Las Vegas shelter kills 1,000 dogs, cats - Page 1

There should be ino reason for this.. just sick

Where is your source and what was the reason?

large outbreak of parvo and distemper in the shelter

Sorry, here is the link... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17185133/wid/11915773?GT1=9033

There is a serious outbreak of canine distemper, canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia in the shelter animal population. How many animals have been euthanized is unknown. How they actually run the facility remains to be seen, but even in the best of circumstances, it is extremely difficult to prevent animals from contracting disease when they are in a shelter environment. The fact of the matter is that society does not care enough to properly fund buildings that are capable of safely housing large amounts of animals, most of which are stray. Vaccinating an animal upon arrival really does little to prevent disease because it takes time to build immunity and sometimes multiple vaccinations. If an animal comes in that is not yet symptomatic, a given disease can be out of control before one knows it. Shelters rarely have adequate staffing, or an environment that is less stressful. Nor do most shelters have the ability to properly ventilate areas and keep surfaces disinfected. In my own state, our shelters are significantly underfunded and they do the best job they can given the poor resources and funding. Sometimes it is easy to blame the shelters, when in fact, the blame rests with all of us. And that includes all who are breeding litter after litter after litter and telling all the rest of us that their dogs never will end up in a shelter. Further, if people would spay and neuter their animals, keep them contained and be sure they were properly vaccinated, there would be fewer outbreaks of disease. Most of these diseases are highly contagious and once they are present in a facility, they are very difficult to eradicate. This is the sad truth......

As a Shelter Manager, I absolutely agree with what Hodie says. Everything she has stated is the absolute truth, Vaccines offer the shelter dogs little to no protection and pre exposed animals arrive every day, though they are not yet symptomatic they are "carrying" the Virus/Bacteria and spreading it to every animal they come into contact with, or when people come in and pet this one then pet 5 others and so on and so on. Under Staffed, and Under Built, is the typical norm. Yet for some reason, the general public wants to lay blame on anyone but themselves, who's the target, well.. I'm painted red as a manager. I'm easy to blame as it must be my fault that joe blow did not vaccinate his pup then allowed to run all over and be exposed to god knows what and then allowed the PD to pick it up and bring it to my shelter so it can expose everything else. Ya that makes sense to me.

As sad as it is to see even one dog or cat killed what else can we do? Thousands of litter announcements fill every newpaper classifieds every day, internet has thousands of pups for sale. I see people every weekend in parking lots selling pups and so on. Most of these dogs will live 10 to 15 years. Not even counting all the puppy mills, people all trying to make money. Actually only a small percent of responsible dog breeders who actually improve any breed of dog.

It's a problem that's so far beyond out of control. I went with another rescuer to our local shelter last week and these dogs were packed in kennels like sardines. Fights were breaking out, the dogs are dirty, cramped, stressed, and sick. Rescues are scrambling trying to pull what dogs they can, everyone is full and all of their resources are max'd out as it is. I was just glad to be able to bail out 7 very adoptable dogs out that were scheduled to be euth'd that same day. My friend organized 30+ dogs to be pulled and some dispersed to other rescues. And over 40 more dogs were brought in that same day *sigh* It's very overwhelming.

"And that includes all who are breeding litter after litter after litter and telling all the rest of us that their dogs never will end up in a shelter." Hodie, I know you're probably one of the more educated people on this site. (I've read her bio.) and you've been in the business for sometime as an dog owner, breeder, kennel owner and I believe you run a rescue. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) How long have you been doing this and in that time how many litters would you say you've produced? If you're willing to share.

Spook, I have had GSDs for about 40 years. In all that time I have had a total of three litters, one of which had a single pup. To this day I own all but two of the dogs who came from all those 3 litters. Why? Because I do GSD rescue and see how often people sell to just anyone who comes along and the dog ends up in trouble, or worse. Every month I get between 10 and 15 emails and phone calls from people who want to dump their GSD. Most of the breeders who bred these dogs, when they can be identified (and often they can be) say they will take their dogs back, but in reality, always have some lame excuse. I want to breed one of my outstanding females this spring and pray to hell I can find suitable homes for them. If not, I am commited to keeping the pups. I have built and own a state of the art boarding and training facility, just coming up on three years now. I now own some excellent examples of the breed. We are active in sport and SV conformation. I still have several GSDs in my custody who are rescues and who will live their entire life here as they are not adoptable because of age or other reasons. I even have a rottie mix who had to have a hip replacement because he was hit by a car and no rescue could hold him so I ended up taking and caring for him. In the last 10 years or so of doing rescue, I probably have placed more than 400 GSDs, and I had a bit more than 1/4 of those in my possession at any given time. One year alone 5 years ago I spent more than $21,000 out of my pocket on rescue vet bills!! I can no longer do that as I am now getting old and must look to be able to care for myself in my old age. Business is building, but it is slow and I struggle to meet expenses. I have stopped accepting new rescues because I will not simply adopt them out to the first person who comes along. I have developed very strict guidelines for potential adopters, and I am no less rigorous in any dog/pup I would think to sell. I still will place dogs, assuming I can get the current owner to hold the dog long enough to find a suitable adopter. I turn down about 60% of all people who apply because they do not meet my strict guidelines. And once I am consistently meeting expenses and can afford some help, I hope to be able to accept more GSDs, but the need is overwhelming and one of my best qualities is that I have the ability to say "no" I cannot take a dog. As far as my education goes, not sure it has anything to do with it. For me, It does have to do with loving GSDs, wanting to be a good ambassador for the breed, seeing the dark and bumpy road we are heading down as GSD lovers and dog owners in general, and seeing that unfortunately, I cannot stop the train....but I do what I can. Not sure why you asked, but I hope that answers your question.