Arizona desert in the summer! Took the rescue group several days to get him to come to them. It was obvious he'd been dumped and not an escapee because they could still see the marks from where he'd worn a collar.

Thanks for the rescue. I agree with you. Look at the Ole fellow thread, Richard found pups that had been thrown away like garbage. Just don't know what goes through people's minds.

I also realize in the scheme of life this is insignificant compared to what people do to other people let alone pets. I guess what made me angry was the callousness of them wanting to exchange the dog like a DVD rental.

To me, that's the worst part.

There are people who are bad to animals. They don't care, they don't want to care, they will never care.

But people like this are worse. Because they can spend years being a "good home". They can pass the tests and interviews. But at some point down the road, they find a reason to "trade in" the dog. Because underneath it all they still believe "it's just an animal" and as long as I take it to the shelter I am not a bad pet owner.

These are the people I worry about the most when I do adoptions. Because there is no dilemma when it comes to giving up their pet - they just drop it off. There is no guilt. There is no sadness. They just don't care about the effects on the animal because "it's just an animal".

Shepherds do very poorly in shelters. They are "one person dogs" and they can't attach with all the different workers. They become very despondent. Which in turn makes them very hard to place.

Just because you take your pet to a shelter doesn't make you a good person.

As Jack on Will and Grace once said "sometimes bad people happen to good dogs". We have to stop making that OK - even if "it's not as bad as it could have been".

LJAZ wrote:

magnusfide wrote:
At least they didn't just put the dog out by the roadside to be hit by a car. Or dropped off in the wilderness to be eaten by a predator. I agree these people shouldn't have another pet; at least the dog is safe though.

Absolutely! Before I adopted him my GSD had been abandoned on the Indian Reservation with no food or water in the Arizona desert in the summer! Took the rescue group several days to get him to come to them. It was obvious he'd been dumped and not an escapee because they could still see the marks from where he'd worn a collar.

Thanks for the rescue. I agree with you. Look at the Ole fellow thread, Richard found pups that had been thrown away like garbage. Just don't know what goes through people's minds.

I also realize in the scheme of life this is insignificant compared to what people do to other people let alone pets. I guess what made me angry was the callousness of them wanting to exchange the dog like a DVD rental.

magnusfide wrote:
At least they didn't just put the dog out by the roadside to be hit by a car. Or dropped off in the wilderness to be eaten by a predator. I agree these people shouldn't have another pet; at least the dog is safe though.

Absolutely! Before I adopted him my GSD had been abandoned on the Indian Reservation with no food or water in the Arizona desert in the summer! Took the rescue group several days to get him to come to them. It was obvious he'd been dumped and not an escapee because they could still see the marks from where he'd worn a collar.

While we're all feeling angry: This is a story that's been circulating around central Florida - clearly the homeless man who owned the dog was hallucinating: he threw his dog into traffic (twice) to "put it out of its misery after being stabbed by an arrow" (the dog didn't have any wounds - only internal injuries after being hit twice). Of course it doubly breaks my heart because it was an Aussie

Aussie

The happy ending is that the dog survived, and the policeman who rescued it wants to adopt it!

So they took a depressed dog and dumped it in a shelter...... Makes my blood boil.

gbopp wrote:
Wow! The only pet those people should have is a pet rock...maybe.

The Montgomery Alabama Humane shelter does interview, review, and evaluate everyone who adopts from them. We went through the process when we got our little Pound Puppy.
8 weeks old,
8 months old

A dog can suffer grief and depression after the loss of a canine friend. We had one do that. It was difficult for him. . .really difficult. It was difficult for us because we didn't know how to help him. It was about 9 months before we got him back to some sort of normal. When our Butterscotch died in August, we took Duchess, her friend/sister for 10 years with us and sat/laid right with her while she took her last breath. She understood. She missed her after that, as we all did, but she never exhibited so much anxiety as the other did.

That poor German Shepard has just been dealt a double whammy. He will have much more trouble adjusting and now may act out in a negative way if someone tries to adopt him. They won't understand his behavior.
Perhaps if he goes to a home that has other dogs it will help.

Dale

magnusfide wrote:
At least they didn't just put the dog out by the roadside to be hit by a car. Or dropped off in the wilderness to be eaten by a predator. I agree these people shouldn't have another pet; at least the dog is safe though.

Have to agree with you on that.