Do You Know Where That Dog is Going?w/Rhaya's Post

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

HA! Found Rhaya's warning in this post!!!!

[Myamom]

THANKS Jean!!

[dd]

Can we get a sticky on this post? By one of the all-powerful moderators?

dd

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

More:

From pupresq-
Ditto to what several have said - I'm glad Annie will get another chance. In all likelihood it's her last chance, I hope you and your wife will both exercise every possible precaution to make sure that it counts.

This is not directed at Rob, but at this thread (now where is my soapbox?)

I agree that sometimes people on this board are harsh, insulting, insenstive, whatever. But I really didn't see it at all on this thread. You're much more likely to encounter it in the chat section. Here people spoke the truth as they saw it - and I don't see anyone was disputing that truth. If that truth was hard for some to hear, well, that's because those are hard truths to have to live with. Rescuers live with them every day. We make life and death decisions all day every day. We turn away many more dogs than we could ever hope to save and we do it knowing what will happen when we say no. And every single pair of pleading eyes that you can't help takes another little piece of you with them.

As Jean and dd mention - it is not rescue's job to sugar coat reality so that others can fail their dogs and then go home happy. This goes way beyond Rob, and I will say that I personally am very sick and tired of hearing people talk about dumping their dog for one reason or another and then go on to "legitimize" their action by saying "oh, but it's okay, I gave her to a really nice rescue! It's not like I took her to the shelter or something."

I wish I could make them understand that "a nice rescue" is made up of people, people with no more extra resources or time or energy than they have, only different priorities. It is not easier for us to care for 5 dogs or 10 dogs or 15 dogs than it would be for anyone else. When we do it, we make the same sacrifices that anyone else would. We do it because we prioritize the dogs. Rescue is not a hobby. It is very rewarding but it is not fun. It is not analogous to breeding, schutzhund, or any of the other dog-related activities that are covered by this board. There is not a rescuer out there who would not joyfully chose to do something else with her time and money if only there were no more homeless animals for whom there was no other hope.

I wish I could explain to those people that when you surrender your dog to rescue you are taking what should be your burden and placing it on the back of others and an overburdened system and expecting them to bear it instead of you.

I wish I could explain that when you have a common breed like a GSD and you surrender your dog into rescue, a dog dies. Not your dog this time, but the shelter dog who would have gotten that coveted foster spot that your dog is now in.

I wish I could explain that when you adopt a puppy and then return it as an adult, several dogs die. Not yours again, but the dogs who might have been saved, fostered, and placed, in the time that your now much less adoptable dog sits in that foster home because it's harder to place.

I wish I could help people understand that when you breed a dog, for every person who gets one of your dogs who might have rescued one already here, a home is lost and a dog dies. For every dog that you sell who is bred, that cycle continues and we lose a little more ground in the struggle against pet overpopulation.

Please do not ask those of us who live with these realities day in and day out to dishonor the dogs we daily watch die cold and alone on a concrete floor by pretending that they all made it out and will live happily ever after in "a home in the country with plenty of room to run."

We live with these realities and we expect others, especially those that contribute to them, to be able to face up to them as well.

[middleofnowhere]

You have some very good points.

Now will rescue have the perspective to step back and evaluate how they expend their resources? That pathetic case - so cute but so many health issues, so injured - how many resources is that going to take from the healthy, uninjured animal? Indeed, how many healthy animals could be helped in place of the one that demands so much?

Sure, lets transport that dog across the country because the adopter has fallen for the dog on the opposite coast and, well, yes they want the dog but they won't pay for transport. What else are they not going to pay for? Why doesn't the adopter look locally? Is it that they fear being tugged too many ways when they walk into the pound? It's a darned tough market. You face what your situation is locally if you do that. You know that those you walk out without may not ever get out.

My local humane society is always full. They're full because they step up for abuse cases -- and the unabused or what? underabused? get euthanized. So if you are a dog -- of course you hope your luck holds and you don't need another home. you hope things work out as a puppy. if you are healthy at the pound, you hope you find another home quickly. if you don't, maybe the true good luck would then come in "break a leg" as in be injured. Then you would go to the humane society where they screen their applicants... and euthanize no treatable case. It's not awful there. You might end up spending a lot of time in a crate with a little one on one daily. You might be there for months. They try hard. You don't get hit or kicked. You get vet care. You get some daily attention. You get food. People bring stuff to use for bedding and toys and treats. It's not awful there.

Rescues face rotten decissions daily. Who to take, who to turn away, what parameters to use for adopters.

[pupresq]

Quote: Now will rescue have the perspective to step back and evaluate how they expend their resources? That pathetic case - so cute but so many health issues, so injured - how many resources is that going to take from the healthy, uninjured animal? Indeed, how many healthy animals could be helped in place of the one that demands so much?

This is definitely something rescues deal with every day and it's a weird and complicated process. Sometimes people try to boil it down to basic arithmetic but it goes way beyond X number of dollars for Y number of lives saved. And the money spent on hard luck cases often doesn't always exist (and so therefore can't get taken away) from healthier dogs. Often the dogs for which you get the donations are the ones that are most pathetic. Ironically, the most injured dog at a shelter may have a better chance at life than any one of the perfectly healthy but common other dogs because the hard luck dog is the one that will appeal to people. Sometimes it makes sense to me, sometimes it doesn't, but who am I to tell people which dogs are worth helping and which are not?

