Free To Good Home....Are You Sure?

You are forced to move and decide the dog isn't going with you.   You think you are doing the right thing by posting your dog on Craigslist as "Free to Good Home" instead of taking him to the pound.   In your mind you are doing the right thing in finding him a home.   But wait.......
This is how some people see your "free" loved one:

• Free snake food
• Free animal for Malicious pranks
• Free animal to set on fire
• Free to breed indiscriminately
• Free animal to hoard or neglect

Free to Good Home No No/Facebook.com

                                             

Then you may be contending with a "Buncher" (one who "adopts" to sell)  These animals end up sold

• To be used in research labs
• To be used as bit dogs to train fighting or hunting dogs
• To be used as breeding stock in a puppy mill (if not altered)

Free To Good Home Pet-abuse.com


Then there are dog fighters who pose as loving dog owners to get their hands on your dog.

Furthermore 41% of animals at the shelter were animals from "Free to Good Home" situations.

Before you panic this is not the case for all "Free to Good Home" pets, but it is a growing problem that many unsuspecting pet owners are under the impression they are sending their pet into another loving home when this is not the case.

So now you ask....So now what do I do???

First and most importantly is don't get a pet unless you have every intent to keep it until the day it dies.  This alleviates a situation as this from ever happening.

Secondly in the rare occasion that you have no option and you have to surrender your pet, finding it a new loving home is the lesser of two evils....the alternative, the pound.  You just need to be aware and responsible in finding the dog a new home.

The most important thing is DO NOT chance "Free To Good Home."   Charge a reasonable adoption fee and include food, toys, crate, and the things that will make your pet more comfortable.   A true potential adopter will have no problem doing this and it shows you good faith on their part.   Something to take into consideration....if a potential adopter cannot afford a 40-50 dollar fee, how will they afford vet visits, food in the future, and the necessities your pet will need.  If you feel real uncomfortable have them write a check for the amount to your favorite rescue organization.

Use a pet adoption agreement and fill it out using their identification.  A legitimate adopter will have no problem doing this in-fact they will be reassured that you have gone to the lengths that you have to find a loving home, and that you chose them.

Adoption form

Require a home check.   What someone will say to you may be one thing.   Visiting the place where your pet may be living might be a whole different story.

Let the adopter know you will be checking on your pet.

If someone has any issues whatsoever with any of your conditions they are not worthy of being the new forever home.

Some ways you can help alleviate the problem.....

Convince your local newspaper to post warnings in their classified section  (many already are)
Call "Free To Good Home" ads and warn them.  Many are unsuspecting and the information may save a life.
Share this information with others...spread the word.
"Free To Good Home" ads around Halloween are extremely dangerous.  Especially solid black and solid white cats
Fix your pet prior to adoption...this avoids more "Free to Good Home Ads"  If this is something you cannot afford many rescue organizations have free or reduced rate spay and neuter programs.

Tragedy of Free to Good Home

I am sure the majority of dog owners would never want anything to happen to their dog or cat in the event they were forced to rehome them.  Unfortunately most people do not know that this is potentially the situation they are leading their pet into.  For me it is easy, once I agreed to bring pets into my home it was forever.  I have made it through all the situations that many people use as excuses to get rid of their pets.  I lost a job, moved, and had a death in the family.  Never once did the thought cross my mind to rehome them.   Sadly the only way you can guarantee this will not happen to your pets...fix them, keep them, love them, and ensure they stay by your side until their last day.

Free to Good Home@ Google Images

Take a moment to tell a friend or pick up the phone when you see an ad and share this information.  It may be you who saves a dog's life.

How Dare He....

I witnessed something first hand this past weekend that will resinate with me for a very long time.   I have heard of this happening but never saw first hand, nor fathomed I would feel the way I did.

I made a trip to a local shelter to make some donations for some items they need.   I felt good going in knowing I was doing something to help the animals.   My good feeling was short lived.   As I went to the window there was a couple there with a sickly old dog on a leash.   It was obvious he was both old and sick.   He had an old gray face he swayed from side to side and was drooling.   His eyes met mine. I crouched down to say hello and he could barely lift his head to greet me, but he used just enough energy to meet my eyes.    I put my hand out and said, "Hey old boy whats wrong?"   I overheard the conversation between the shelter worker and the gentleman.   He said he wanted to leave his dog there. He knew he was old and sick and was soon going to die and did not want to have to take him to the pound.

I, being the shy person I am (sarcastically put), instantly exclaimed, "You are doing what?"  I went on further, "You are going to leave your 9 year old dog who is dying of cancer at the shelter because you don't want to have to take the dog to the vet yourself?"   He replied that it was cheaper at the pound.   I explained to him that I understood that but at least be there with the dog when he gets put down.   I went on further that his dog has been a family member for over nine years and now when the dog needed him the most he wanted to dump him.   I was so upset.

