Good for you!
Our Joe the Rottie was a pound puppy. He’d had a fairly rough nine months by the time we got him, but he’s home now. Our lst dog was from the pound too, and a sweeter, happier dog I’ve never seen.
I’m very glad you’re not releasing Winnie unspayed. Every time I look at our little bi-weekly local paper, there’s about three columns of puppys for sale - all "Purebred’. I know darn well they come from puppy mills.
Good luck to you both!
Bless you a thousand times over. We got our dog from someone who “safehoused” her.
And excellent rant, by the way. That woman really should be dropped in a vat of honey followed by a crunchy coating of fire ants.
Like slice said…bless you, sj2. I’ve done a bit of fostering myself, and it is rewarding! One–getting the pup a decent home, two–letting assnuggets like the bitch in your OP know in no uncertain terms that they should never adopt an animal.
I hope there’s a super-hot place in hell with extra rolling-stones-uphill work for a) animal abusers and b) breeders.
It never fails to amaze me that so many folks don’t grasp the simple fact that an animal is a living being. Not a money machine, not a toy, and not a “learning experience” for the “chyyyyyyyldrun”.
Gah.
I am so restraining myself from asking Aloha Aloha into this thread.
Maybe I won’t.
I’m in the seattle area, for anyone who may be interested…
Too late, Zenster, I found it…
sj2 , kudos to you and your husband for rescuing/fostering this puppy and others. I have worked in the animal welfare field for over 25 years and we DEPEND on people like you to do the right thing. If I may be so bold as to suggest:
Contact the Seattle/King County Animal Control and the Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society to see if they have a waiting list of pre-approved potential adoptors wanting a Shar-Pei. We have always relied on waiting lists for certain or “special” animals arriving in our shelter.
Gozu, it is people with mentalities and attitudes such as yours (or at least in the comment you made in your post), that are responsible for me. my staff and my peers all over the country to kill HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of homeless animals each year. Yes, they do come from somewhere…they come from people who are irresponsible and will not have their animals spayed or neutered then have the audacity to stand in front of our counter calling US murderers when we tell them we are sorry but we already have 17 shepherd-mix puppies in our adoption wing and we probably will not be able to find homes for these. They come from un-informed and stupid parents who want their children to witness the “miracle of birth”. Yeah right. #1, most of the time, they have their puppies and kittens in the middle of the night when the kids are alsleep. #2, if you want them to see the miracle of birth, rent a video from your local library. (I won’t suggest having another kid to grow up just like you who is obviously at the lower end of the gene-pool.) Or you can come to my shelter anytme and let me show you the “tragedy of neddless death”.
Get a fucking clue, Gozu! Just because they APPEAR to be purebred does not mean that they are purebred. And because there can be more than one “father” in a litter of puppies, they may certainly appear that way, depending on what the bitch is (no pun intended). There’s your education for the day.
Thank you for posting your experience, sj2. I hope it will make others think about the “right” thing to do with a helpless creature.
“Bless the beasts and the children, for they have no voice and they have no choice.”
I have nothing but admiration for people who foster animals. My next door neighbor fosters both cats and dogs. We adopted a kitten from him in December (Pookie, possessor of the lemur-like tail, juvenile delinquent strut, and habit of biting our other cats’ butts).
The Smeglets, ages 4 and 8, have always been taught by Mrs. Smegma and I to treat animals with consideration and respect. The cats are happy, the Smeglets are happy. I just don’t understand parents who let their kids run amock, and especially those who allow their kids to treat animals as toys.
alohaaloha, read gozu’s post again.
Sounds like he didn’t know anything about this breeding frenzy you speak of. He just asked a question, and Boscibo already answered it. I haven’t seen gozu defending the practice of breeding for money, or displaying any “attitude”.
I’m afraid see an “attitude”…any reputable breeder would be looking for respected bloodlines to further a breed. The “dude” (his favorite word) who asked me, clearly had other interests in mind.
A good friend of mine did breed her girl once, but she has all the pups spoken for before she even began. She ended up with more families than pups…
For an update on the little one, I awoke to find her vomiting tapeworms in my bedroom this morning. Quite a few of them. Poor thing. All taken care of with a trip to the vet though…
I still don’t see what that has to do with gozu’s post.
