Letters to the Editor
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Even your descriptions of your animals belie your insanity
Dogs are dogs they do not have human thought or emotions. They do not think or feel like you do. Unless you are a dog too. Sorry. It just makes clear you can't distinguish between people and animals. Well the cute furry ones at any rate. Octopi are frightfully smart. Scary smart. But they're not cuddly - oh well sucks to be them. On the other hand bears are little more than furry sharks with good PR.
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Why go through shelters at all?
Puppies and dogs are everywhere! They are a naturally occurring phenomenon. You don't need shelters or stores. Word of mouth usually does the trick around here. There seems to be an endless supply of pregnant black labs and sled dogs of all kinds.
If you do go through some kind of agency, I highly recommend the city pound. I got my first dog there. It wasn't like San Quentin at all. It was more like... Costco. You are free to wander around this giant warehouse full of dog runs. Each run had one dog in it. None of the dogs were hidden. The puppies were all in a different room, so people who wanted puppies could go to the puppy room. I was never pressured to look at any specific dog, in fact, I never had to talk to any of the staff again, until I found a dog I was interested in. I did have to sign a form saying that law enforcement could check on my house in six months to see how the dog was doing. That was a little creepy, but nothing ever happened. This was pre-9/11. Now I wouldn't dream of signing a form like that. I got my second dog, a puppy this time, from a friend who had a breeding pair.
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Amen, Heather!
About a year ago, my then fiance (now my wife) and I were walking around the shops of Potomac Yard in Alexandria, VA. In front of the huge Petsmart was a rescue group showing a group of dogs.
We stopped and pet a few dogs, and one in particular really endeared himself to us. After we had exchanged affections with the dog for a few minutes, one of the rescue people asked if we'd be interested in adopting. We told her we might be at some point but that we weren't yet sure we were ready to make that decision. She then suggested we might be able to keep the dog for a while on a trial basis.
This sounded like a great idea. But when one of this woman's fellow "rescuers" heard about it, she quickly said no. No reason, no discussion. "We don't loan out our animals" was all she would say.
My wife and I own our own home and have a decent-sized yard. We both love animals, though we don't yet have any pets. We have no children. One look at us would tell you we are not operating a dog-fighting ring. What possible reason could there have been to turn us away so rudely? The fact is that if we'd been allowed to take care of this dog on a trial basis, it's almost certain we would've become too attached to give him up. And even if we'd decided to give him up, how is that worse than having the dog stay in one of these bitter, self-righteous women's homes? The dog is in a temporary home either way.
It was a major turn-off, and I will tell you that whenever we do decide to adopt a pet, it will be from a high-kill shelter and not from a bunch of sanctimonious, misguided misanthropes.
Should Ellen have read the contract more carefully? Perhaps. But does the punishment fit the crime here? And is it in the best interest of anyone involved? I think not. If shelters like this continue their alienating policies, they are going to find it much more difficult to find adopters.
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I believe in sacrificing Iggy in the the name of process
This is probably where I disagree with the author and some huge number of responders. Animals are killed for all kinds of reasons, often cruelly. Having a good process, consistently practiced, will help more animals on average, and the process needs to be upheld even to the point where it results in a euthanasia that might have been avoided by "flexibility and compassion." If a dog makes it into a good home after a process violation, and the process is ignored for that reason, then this opens the floodgates for making any kind of exception at the shelter or adopter's discretion.
Actually, it's possible that "no questions asked" will save more animals on average. I just don't know. It would require a study. But assuming that the current process is good, the fate of Iggy is simply irrelevant. If he stands as an example that the rules are important, then this may help more animals than it hurts.
Note: I do not believe in this kind of raw numeric utilitarianism when applied to human life, but I am willing to accept it for animals.
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opposite story
I adopted two kittens from the Humane Society in Central NY, for 50.00 each, and they both turned out to have distemper, which is an awful, awful disease. It's very contagious and when one kitten got sick, the shelter asked for the other one back who was seemingly healthy and wouldn't tell me why they wanted the well one back. They eunathized it. I had no idea that the cat had distemper until my father told me. The people at the shelter couldn't have been meaner, accusing me of hurting the kitten or poisoning it. When I read our contract, I saw that all of these kitten's littermates had died at birth. This was written in barely legible chicken scratch, but I should have read it anyway. Still, this shelter told me they would not return my money, they would send the kitten to be autopsied and if I had killed it I would need to get a lawyer as I would be sued for animal cruelty. Well, I wrote to the Board of Directors of that particular shelter and got my money back. It was a complete power trip, and although they returned my money, they continued with threats of a necropsy revealing my true crime. It was totally ridiculous and I still don't know why they were so hateful about it. It was their mistake. I have since found out that distemper shots don't always work and that it's not against the law for shelters to sell sick animals. On the plus side, from this same shelter a year or so before, I got the sweetest most beautiful black lab-weimaraner mix who I still have. We live in an apartment and I work at home. We also live near a park where we go three times a day for about an hour each. I did eventually get another cat, a barn cat from an ex-school teacher in town, who I heard about from the local librarian whom I told the awful kitten story. I have had that cat for about a year now (fascinating, I know) without any problem except that she brought a dead mouse in thru my bedroom window once. She loves me!
About Ellen, I trust her judgment about not giving a pet to a cruel home. These shelter people overreacted and a blanket policy of no dogs to homes w/children under 14 is too rigid. I think some people get a little power and go nuts w/it, no matter what they do for a living.