I looked into his dog's eyes and my heart broke.   I looked at my dog who went in with me to drop off the donation and she sensed that there was something not right with the shelter.   We were only a few steps in the front door and her normal "perky" ears and wagging tail immediately changed.  Her ears down, her back hunched and her tail between her legs.   I went on and told him to look at Abbie, my dog, and look how fearful she was and she was going no further than where we had stopped.   He did not respond.

I then told him to look in his dogs eyes and explain to him why he was dumping him.  He got a bit "huffy" yet I again got no response again.

How could someone do that...How dare he?

I cannot understand how someone can take their dog who they claim to have loved to the one place a dog fears most...a shelter.  I equate it to taking your mother to a run down old folks home and just leaving her there.  It happens as it does with animals at a shelter.   A shelter should be a last resort not a dumping ground for your beloved pet.    I understand financial strain and I understand that if the shelter can euthanize a dog for less money than a vet , but for heaven sakes let you be the last person your dog sees.   Every breathing moment he has loved you unconditionally.   It is the least you owe your pet.

As I  walked out of the shelter I stopped at the door and turned around and said "Hey...do humanity a favor and don't get another dog."

Some have said I was too harsh to this guy and others wholeheartedly understand and agree.  I guess once you work hands on in rescue one learns there is a fallacy with the statement "I took my dog to the pound because he/she is a bad dog."   The reality is the dog is not the one who is bad.   It is the human.

Animal abuse comes in many different forms.    Dumping your pet at a shelter for no apparent reason is cowardly and animal abuse as far as I am concerned.   Imagine nine years of a wagging tail and a loyal companion who loved you unconditionally every day.   His eyes were the first thing you saw in the morning and the last thing at night.   Then after all that he gives... your thanks to him is a long walk down a long corridor with a complete stranger and a shot ending his life.   No "thank you" for a great life, no nothing.   The last eyes he sees are those of a complete stranger.  Confused, scared and dazed he closes his eyes for the last time.

nodogaboutit.wordpress.com

I ask once again....Who is humanity's shame?

Docking and Cropping.....Abuse or not?

Docking and cropping Why?

There is nothing better than watching a dog happily running with its ears flopping up and down and its tail going in every possible direction.   A person gets satisfaction in knowing their dog is happy.

This is why I do not understand the necessity for docking and cropping.

To surgically alter a dog by cutting a portion of their ears off or chopping part or all of their tail off for aesthetic reasons is senseless.   For the simple fact you are altering two parts of the dog's body that are key to understanding their mood.

Growing up I always though a wag of the tail was a sure sign of a happy dog.  Once grown and a responsible dog owner I found out otherwise.   Stanley Coren Ph.D said, "While some wags are indeed associated with happiness, others can mean fear, insecurity, a social challenge or even a warning that if you approach, you are apt to be bitten."

With this I am perplexed as to why anyone would want to dock a dog's tail.   If the tail tells all, wouldn't it be beneficial for the dog to keep it attached to its body?   I think back to when I was a child, and my pediatrician told my mom when she asked him about my tonsils being taken out.  The doctor said, "If God did not want you to have your tonsils then he never would have put them there in the first place."   I believe this rings true in this case as well.

A dogs tail...what it says to you

The idea that a certain breed of dog must have their tail docked in order to be a "true ambassador" for the breed is quite simply "hogwash".   It is the demeanor of the dog, the health of the dog and the training the dog receives is what constitutes a "breed ambassador", not the cutting of their ears and their tails.

As for the ears...this is where I have a big issue.   I just do not see AT ALL the necessity to crop a dogs ears.  The idea of cutting a dogs ears off makes no sense.  For dogs such as pit bulls who's public perception is not favorable in the best of circumstances, cropping their ears just adds to the stigma that the public has already put on them.

Like the tail, the ears are instrumental in reading a dog's body language.   I for one would not want to be walking my dogs and come across a dog with cropped ears and tail.   With the experience I do have with dogs I could most likely understand the demeanor of the dog, but I could not be 100% certain.

Ears speak volumes

Put simply, taking a dogs means of communicating away for personal satisfaction is not fair to the dog nor to the people who encounter that dog.

http://www.pitbull-chat.com/showthread.php?37970-Coco-Ear-Crop-pics-Before-amp-After

http://www.pitbull-chat.com/showthread.php?37970-Coco-Ear-Crop-pics-Before-amp-After

Here is an example of a before and after photo of a puppy with ears and a puppy post ear cropping.   I do not know the owner of this dog and he/she may be an exemplary dog owner.  My point in posting these is to show the look of a dog before and after their ears being cropped.

