Save Dogs

Tears In Heaven

I've dreaded this entry because it's so damn depressing.
I wrote about a dog last month that we had treated for a severe allergic reaction (and spayed the same day).  During the spay procedure the veterinarian found out that she was pregnant and had to abort her litter.

Her owner brought her back to the vet clinic last week and this time the dog was blind and having random seizures.  She looked horrible and shaky.  We debated whether it was even worth the suffering to have this dog treated--she'd been through so much in her short 7 years.  It seems the allergic reaction that had swelled her head also caused some kind of brain trauma.

Ultimately, we decided to euthanize this poor sweet dog; she was just a shell of the dog that she used to be.  To keep her alive and in pain seemed cruel.  It was the first time I have ever watched a dog be "put down".  She was very calm as she drifted to sleep from the first injection the vet gave her and soon after the second injection her heart stopped beating.

I'm just thankful that I've been able to save 5 dogs from this fate.

_Jon_

"Beyond the door there’s peace I’m sure
And I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven..."

Twilight Zone

It was another strange day, driving around from place to place.  I felt like all the dogs are dying.

First, Cindy and I went down to the Carson shelter to help someone bail a Shepard mix from the pound.  While we were there, we saw a family dragging a young dog to dump it at the pound.  It is called an "owner turn-in" and most of the dogs are euthanized within 5 days or sooner.  Cindy said something like, "Do you know that they'll kill your dog in five days?"  And they were shaking their heads and saying, "Oh, this is a good dog.  They won't kill it".  The mother of the family said the dog was sick and so they didn't want it.  To me the dog looked like it was in great health...it probably had a minor case of kennel cough like every other dog that comes out of the shelter.  We only talked to the mother because the dad had his hands full with his toddlers (who were dressed in dirty clothes and looked miserable).  Then the woman said, "Since you are on a crusade, why don't you adopt the dog?"  I wanted to punch her in the face.  I wanted to run over like the Tasmanian devil and pull her hair out.  Cindy said, "Well, I have too many dogs but I can help you get medicine and get the dog better."  The smug ugly foul-mouthed mother says, "Nah, that's okay.  Maybe you can just make a donation."  And then she dragged her dog into the shelter, where it will probably die in a lonely and cold backroom five days from now.

Our second stop on this great journey today was a house near Lomita where 11 or 12 Akitas were left by their owner when he checked into a rehab clinic.  They were starving and filthy and their only caretaker is a guy who has lived in the alcoholic's garage for a couple of years.  He is taking horrible care of the dogs--but the only alternative is to send them to the shelter where they will certainly die.  Most of them are senior dogs and will be nearly impossible to adopt out.  One dog was in the garage and seemed paralyzed, so we took him straight to the animal emergency room.  He was in such bad shape that they euthanized him today.  I wanted to take another dog from the house named "Widget" with me, but I don't have the money or the space for him.  I called a very well-known rescuer who is rich, but she brushed me off.  She doesn't do favors--she only asks for favors.

I feel a bit helpless, but the rescue world is like the Twilight Zone.  There are so many ignorant people, both compassionless and amoral, who will do anything cruel to an animal and not give it a second thought.  No matter how many dogs we pull out of shelters, we can't erase those people.  It's so hard to have the sadness for the animals not turn into pure rage toward those who victimize animals...

I guess I did the best I could today.

Giving Up On Your Dog

The following is a post that I found on Craigslist a few months back and it sums up the every day struggle of rescuers who deal with owners that give up their pets.

Hush Little Baby

Happy News:

Talula is coming home tomorrow.  She's been in boarding (and with Cindy) since I pulled her from South LA shelter and now she's finally ready to come home.  I've been visiting her everyday for at least 3-4 hours, but she needs to be house-trained and acclimate to a true home environment.  Lulu is on the generic version of Clomicalm, which is called clomipramine.  Her yodeling is cute for awhile, but then it becomes a constant crying.  I'll keep everyone updated on her progress.  The clomipramine has definitely curbed her anxiety about abandonment and the general distress that she's had adjusting to a new environment.
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Sad News:

Cindy helped a low-income family's dog today after it sustained a bad allergic reaction to an insect bite.  Cindy has spayed/neutered three dogs from this family in the past.  Today they brought in yet another dog and she had to be spayed (as well as treated for her allergic reaction).  During her spay surgery, the vet found her to be in the third stage of pregnancy, but the only option at that point was to abort the litter.  Cindy felt like she was responsible for their deaths, which is horrible because all she wanted was to prevent an unwanted litter in the first place.  How do we spread the word about free spay/neuter surgeries for low-income families???

Feeling For The Dogs

Dog adoptions and conventions are particularly emotional experiences for me.  Saturday and Sunday I spent all day with Goldie, while hundreds (or thousands?) of people walked by our rescue group's booth at the Pet Expo.  I'm always happy to answer questions about the dogs.  Kids like to pet them and some folks like to take a glance and move on.  It's hard sometimes not to feel rejected when people breeze by the dogs as if they weren't there.  I'll feel like an idiot saying, "This is Goldie..." and before I finish, the person looks away and is gone.

Internet Hunting

Here is an article from the Humane Society of the United States about "Internet Hunting".  People can now kill real animals via their computer by shooting remote rifles.  Hideous and yet not unexpected in this great "free" country of ours.

WASHINGTON - In the wake of news reports that so-called "Internet hunting" has fired its first shot and claimed its first victim, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is calling on state lawmakers and Congress to respond quickly and ban the appalling activity.

The scheme operates like a computer game where a person can point and shoot a rifle via remote control, though the rifle is real and so is the killing of animals in what amounts to a video-monitored canned hunt. The desktop hunter pays several hundred dollars or several thousand, not including taxidermy and shipping of his trophy.