There’s a lot of controversy over an emotional topic like animal welfare, especially when we’re talking about animals that are normally pets. At first everyone has the inclination to roll up their sleeves and help, touch the animals, and somehow get some of that amazing magic they possess to make each of us feel better for being near them.
A dog who is a total stranger one minute, makes us smile and soft-hearted the next as we hold their shivering body next to us. We believe we are comforting them, when in truth they are just as frightened of us as they are of the large dog in the kennel across the way, or the one beneath them they always hear and feel going in circles, but rarely see.
So you take this dog out of the kennel, take him for a walk, give him moments of love and compassion, but inevitably you’ll have to return this dog to the same kennel they were extracted from. It’s just like people in prison getting a chance to walk in the yard, they aren’t really free, but we give them this time believing it helps.
Then there are the dogs you can’t take out, the ones so scared they go to the back of their small cell and look at you with total mistrust, even growling or barking with a clear warning “I don’t trust your kind.” Those, you have to leave in the kennel, those are the ones that may never leave the shelter, and will die there.
Of course there are the special cases, the ones you email your friends about, the ones you check on as soon as you get there to volunteer, the ‘projects’ you take on to get them out of that place. The ones that fill your heart and drain it at the same time. They make you wonder about reincarnation.
And then there are the ones you never noticed at all. The dark pit bulls in the lower kennels where it’s so dark you can’t see them fully. The old ones crossbred in such a way they have no distinct breed whatsoever, nothing about them jumps out at you, and one day when they are gone and another dog is in their kennel, you can’t recall who was there prior.
So you vow to come back, you try to spend more time the next visit, get to more dogs, but it will never be enough. Because we’re dealing with the symptoms and not the disease, animal shelters will never go away and dogs will always be there, and they will continue to die there.
The disease is simply greed. We want affection, we get a dog. We want attention, we get a dog. We want companionship, we get a dog. We want status, we get a dog. How often does anyone say they want a dog because they want to give up hours of their lives, part of their paycheck, adjust their lifestyle, and commit to an animal for the rest of their natural life?!
Well, some of us say this, but so many more do not. The man who came in with his wife and child and wanted all four puppies from a litter, until I said they ALL must be spayed and neutered. He wasn’t as interested when the dogs couldn’t carry the status of being unaltered. The young couple who came late and stayed past closing, sticking their fingers in all the cages taking germs from one dog to another, and then said they really hadn’t looked into which breed would work with their home life, just they wanted a good looking dog that didn’t need too much attention and wouldn’t take too much time. I’m sure their hearts were in the right place, but where were their heads?
Then there was the mother and son who brought in their own small dog to surrender. The dog was eliminating inside the house. “Have you taken the dog to any training classes?” “Have you read any books or articles on how to housetrain your dog?” “Have you asked any of your friends if they’d be willing to take your dog?” “Do you know that this shelter is a high-kill shelter and it’s possible (read: likely) your dog will be euthanized?” But $10 later and they surrendered their dog without having taken any of those steps, just producing one excuse after another for why they hadn’t really taken care of their dog at all. I guess they expected the dog to know everything that they themselves had been taught at one point in their lives.
Will this household receive a large red X painted on their roof to say “Don’t allow another dog here, they don’t know what they are doing!” Of course not. They will probably get another dog, and another, and continue disposing of them like a shirt bought on sale that wrinkled after washing.
WE are the problem for dogs and cats, not the other way around. WE as a culture have an epidemic pet overpopulation problem that few people are aware of, or blind to, and a few are trying to fight, but we won’t win this battle until WE realize we are the cause.
Of the six people I saw today at the shelter that aren’t good owners, aren’t prepared to be owners, and are causing dogs to be euthanized instead of take responsibility for their own actions, there was one man who adopted a dog who said what anyone should expect to hear “It’s like taking home a baby!”
So one in seven people may make good dog owners. That number seems about right given the number of dogs and cats that come into the shelter. One in seven people are good for dogs and cats on this planet, and the other six aren’t. Maybe the most significant thing any of us can do is to dissuade friends, coworkers, and family members from getting dogs or cats until they’ve proven their worth. Maybe anyone who is deemed a responsible pet owner should volunteer to do in-home inspections prior to any adoptions being approved. Maybe this would cause huge numbers of dogs and cats to be euthanized because we wouldn’t adopt to those six people. But maybe that’s what it takes to stem the tide of disease.
As I write this at nearly midnight, my own beautiful Lab has woke from bed and come to see why I’m not there. When I say “It’s ok, you can go to bed.” She looks at me, stretches, turns her head to look back at the bedroom, and then turns to face me. She sits on her haunches and stares at me to say “Not without you.” See, that’s what my dog will do for me, anything. And that’s what I’ll do for her, anything. And that’s what anyone who brings a dog or cat into their world should be willing to commit – to anything. If you don’t hear someone utter these words, they aren’t ready and they aren’t fit. They don’t deserve a dog or cat, and no dog or cat deserves to be with them.
We should talk about pet ownership with the same passion we discuss Racism, Sexism, Classism...maybe it should be called Petism. It's discrimination against pets.
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