Please enlighten me - Page 3

Oh, and for those of you who love Pit Bulls/Bully Breeds. You may want to get on the spay-neuter bandwagon. 
It is just an unbelieveable shame how many of these dogs are in shelters and pounds that will never see another day.
I was just at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control about a week and a half ago. They can house about 400 dogs there.
75% of the dogs there are Pit Bulls/Bully Breeds and Pit Bull Mixes. On average 30 per day are put down. Just about every one of them that is euthanised is a Pit/Pit Mix. There are no homes for these dogs and it is an epidemic all across this country. 2nd in line is the Black Lab/Mixes. Same thing. People need to step up and stop this. It is the dirty little secret of the U.S. and the scourge of our country.

I will never jump on that bandwagon. The ignornant masses who are causing the majority of the problem are not going to stop because, I, a responsible person who has never had an accidental litter, decided to compromise the health of my personal dogs. If everyone had that mentality- doing the best they can for their own at all costs- how many would be in shelters? My guess is a lot fewer!  You are not going to change human nature. But you don't have to enable it, either. Rescue and no-kill shelters just give these lazy morons an "out" and clear their conscience about dumping their dog. 

People only go out "looking" for rescues because they feel sorry for them and want to help and they buy into the sales propaganda of the rescue phenomenon- rescue is good and breeders are bad. No one says to themselves, "Self, I think rather than buy a well-bred, healthy dog of known temperament and genetics, I think it would be more fun to go drag home some mutt with no history, likely poor healthcare, hidden temperament issues, and hopefully, it will even be sick when I get it, so I can spend more on it than if I had just bought from a breeder. Yay! That sounds like a blast!"  If the shelters/rescues weren't full all the time, the cycle would have to stop, and the weight would fall on breeders to become more responsible ABOUT WHO THEY SELL TO. If you produce really good quality dogs and limit your sales to really good quality homes, the "rehoming" needs drop dramatically. Of course this economy is not helping the situation currently, as formerly responsible owners are being forced to give up their pets due to financial strains, evictions, foreclosures, etc. 

As far as Pits and Labs, well duh. They are all over the place. Look at the best guesses for breed populations.  I wouldn't call most of them Pits, but that's a whole 'nother argument. Look at the types of people who want those type Pits. Is it any surprise they are irresponsible and just plain callous and  stupid? And Labs? Every "family" wants a bounding Labrador for their pretty little picture w/the picket fence and all that. They're easy to handle (so they think), low energy (still not sure where that misconception comes from) and they give almost no thought to getting one. Big surprise, it turns into an obnoxious teenager and they give it to a rescue. Then they go out and get another dog, sure there was something wrong with the dog and not THEM. It's like a recycling program that just makes more of a mess than was there before. Society as a whole has slipped way down the Personal Responsibility Ladder. It's sad for the dogs, but maybe if they truly had no one to clean up their mess, they would be forced to be more responsible. Putting a dog down is not an easy thing. They (hopefully) wouldn't be able to turn such a blind eye to their role in it if they had to do it themselves and not leave that burden on some volunteer and tell themselves that the dog got a great home and they did it a favor. 

I have an old (not sure how old, but microchip has been in for 11years) mutt I dragged home after his family was foreclosed on. I don't feel sorry for them. He was skinny (and if I say a dog is skinny, it's damn emaciated- everyone thinks my dogs are too thin), which they attributed to their other dog not letting him eat (gee, they must not have had doors), his nails were literally 2" long and I am still, since August, working on that, and his teeth were horrendous. My guess was that he wasn't vaccinated much though, so that was a plus, lol, so I decided to bring him home.  Sure, he lucked out and has a great life, but do you think that those people were really deeply emotionally affected by that? Leaving their dog at a a/c facility at 11+ years of age? Somehow, I doubt it. My guess is they get new dogs (he was dumped w/a Pit Mix, much younger) when they get a new house and they may or may not keep them. If the responsibility were on THEM to find him a home or put him down, they just might think about it a little harder next time. It's just too easy in this country to dump a dog. 

I'm not sure what to think about the perspective that folks who adopt dogs from shelters are somehow poor decision makers. My parents were both orphaned at a very young age and from what limited comments they make about their childhoods - it was awful in the various orphanages/foster care situations that they grew up in. Their experiences were a heavy influence on their choice to adopt our childhood dog (a lab) from the local shelter and their recent request that my husband and I adopt a GSD from a shelter/rescue when we talked about getting a second one. And yes....the childhood lab had issues from abuse when we brought her home but my dad said:  "Who doesn't have emotional baggage?". *shrug* There are many perspectives on this issue.

That's not it at all, Laura. I don't know where I said people who rescue a dog have poor decision-making skills.   I have had several "pound puppies."  The point was that people are compelled to rescue BECAUSE the situation is so bad. Your parents are a perfect example of my point, actually. 

