[seeingstraight]

I saw this on a page earlier, just wanted to share it.



A Letter from a Shelter Manager:

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.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of
an animal shelter for just one day.

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.

So 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.

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 and why did you choose that place instead of a pet
friendly home?

Or they say "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 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 & how stressful do you think being in a
shelter is? Well, let me tell you, 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 in 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, rottie,
mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted.

It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are. 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, but not for long.

Most dogs 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.

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.

Until, they get to "The Room", every one of them freak out and put the brakes on
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
the size and how freaked out they are.

Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will 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. 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?

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 deal with everyday on the way home from
work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there
unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting
go much further 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: 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 and it made me

[Z-girls rock]

thanks for posting.

I think a lot of people need to see this.

I cant believe people still get dogs from breeders or pet shops *shudder* these days.
just go to the pound!

[Bart.]

Unfortunately this won't be seen by the people who need to see it. Thanks for posting it, OP.

BYB just bring out the stabby in me. My little mutt is the result of an abusive BYB and although she's now eight (we got her when she was 12-months old and she'd already had a litter of puppies) she still exhibits cage behaviour.

I think pets and breeding should be regulated where only registered, humanely-bred pets can be sold, to people who can prove they will look after the animal. However, the money and people involved in such an enterprise means this will probably never happen.

[emgem]

As the owner of a pedigree pup, I find these kind of letters really manipulative. I have no intention of breeding, but I find it really disingenous that all breeders are being lumped in together or that I should be made to feel guilty for buying a pedigree pup.

Take a good look at the dogs and cats available as rescue pets, the overwhelming majority of them are mixed breed dogs with only a handful that are recognisably purebred. Most ANKC dog breeders and cat breeders registered with one of the pedigree cat associations are incredibly responsible about who receives their puppies and kittens, or so it would appear. I don't even see huge numbers of oodles, despite what people say about some of the large puppy farms. What you do see a lot of are whoopsy terrier/bull breed/lab/cattle dog/working dog mixes, which suggests that the people primarily responsible for the average pound pup is Joe Average who lives down your street and who fails to adequately desex and contain his dogs.

Lets put the blame where it belongs and guilt people into getting their dogs desexed instead. That way I can get the medium sized fluffy non-shedder of my dreams without being made to feel like a heel everytime I open facebook. Or better yet, lets start a program that funds desexing for those who cannot afford it.

[*Spikey*]

I think you'll find that the Letter is from an American shelter manager.

In this forum, we don't support puppy mills, BYBer, those who think their dog 'should just have one litter' or other irresponsible behaviour that adds to the unwanted pet problem.

We do support ethical registered breeders, however. We have several of them who share their experience with us.

However, there are oodles of oodles on rescue sites. Pages, and pages of them, and other designer breeds. You're not correct in suggesting that this is not a major source of unwanted animals in this country. They are. They also lead people to think that BYB could be profitable - and that any old mix will do.

Depending on which state you're in, you might want to lobby your State government in tightening their companion animal legislation, so that people cannot sell undesexed animals to people who are not registered (as in with the canine council or cat fancier association) and microchipped. And severely penalising people who do, with the funds raised from those penalties being passed on to our animal rescue societies and associations.

[la di dah]

I think I've seen that email go around since the mid-90s and to be perfectly honest I think its an American writing and addressing the American homeless pet situation and it is DEAD EASY to get a purebred pedigree homeless dog in the States. Even pretty rare breeds, if you're willing to wait and not go "I need it today" - though if you need a popular breed today, you can be obliged.

My family's had two Akitas and a Bouvier des Flanders through rescue - the Bouvier had a temperment issue due to maltreatment (not mean, but damaged) but the Akitas were only too big, sheddy, and inconvenient - not that Akitas are ever small and non-shedding. My mom had a poodle before I was born - toy poodle, non-shedding. It's easy to get oodles of all sizes, from retriever crosses down to toys.

The 2nd Akita did have rampant kennel cough and nearly died - my mom knew he was sick but she had loved the 1st rescue Akita so much she couldn't walk away. If they wanted a 3rd or 4th (the 2nd Akita has passed away at age 12) I could probably find them one with a few minutes of Googling. If they needed one TODAY I might have to get them a Chow, which is similar temperment but smaller and more popular, but I doubt it would be that long.

That said, here in Oz, I have longingly window-shopped rescue sites, and I've seen plenty of oodles and poodles, just not puppies.

[MrsLexiK]

As the owner of a pedigree pup, I find these kind of letters really manipulative. I have no intention of breeding, but I find it really disingenous that all breeders are being lumped in together or that I should be made to feel guilty for buying a pedigree pup.

Agree, (but at present I don't have a pedigree - well his papers say he is but I think the original owner 2 owners back got dupped on that one!) But perhaps I am bitter considering different members of my wonderful family are wonderful breeders who do not deserve to be lumped together. The interview process they put you through - I think it would be easier to get into the CIA lol. There are breeds that I wouldn't buy from a shelter (but would consider from a rescue group where the animal has been fostered) where I would prefer the actual breeder and to have the breed as a pub. I also think this is an American letter as in Australia we have a lot of no kill shelters and I am unsure we would have enough pets in the country to have shelters have 10 million killed each year (but perhaps I am wrong it does happen occasionally)

[*Spikey*]

Not this time MrsLexiK, last known stats put animal deaths around 250,000 - 350,000 in Australia.

I think I read somewhere that the number of euthanised animals dropped last year for the first time.

[Freddie'sMum]

I always thought that buying from a registered breeder (here in Aussie) was much more ethical than buying from a pet shop in a mall.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[againagain]

Depends on the Breeder Freddies Mum.

There are some mighty dodgy, horrid, mongrel pedigree breeders out there and the process to get them looked in to is not easy at all, even if they breech their code of ethics