Letters to the Editor
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Heather Nailed It
Congratulations, Heather - you're spot on.
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I am just glad
I am just glad the two kittens who I fished out of a dumpster didn't have such strict standards.
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damned if you do
Being a shelter worker is always a no-win situation.
Can you imagine what would happen if we did not fully disclose that the animal had any health or behavior problems? We'd have people denouncing us, too. "Why did you let us adopt this dog? It's totally destroyed my house and won't stop barking? It attacked my little son, too. How dare you be so heartless as to let us take this pet home? Why couldn't you have been more of a control freak and try to find us the best pet possible?"
That does not benefit the dog, the new owners or the shelter at all.
As for cute kitties, we see a lot of them, stuffed in Tupperware containers and dropped at the door. We also see a lot of cute kitties who are the result of feral cat breeding. Some are too wild to do anything to trap, neuter or spay and release back into the population. This does not significantly damage the local feral cat population because cats breed like crazy, the mom as soon as she hits nine months. There are way more strays than will ever find "forever" homes. One reason people lose outdoor pets is coyotes. Around here, they've lost any fear of people and aren't afraid to wander into people's yards in full daylight in search of a snack.
The problem with cute kitties, as Ogden Nash pointed out, is that they rapidly grow up. Then back they come to the shelter because they have lost their appeal, just like any other fancy toy. Not always, but a lot. Unfortunately the "cute" phase is brief and fickle. And the choice is not always between kitties and sick older cats. There are plenty of choices in between.
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Adoption in LA
I agree with Heather, as I'm going through this right now trying to adopt a dog. I was told by one rescue person that she would rather me not use a crate for the 10 week old puppy. This was after one told me that crate training would be mandatory. They can't always agree on methods, and what they find dealbreakers. The applications are long and tedious only to find the dog you want is already adopted by the time they respond.
I have two kids who are 7 and 11. Going straight to the pound is a worry as they dog could bite children. The rescues usually foster the dogs,and can tell you their quirks. But then some rescues don't let you adopt if there are children. So am I banished to going to a breeder or pet store when I'm trying to save a dog and teach the kids the lesson of caring and charity?
I would reccommend the wonderful film "Year of the Dog" by Mike White starring Molly Shannon.
I've been looking for months and will continue and hope when I find the right dog for me, that the rescues will be open to my family having it. Today I'm going to a breeder to look and a pet fair by a rescue group.
I have encountered the militant rigid types but mostly kind selfless people who are doing the kind of work that most of us would prefer not to know about.
It took only one trip to the pounds here to make me very very grateful that these people are out there grabbing the dogs before their kill date and doing what they do.
I hope that this dialouge that has been opened by Iggygate, makes some of them a little more felxible and doesn't turn people away from all of them. I feel like most people, that Ellen made a mistake. But since they allowed the dog in her home and the second one she found was loving, they made a serious mistake removing Iggy. She has damaged the reputations of wonderful rescue agencies by her actions.
The angry letters and threats by these dog lovers, would be better used sent to the companies of Sean John and Michael Kors for using dog fur in their clothing lines and not labeling it as such.
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Christian fundamentalists, anti-abortionists, wingnuts and animal freaks
Are basically all cut from the same cloth. These animal right's activists are extremists of the same sort as the religious wingnut variety, don't be fooled by their liberal patina, these people would like to run your life as much as any follower of Jerry Falwell or Osama Bin Laden. I have two declawed cats and a fur coat. What do you suppose these people would do to me if they had their druthers? These people are no different from the Khmer Rouge, Stalinists, Jihadists, Christian fundies, KKK, Confederates, and any other radical group that seeks to impose it's morality on everyone else.
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Ellen and the dog bullies
I would just like to make a quick comment concerning those who say that Ellen (or anyone adopting a dog who has other animals at home) should have brought her other pets to the shelter for a 'test run' to make sure that the animals get along.
That's not reality. It can take WEEKS for newly introduced animals to start getting along. Just because you bring one of your pets to a shelter and the animals are doing ok in that setting, doesn't mean that once you get home and the pet who is already established isn't going to start showing his teeth.
There is no easy solution to this problem. You want to blame the shelter workers, but they become so jaded by what they see every day. They really should, however, try to look at each case on an individual basis.
My own personal story with a rescue organization is similar to ones I've been reading about since this story came out. I had a beloved Border Collie for 10 years who died last year (cancer). I was perusing some BC rescue sites and came across one who I just fell in love with.
When I contacted the organization, they put me in touch with the woman who was fostering her. I sent her an email and I told her all about my Border Collie who had died that year and she wrote me back saying that I "needed to have experience with Border Collies" and that was the last I ever heard from her.
It was like she didn't even read my letter. I would think that owing a dog for 10 years would give you experience with the breed. I was so sad after that because the dog I was interested in had every personality trait that my own BC had and she would have had a wonderful home with me.
It's almost as if these recuse organizations are just pushing us into going to breeders and buying an expensive puppy. There are so many ad campaigns these days encouraging the public to adopt a homeless dog from a shelter or rescue, but when we do we go up against
impossible odds.
This is a scenario in which everyone loses.