Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
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Canada
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Bulldozer and Blossom
This is so Sad, No Animal Should Ever Be Treated Like This

:(
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 too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a Great Dane 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 freaks out and puts on the brakes 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 pets 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 farther 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 want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT. ~ Author unknown
 

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Vikinggirl

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Bulldozer and Blossom
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  • #3
nice reminder to everyone.

The truth is shocking and painful.

its so unfortunate that we need a reminder, I'll never understand how you just throw away a pet that you chose and bought to become part of your family, and then just decide they aren't cute anymore, got too big?, you didn't have time for it, you suddenly developed an allergy, you whatever?? Did you not know these things before you got this innocent animal who depends on you?
 

helsonwheels

Well-known member
Jan 10, 2016
13,066
2,370
Alberta
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Nyala, Jake (R.I.P. Duke)
Dont get me wrong, I agree 200% with your post. But sad to say we can't put everyone in the same boat. Ive seen numerous times especially in nursing homes elders/seniors have no choice cause homes don't want pets, or hospitals wont keep pets cause the elderly has to be hospitalized weeks or months and have no one to take care of their pets. Ive seen children end up in hospitals cause of bad owners buying dogs when they should wait for the children are older to understand what pets are, but what are you going to do? Cant keep the dog for children's safety. Yes owners need a brain for sure and not very educated. You work in shelters, you see it all, doctors, nurses works in hospitals, they see it all, I worked 20 years in the education field mostly with teens and trust me ive seen it all. Parent's strapping little children 5-7 yrs old with marks whipped across their waist, children not eating cause mom is high on coke or dad beating mom.... What im trying to say is the "HUMAN" species dont all get it. Like you said, some breeders should maybe ask more questions. Australia has a huge issue with dogs gone wild. Dogs left in the wild mixing with their dingos. They lost control on that problem and not as if Australia is a third world country.
I worked with families that fostered children for weeks, months years and believe me these families will tell you it's "pickup the pieces" cause 90% of the time you have no clue what that child has gone through. Exactly like dogs from shelters. You just dont know what you're getting. Adoption is not for everyone. You need a lot of patience, caring, be there 24/7 and learn to breathe. Again, I agree with your post all the way but it's the human that has to be educated and getting their pets fix. :)
 

Frith

New member
Mar 15, 2016
291
11
ME
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USA
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Frith
I was a kennel worker at a kill shelter a long time ago. I was young and needed money--I got paid $.50/hour more to work on Sundays and $1.00/hr more to learn how to euthanize (this was a Sunday task). The truth:

Surrendered dogs--we looked at breed, size and color. Black dogs died right away. Old dogs (over 3-4) died right away. Big dogs (over 40 pounds) died right away. Dogs without training died right away. Non-spayed or neutered dogs died right away. Anything remotely pitbull died right away. Any dog that looked sick or wormy died right away.

Litters of puppies were sorted in the same manner--but we would save one black one (sometimes two) to set off the colors of the others, and to make it look unique--to give one black dog a chance. Their mother always died. We didn't keep most surrendered dogs longer than 5 minutes. They never saw the kennels to get adopted. We once had an owner return for their dog an hour later, and had to tell them the dog was gone--we did not say how.

Strays--by law we kept these for 72 hours. Then sorted them by the above criteria.

Euthanizing--yep--sometimes the dogs react to the stuff and go into convulsions. About 5%--generally larger dogs, and dogs that wanted to live--you could see it in their face. Yep--dogs got thrown into the freezer--we had garbage cans heaped full of dogs. The average was 100 dogs per week (this was in the 80's). We were a small shelter for a city of about 70,000. I was good at euthanizing, because dogs are calm around me--so, I got to do it a lot. I hated my job, and lasted about a year.

I won't get into the cats.
 

Frith

New member
Mar 15, 2016
291
11
ME
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Frith
Dont get me wrong, I agree 200% with your post. But sad to say we can't put everyone in the same boat. Ive seen numerous times especially in nursing homes elders/seniors have no choice cause homes don't want pets, or hospitals wont keep pets cause the elderly has to be hospitalized weeks or months and have no one to take care of their pets. Ive seen children end up in hospitals cause of bad owners buying dogs when they should wait for the children are older to understand what pets are, but what are you going to do? Cant keep the dog for children's safety. Yes owners need a brain for sure and not very educated. You work in shelters, you see it all, doctors, nurses works in hospitals, they see it all, I worked 20 years in the education field mostly with teens and trust me ive seen it all. Parent's strapping little children 5-7 yrs old with marks whipped across their waist, children not eating cause mom is high on coke or dad beating mom.... What im trying to say is the "HUMAN" species dont all get it. Like you said, some breeders should maybe ask more questions. Australia has a huge issue with dogs gone wild. Dogs left in the wild mixing with their dingos. They lost control on that problem and not as if Australia is a third world country.
I worked with families that fostered children for weeks, months years and believe me these families will tell you it's "pickup the pieces" cause 90% of the time you have no clue what that child has gone through. Exactly like dogs from shelters. You just dont know what you're getting. Adoption is not for everyone. You need a lot of patience, caring, be there 24/7 and learn to breathe. Again, I agree with your post all the way but it's the human that has to be educated and getting their pets fix. :)

Training and education are key--for both people and dogs. Our neighbor boy was killed by a pack of domestic neighborhood dogs. He was in kindergarten and in his front yard. All 7 dogs were euthanized.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Jul 28, 2011
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Gilbertsville, PA
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Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)

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