Some of those places make me sick... take our "Humane" Society for example. I won't go into detail about one experience with them, but after that, I decided I was going to try and take the "higher road" and volunteer there. I lasted about 6 months before I just couldn't take it anymore. They advertise as 'no-kill',  however I found out that was anything but true... and while they whine about donations, hold fundraisers upon fundraisers, have bake sales every weekend, even get donations through some schools where kids try to raise money for them, charge yearly liscensing fees ($50 for unaltered dogs, $15 for altered, I think... and believe cats are the same), on top of that the adoption fees are nuts (if they do happen to get a papered dog in, they are outrageous... and a few months ago I saw they had a Saint Bernard/Great Pyrenees and wanted $950 to adopt her out) and what really is the kicker is that they can afford all of this fancy landscaping and these goofy "art" statues, and this solid marble fountain, yet they "non-profit" and can't afford to expand their building (which there is plenty of room to do... hello, this is Nebraska) to get more room for animals so they wouldn't have to kill 'em. I think last summer, they head guy there was on the news saying they had to euthanize 200 some cats because of space. I went in there the next day and probably 3/4 of their adoption cages were EMPTY. Riddle me that.

When I volunteered there I was completely appalled. Not one of the employees cared about the animals, and few of the other volunteers did. I remember once, there was this litter of kittens - had already been fixed, vaccinated, etc. etc., but they had URI's and were to be put to sleep. Perfectly healthy other than a little runny nose. Luckily one of the other volunteers busted them out and fostered them until they were better.

Another example is about two years ago, heard this on the radio, some guy's dog had died so he buried him in his backyard or whatever. Come liscensing time, the HS was freaking out on him trying to charge him late fees and crap. Long story short, they wound up going to his house, forcing him to dig up his dead dog so they had proof. Just terrible.

Sad to read some of your thoughts about what most ethical rescues do. Over the years Ive come across a questionable rescue or two but the ones I work with are a great group of people. Even in my widest thoughts Jenn I cant agree with what you said. The last dog I placed was an outstanding English Mastiff I pulled from the shelter at 7 months old. She was the first dog I actually was able to break even on since the three prior died on me. I guess thats the greed your talking about. Im getting ready to take in some rabbits from a hoarding situation. Cant see where Ill make much there either. I still have the last rabbit that I havent been able to get adopted. At a $40.00 adoption fee, I see dollar signs you know.

Rescues aren't perfect. Most of us have full time jobs and families. We do the best we can. Maybe instead of bashing rescues, people should be pointing fingers at the breeders who 9 out of 10 that I have personally talked to WONT take back their own this includes some big kennels. I would be delighted to go out of biz for that.

You want personal responsibility then maybe we ALL need to do our share. And if that means that breeders stop producing puppies for a year then so be it. I always hear that "Its not my responsibility" Guess what its everyone's responsibility. When everyone gets that then maybe things will change.

I guess our HS ruined me when it comes to rescues and such. They advertise as "no-kill" and "non-profit", yet probably 14 out of 15 animals that come in don't make it to the adoption floors, and they blow their cash on stupid things like that fountain I mentioned rather than spending it on more space or something that would at least benefit the poor animals that go in there. 

I'm sure there are some good ones out there, and I wish there were more, but have yet to find one.

Has anyone ever seen that "Last Chance Highway" on Animal Planet? Now THAT is a rescue... that was one of my favorite shows and am still bummed it got canceled. I would love to be able to do something like that.

 Bhaugh, your post to is somewhat confusing. I seriously don't know what part you're referring to when you say in your wildest dreams you can't agree with me. I don't need everyone to agree with me (shocking, I know, lol) but I think there is a whole other side to this dirty little secret as Steve called it.  

Shitty breeders  selling to shitty people will never take them back. They will always end up dead or in some shelter. Selfish people will always do selfish deeds at the expense of others. What shall I do about that? I love how the tables turn- you (collective you, not personal to anyone) don't want to be lumped in with shitty rescues, yet you love to try and lump me in with shitty breeders who won't take their dogs back. Sorry- it goes both ways. As I tell all the rescue nazis who love to criticize me for allowing my dogs to possess all body parts they came into this world with, when one of mine shows up on your doorstep, I'll eat crow. Until then, drop it. We all know idiot owners are the biggest part of the overpopulation problem. You can't control everything people do by legislation. Like BSL or dangerous dog laws; the people who would comply are not the offenders anyway. Here, I'm speaking of the spay/neuter bandwagon that it was suggested I jump on, being a Pit Bull enthusiast.

But back to your (persona, Bhaugh) suggestion that breeders stop breeding for a year....How many people waiting for a dog from me would just say "Oh, ok. You're not breeding due to overpopulation? How wonderful and responsible of you. Fantastic! I'll just get my new pup from the shelter."     That argument of not breeding just doesn't hold water.

And I love the assumption that those of us who dare criticize the rescue system must not know anything about it. Wrong. The people I talk to about it used to be in it, which is where they learned what it's really about. Look how many rescues crop up all over the place every day. By now, there should be no homeless animals, right? Wrong. We have more than ever! Why is that, if rescues are such a great solution to overpopulation?

p.s. I still rescue when the need arises. You know who I take in? The ones that the rescues turn down.

I don't know where this is from, but, I like the approach the pastor of this church is taking:

Hell, yes! 

Is that appropriate to say about a church sign? LOL