My first day of blogging in order to share what life is like in an animal rescue went something like this:
The shelter contacted me about finding a foster home for a cute little two year old Lhasa mix female who failed the standardized temperament test because she showed some food aggression. They also said that otherwise, she’s a really nice dog. Sadly, the shelter doesn’t have the time or space to wait and see if her food aggression might be related to how long the dog was on her own (and how hungry she might be), or whether the dog is so terrified in the shelter environment that she is acting differently than she would in an otherwise quiet home. luckily, most times we find the dogs are very different outside of the shelter. Finding new foster homes is always a challenge, and our current fosters are all full, so you know the drill, call me if you might be interested in fostering this little girl for us. Be prepared for the fact that we will need to match the foster dog to the foster family just like we would with a potential adopter.
I was also contacted by a breed rescue organization who isn’t able to take in a dog who was adopted out to a family by another rescue, but the dog was in such poor health when the family adopted it, that they don’t want to send him back to that original rescue. The family wants to re-home the dog because it’s a JRT mix, and doesn’t do well with their young children…go figure. JRT’s are pretty high up on the national bite statistics list (umm, try number four). This doesn’t mean they can’t be great dogs in the right home, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out that a home with small children isn’t a good idea for a breed that bounces off the walls with so much hyper energy it nearly buzzes. No, scratch that, it’s freaking ridiculous! Personally, I blame the rescue organization who adopted out the dog to this family in the first place, rather than the family, who didn’t know better and should have been guided by an organization who wanted the family and the dog to be successful, not just to adopt out a dog!
Ordinarily we save our precious foster space so we can take dogs who are failing or in need of medical care from the county shelters. We don’t take any owner relinquished dogs because we are trying to help people figure out how to overcome hurdles and keep their commitments to their pets, rather than giving them up during any inconvenience or life change. But, my heart feels badly for this situation, which should never have happened in the first place. Should we have to be responsible for another rescue making a poor decision? Not really, but it isn’t the first time we’ve been put in this situation, so here we go again. Looking for a foster for a JRT mix. Sigh…
There was also an email from someone who adopted a sweet young female Pit bull from a shelter in NY. The dog tested “no concerns”, but they live on a farm and the dog has killed a chicken and apparently went after a pigmy goat. She’s great with the family and their other dog, but once again…hello, what do you know? A dog with a high prey drive was adopted to a home in the country and is going after small farm animals? Hmmm.
So that about wraps up my bitchfest for today. Oh, and that was from just a few of the emails I received. I also got one about a missing 12 year old cat, etc. Hopefully it isn’t too depressing for you, but if it was, ha! Welcome to my world. Honestly, some days can be pretty entertaining, and luckily, we do get some phenomenal happy endings. I promise I’ll share all of those, too.
So that we can end on a good note, we’ve helped turned lemons into lemonade. Back in May, one of our volunteers alerted me to a “rescue” group called Tiny Paws Puppy Rescue, who was advertising their rescued puppies on Craigslist. Our volunteer had exchanged with them and asked if the puppies were spayed or neutered before they “adopted” them out for $350-$400. They got kinda defensive and started making claims that involved the county shelter, so our volunteer forwarded the exchange to me to see if what they were telling her was true. I was positive the claims were untrue, so I forwarded the exchange to the county so they would be aware of this group out there talking smack about them. A couple of weeks later, the same Tiny Paws Puppy Rescue contacted me looking for a new vet for their organization. Turns out the vet they were using at the time didn’t appreciate what was happening with their pups and dumped them.
Meanwhile, Debbie Wood and a lot of other people at the county, along with KATU reporter Dan Tilkin, were doing a lot of reseach about TPPR. Turns out, not only were they not a rescue, or a registered non-profit, but they were using references from veterinarians who don’t exist, and selling puppies without vaccines (who later came down with parvo). They estimated from the number of adoptions the group had posted on their website since May, 2010, that these people sold $70k of puppies (189). They claimed on their (now defunct) site that most of the puppies were from raids in various counties, but it was confirmed that none of the puppies came from any of those counties. Holy puppy crap!! They were probably getting free or inexpensive puppies posted on Craigslist, then selling them without spay/neuter or vaccines under the facade of being a rescue. F*%^#r’s! Rotten, greedy, and exploitive! Their existence made other rescues who are working so hard to have an impact, look badly.
The good news is that thanks to a handful of perservering people, Tiny Paws Puppy Rescue no longer exists. Our hope is that they won’t move somewhere else and start their whole money making scheme again. You can view the KATU story here:
http://www.katu.com/news/local/104136279.html?tab=video
Judging by the location and the way they are broken, our guess is that someone stepped on him, which isn’t really hard to imagine since he is so needy that he runs directly under your feet while you are walking (thus causing me to quickly re-train myself to shuffle my feet around the house). Whomever stepped on him probably did the math and figured the vet bill would be much more than the cost of a new puppy, so off to the shelter he went (rotten SOB’s!) Poor little guy! He remains a trooper and has an incredible agility considering the weight of his casted front limb, which is half again the size of his entire body! He hops around on all three, and happily makes friends with all of the dogs (and cats) who come around to visit.
Again, name ideas anyone?
