Article-regarding rescue v hoarders

[Jelpy]

Interesting article on rescuers vs hoarders. I thought it was very balanced.



The Thin Line Between Dog Rescuing and Dog Hoarding - Page 1 - News - Dallas - Dallas Observer

[msvette2u]

The part about rescuers is good. I don't think one could call what Steel did "rescue", though.

[sit,stay]

Very interesting article. I kept thinking that at some point the facts regarding her adoption process would come out, since the neighbor was quoted as saying that she didn't adopt any dogs out. But they never explored that issue, other than the neighbor's quote. Does she adopt dogs out? If she does, I would be more willing to "label" her a rescuer and not a hoarder.

There were some unanswered questions for me. Did she pull dogs from the shelter? Pick them up off the street? Do the dogs in her control receive vet care?

I do think it is a great idea that the issue of rescue compared to hoarder is getting out there.
Sheilah

[msvette2u]

There was a rescuer here who turned into a hoarder. But I think the illness was already there.
Dead dogs all around the yard, inside, sick dogs all over. She was finally 'busted' when she adopted out a litter of parvo puppies.

Animal Abuse: Rescue neglect, 60 animals found, more dead - Kennewick, WA | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database

I don't care who you are, you cannot manage 60 animals by yourself.
I saw her driving dogs to vets all the time, and I saw her at Petsmart on her "group" adoption days.
But the shelter refused to give her pets. We volunteered there at the time and the manager said she'd come in with ringworm all over her face and body and want more cats. He quit giving her pets long before this all caught up to her.

[msvette2u]

I also think that we shouldn't overlook breeders, just because they have a proper permit. Some of the worst hoarders in our area anyway, are breeders with puppy mill situations going on.
Animal Abuse: Puppy mill - Kennewick, WA | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database

[sit,stay]

In my experience, hoarders don't let their animals go. They either bring them in with the intention of keeping them forever or they have such intense adoption procedures and rules that nobody EVER qualifies and animals stay right where they are. So, in my experience, having adoptions taking place and being able to physically give up animals speaks more to a rescue type situation and not a hoarding situation. Hoarders, by definition, can't bring themselves to give up whatever it is they are fixated on.

If an individual has animals coming in, but also has animals going out on a regular basis, that is not a hoarder (to me). So far, I have yet to deal with a hoarder that hasn't presented the same type of inability to actually, realistically see the conditions that their behavior has caused the animals. They might try to hide it (by not getting vet care for animals, by not allowing people into their homes or being very selective about which animals are seen in public), but when confronted with the conditions they have tons of rationalizations (that they probably have used to sooth their own concerns early on).

For me, the article never really gave enough information to figure out where the woman with the ticked off neighbors fell on the rescue-hoarding spectrum.
Sheilah

[sit,stay]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

I also think that we shouldn't overlook breeders, just because they have a proper permit. Some of the worst hoarders in our area anyway, are breeders with puppy mill situations going on.
Animal Abuse: Puppy mill - Kennewick, WA | Pet-Abuse.Com Animal Cruelty Database

But are puppy mills "hoarders" or just following a business model that does not put any importance on the healthy maintenance of breeding stock?
Sheilah

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by sit,stay

But are puppy mills "hoarders" or just following a business model that does not put any importance on the healthy maintenance of breeding stock?
Sheilah

I guess it depends on whether or not they sell their stock?
I know hoarding is an actual mental illness, which includes not being able to distinguish that you're actually harming these animals more than helping them, although there's probably a different term for that issue than I'm using.

[sit,stay]

The definition of "puppy mill" that I grew up with was a substandard breeding operation where the health and living conditions were deplorable for the dogs and all focus was on the production of large numbers of litters for sale. Pump them out out and then ship them out.
Sheilah

[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.