One will formulate their own opinion on this issue.  It is not illegal and many veterinarians do this procedure, yet many are opting not to as they see it is simply for the desire of the human and not the benefit of the dog.  As for me I am not sure as if I would call it abuse, but it would be safe to say I do not agree with it and see no merit or benefit to the dog's well being.

I believe it is safe to say in many circumstances for the most part, the owners are responsible in the fact that they do train and care for their dog's and their dog's are not an issue, yet at the same time many people who opt to crop and dock do so for appearance reasons only and are clueless as to what they are taking from the dog.

Do not get me wrong at times there are medical reasons a dog must have their tail docked or ears cropped.   Like in the case of birth defect or dog fighting and the ears are torn or deformed.  With tail docking anyone familiar with "happy tail" knows that their dog can repeatedly break their tail or open wounds reoccur.  These are cases of medical necessity.   Not a case of making a dog look more aggressive, or to "show standard".

A dog communicates with both its tail and its ears.  By being able to see the position of the ears or the wag of the tail an owner, aware of his/her dog,  knows how their dog is feeling at any particular moment. When a dog does not have its ears or a tail, very often you can miss obvious cues from your dog.  I believe this is the issue with cropping and docking.  It is my belief that many owners who choose to crop or dock are unaware of how truly important the tail and the ears are.

I think of my dogs, Abbie and Fitch, who are looking out the window when I come home.  Their heads tilted ears up and their eyes fixated on the car as it pulls up.   Then when I open the door and their ears flopping as they run towards me and their tails moving in every direction as fast as they can.   That is a greeting I would not cheat myself out of.   That is the greeting many owners never get to experience because for whatever reason of their choosing they took that luxury away from themselves for docking and cropping.

They do have feelings.......

I am angered often by the comments like "it is just a dog", or "why do you care so much it is not like they have feelings?", but they do.   They yelp and whine when in pain or when scared.   More importantly the unspoken bond a dog has with its owner never ceases to amaze me.

I must share this story it is one of the good ones... but get the kleenex.

Take the story of Lucas.

Lucas is a 5 year old shepherd/ collie mix.  He was living the life in NYC with his owner who saved him from the shelter and gave him a "furever" home.   That was until Hurricane Sandy hit.

During the storm the unspeakable happened.   His owner was killed.  When his owner's family came to the house that Lucas shared with his owner,  Lucas would not allow them to take him away from the house because he knew his owner  had died and did not want to leave his side.  

You would think someone would have taken Lucas in and try to give him some sense of normalcy and reassurance.   But for Lucas that was not the case.

The dog who survived the hurricane and lost his owner was taken back to the shelter his owner rescued him from years earlier.  Now lost, grieving and scared Lucas was not doing well at the shelter.  He did not understand how he went from having an owner and a nice home to having neither.  If it was not for a rescue organization called Louie's Legacy Animal Rescue, Lucas would have never made it out of the shelter for the second time.

I started following Lucas's story on Facebook and here is the description the Rescue organization used to describe his plight.

Lucas is VERY stressed in the shelter and it is showing, he excessively licks his nose so its all dried up and he's scratching himself so much he has some hair loss. Lucas is not a fan of the cage but we had a trainer come and evaluate him today and we think it's definitely something that with time he will adjust to. When Lucas is out of the cage and outside his personality shines through. We think that a home with older children is best because he appears to have been in a home as a single dog with no other animals and is used to quiet.

Lucas was scheduled to be put down.  HIs owner had died and his family turned him into the shelter.   That did not leave any options for Lucas.

The only way they could save him from impending euthanasia was to find Lucas a foster home.   Once the post was shared on Facebook, I was moved to tears the amount of people who went to great lengths to save this one dog.  The dog who loved his owner and stood by him even after his death, was now fighting for his own life staring through a shelter cage not knowing his fate.

Happily a foster family was found and Lucas was saved. He is still confused and sad but healing.

The rescues follow up picture and post read;

SI NY- Lucas is safe and sound and offically in his foster home. He just got a bath and is all clean. Look at the smile on his face! Lucas wants to thank everyone who fought to help save him as well as all the applicants that applied for him. 

Lucas-photo taken from Louie's Legacy Animal Rescue Site

My intent is not to pass judgement as I do not know the details of the situation, but I cannot see myself taking my family members pet to the shelter, especially after they died.  Especially in the situation like this where the bond between dog and man was stronger than many human relationships.

Thank goodness it ended well for this dog, but for many it does not.  If it was not for the many compassionate people who spend countless hours scouring shelters to save animals in need.  Happy endings like Lucas's would not be possible.

This story led me to think about my own pets and if I were to pass before they did.  What would happen to them?  This is a question we should all ask ourselves.   Do we have a family member or friend who will take our pets and love them as we do?   Or will they end up like Lucas and sent to the pound.

My dogs, Abbie and Fitch

Looks like I have some thinking to do.