Article-regarding rescue v hoarders

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by Mrs.K

Breeders can be horrible hoarders, especially when they can't get rid of their dogs and keep on producing. We have one like that in Germany. Eventually it does turn into hoarding if they don't face the truth about their breeding program.

That's what I was thinking too.
I mean...it's not just faux rescuers. Look at that Texas case. Sick and dying and dead animals all over. But nobody ever uses the "H" word with them.

[Mrs.K]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

That's what I was thinking too.
I mean...it's not just faux rescuers. Look at that Texas case. Sick and dying and dead animals all over. But nobody ever uses the "H" word with them.

Absolutely. There is a fine line between rescuing, breeding and hoarding.


My husband said I was a hoarder because I wanted a third dog. He had no idea what a hoarder really is and I was seriously upset with him. From that day on I made him watch "Animal Hoarding" with me. He was like "Why are we watching that." and I told him "So you know what animal hoarding really is. Don't EVER call me a hoarder again."

And he never did!

I do have to say though, when you follow the rescue pages on facebook and you say as much as a single word, you get bombarded with messages to "rescue that poor puppy."
There is NO escape other than keep blocking people and many have been pressured into rescuing dogs that go way above their capacities.
Another reason why I'm not doing it anymore.

[Bridget]

I think a lot of hoarding situations started out as rescue that just went awry.

[Mrs.K]

And it can easily happen to anyone.

At first, you just want to help and then you get into that vicious cycle and the worst is, if you have nobody around you that is caring enough to actually stand up and do what has to be done.

[Bridget]

Our foster, Ashley, came from a trailer (single-wide). There were 41 dogs kept in there and it is estimated that they hadn't been outside in 18 months (consider the implications of that!) The windows were boarded up, which most likely explains Ashley's fear of moving cars. HOWEVER, there were big bags of dog food around. The dogs didn't appear to be abused. And all 41 dogs had names!

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by Bridget

I think a lot of hoarding situations started out as rescue that just went awry.

I disagree.
Even in the article, the woman apparently started out hoarding because nobody could get a dog from her. They tried.

We have dealt with hoarding situations - often a stray dog or two show up and the people begin caring for it. This woman (in the story) was taking in strays off the street. However, it all goes awry because these people cannot recognize that if you don't have the money to spay/neuter and otherwise properly these "rescues" (and ultimately find them homes of their own outside of yours) that you're not doing these animals any favors.
A rescue, properly run, knows you don't get animals you cannot vet.
In fact there's many situations I know of right now that the people keep getting pets they believe they are rescuing, yet there's no vetting done - at all! One of them is actually listed on Adopt-A-Pet, with her non-vetted dogs going for $25.00. Then - in another paragraph, you can opt to have the rescue spay/vaccinate/chip, etc. each for an added fee, rather like an ALA Cart menu!!

How is that rescue? Real rescue, that is?

Another situation involved a woman who kept taking in cats, but nobody was taken to a vet, and these animals were interbreeding, covered with fleas and had other illnesses, that is not rescue. That is hoarding, because regardless of the number of animals, a few things are there, in common - no vetting whatsoever, a belief she is helping these animals (when the animals are becoming sicker and sicker and dying) and then refusal to relinquish the animals she says she "loves".

We've cleaned up 3-4 more situations where people just started off with a dog or two and it blossomed into 20 or more dogs that were just running all over, living quite feral with no handling, etc.

Legit rescues don't do this to themselves, there's structure, organization, accountability and common sense which says "we have no funds, we can't get more dogs", or "we have no space, we can't get more dogs until these are adopted". Legit rescues don't fancy themselves rescues because they took in a dog, but didn't vet (spay/neuter) it so it became pregnant on their property, etc. Which again I could give you examples of, the faux rescues who just take dogs and/or cats for the sake of taking them, not to improve their lives and ultimately find them their own homes.