And money is just one factor - even more important IMO is foster space. I could rescue two perfectly healthy Shepherd mixes tomorrow and still have them, unplaced, a year from now. So even though I love Shepherd mixes, I'm constantly turning them away because of all the other dogs I won't be able to help if I take them.

But in other cases, yes, the money you spend treating heartworms or parvo is money you don't have for preventative and vaccines for the shelter that might have prevented those situations in the first place. On the other hand, part of your creedo may be doing whatever is necessary for the dogs in your care (it is mine). Another group may feel like treating those things is wrong because it takes the money from other things. There's really no right answer to that one and it's all a balancing act.

Sometimes people make comments that imply that it's my (or rescue's) "job" or obligation to do things in some other way. I'm open to suggestions, I just don't like being told that we "should" euthanize a dog or not help a dog we want to help because that money could be spent in some other way. There's ALWAYS going to be another way to spend the money. You do the best you can. There is no way for me to save them all and I can only do what I can do. I have a soft spot for seniors. Other people are suckers for a particular coat or color. If purebred rescues want to pull purebred rescues with issues over mixes without them, that's their prerogative. No rescuer is obligated to do more than they are doing. No rescuer is obligated at all - except for the obligations we put on ourselves (but man, those are doozies! ) We are not the ones who put the dogs there, we are only doing our best to help.

Quote:Rescues face rotten decisions daily. Who to take, who to turn away, what parameters to use for adopters.

You got that right.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

This is a post from pupresq

just wanted to share with people a situation has come to light in Kentucky today:

http://www.wlextv.com/global/story.asp?s=7998033

This is a well-known rescuer in this area. She has taken in many dogs including German Shepherds. Obviously the rescue community in this area has been abuzz with this all day.

Here are some of the things I've heard people say:

"But she seemed so nice!"
"She was always so helpful!"
"I appreciated that she was always willing to take dogs"
"I saw her paperwork and that looked fine"
"But she had a really nice website"

(http://www.animal-assist.org/dogs.html if you're interested)

From what we've been able to determine today, she and her husband were making their income selling the dogs they "rescued." At least 40 dogs were found dead and the number is larger every time they update the story. Starving dogs were feeding on the dead. Over 100 dogs and counting have been found on the property in deplorable conditions.

Tonight Kentucky and beyond is littered with broken hearts of shelters, rescuers, and transporters who thought they were helping dogs to a better of life and instead helped deliver them into a living ****.

Those of us, me included, who saw some red flags and refused to send her dogs but did nothing further to sound the alarm will have to live with that for the rest of our lives.

This kind of situation IS WHY YOU HAVE TO CHECK EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! Please please please!!! And why rescue is not the time to be quiet, deferential, polite, and not ask questions. Know where you're sending that dog. Be a busybody. When you see somebody not checking, help them out. Get involved. What happened today is not a once in a blue moon occurence, in fact it's all too common as people learn to exploit the Internet.

Basic home visits and vet checks would have revealed what this person was up to.

I imagine mods will probably want to move this to the general rescue section but I thought it was important to post it here first because I am hoping more people will see it this way.

You cannot afford to assume the best about people in rescue. You don't have to be cynical but you've GOT to be careful. A dog's life depends on it.

[4dognight]

OK I am a little late on this but I agree with everyone. I would want my references checked out. I do foster for a few rescues and have good references. I always have said come to my house talk to my neighbors. Here is my vets number. I just recently started back fostering for my local GSD group and have always vol for them, events. HV etc but did not foster for 4 years I had to go through the whole process. The president of my group said don't take it personally. I did not because I have nothing to hide, except some dog hair and dust bunnies There are always folks that have evil intentions for our rescue dogs and we all have to be careful.....

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=46781

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Anima...afe_22082.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h...VB99AD92H22DO0

More than 360 domestic and farm animals, many of them emaciated, injured and suffering from mange and parasites, were rescued Tuesday from a filthy southwest Missouri property where they were hoarded and bred, authorities said.

The owner of the property was charged with child endangerment because six children, ages 1 to 11, also had been living in what authorities described as an unbelievable scene: 12 to 15 house trailers stacked to the ceilings with junk, trash and debris, crawling with cockroaches. The only water source was a bunch of garden hoses strung together.

"These homes are not fit for anyone to live in," human or animal, Polk County Sheriff Steve Bruce said.

The 363 animals include more than 70 dogs and more than three dozen cats, plus donkeys, rabbits, ducks, chickens, and exotic fish. The Humane Society of Missouri and Polk County also found 12 to 15 dead rabbits, dogs, cats, and poultry.

[katieliz]

well, there just seems to be no end to these situations. sometimes when you begin to ask questions potential rescues/adopters just disappear. no matter, if you cannot satisfy my requirements to check you out, no dog i am helping will go anywhere near you. period.