I was just thinking the same thing. We’re moving in a few weeks and SO’s expressed an interest in getting a puppy…
sj2 THANK YOU! For all that you are doing to ensure this wrinkly fella gets a great home. Someone just like you (actually she’s a groomer at PetSmart) fostered my rescue before I fell in love and took him home. My widdle boy had heartworms, sarcoptic mange and was way underweight. He’d been the stud dog at the puppy mill – lived in a cage for five years, makin’ pups and doing little else. I had to completely socialize him, but the foster mom got him healed and up to normal weight by the time I got him. (I had the privilege of fattening him up myself…) He’s now in retirement and hasn’t humped a single thing since he came to live with us. (I think he’s tired!)
What’s so wrong with breeding dogs? Nothing, if the people who made the choice are responsible and take care of the pups AND make sure the pups all get loving, responsible, nurturing homes. Since that so rarely happens, we have people like sj2to thank for pickin’ up the slack.
For Hurshell (the rescue) and Tipzy (also “rescued” from a breeder who had three or four breeds fenced in behind her trailer) and both my formerly-stray-but-now-couch-potato street cats… we thank you for doing the right thing.
sj2, she sounds like a fantastic little pup, and if I were on the other coast, I would try to convince my SO that we need a shar-pei (he actually said this weekend that he would gladly get a rat, but a dog is out of the question). I hope you find a good home for her soon - and thank you for taking her into your home. I’ve always wanted to foster cats and dogs, but unfortunately, I have an extremely jealous boy cat who doesn’t like to see anyone else (including his sister) getting attention from his mommy. So I really can’t risk it with him.
My brother allowed his husky/malamute mix to have one litter (she was bred with a golden retriever) - but that was because all of his friends were asking him to do so because they wanted one of her puppies (she’s a beautiful dog, very well-behaved, and extremely intelligent), so out of eight puppies, they were all spoken for before they were born. He had her fixed after that because the birth was pretty hard on her and he never wanted her to go through anything like that again. I’m glad he did, though, otherwise they wouldn’t have their second dog, who’s the sweetest thing in the world. But I am a strong advocate of spaying and neutering as soon as possible - my own two kitties came from a shelter and it was really sad to see all of the cats that they had for adoption - and to know that not all of them would go home with someone like our Oscar and Emmy did.
Ava
Thank you, sj2. People who work rescue are wonderful people.
As for the breeding of dogs - responsible breeding, it’s the only way to go. I’m happy to get a pup whose behavior I know will be stable, whose health is guaranteed, whose hips, eyes, heart, thyroid and immune system are clear… Yeah.
If you must have a dog of a specific breed, go to a responsible “hobby” breeder - one who has a few dogs, not a puppy mill! One who only has one (sometimes two) breeds they work with exclusively. One who understands what this breed is supposed to do, and who tries to better it.
Otherwise, go to the pound - rescue a little life…
E.
Three of my four dogs are rescues.
One managed to find his way to our door by himself-my MIL says I have an invisible sign on the gate that says " A big sucker lives here."
I discovered the last little guy sitting on the edge of a road-starving and covered with fire ant bites and fleas.
He’d obviously been badly mistreated because he cowered every time you reached for him.
Wouldn’t come up the steps to the porch, was afraid to come into the house, fled from strangers.
Now he has a little morning ritual-he comes bombing into the bedroom, leaps on the bed, and literally squeals with delight when he snuggles up next to you.
I swear he wakes up grateful every day.
[hijack]Why in the hell do people think that they can just drop their dogs off in the country. People out here have livestock and dogs that chase cattle are not long for this world. [/hijack over]
sj2- Thank you for doing what you do.
Because they don’t know that. They assume the dog will be free to run and play and be happy.
sj2, I was recently involved in a tragedy concerning feral kittens. I posted about it and then had the thread locked for several reasons. But I got a lot of support from Dopers, both in the thread and by email.
Let me give some of that back. You are a winner in my book. Folks like you that take the time and effort to foster strays get a special place in Heaven I think. I sure do hope we meet our pets there. I’m a cat person myself, but I think it was Martin Luther who once said it wouldn’t seem like Heaven if he couldn’t have dogs.
Can I ask you a question. Is it hard to give an animal up once a caring family has been found for it?
Again, thank you so much.
I know sweets, I read your post. Broke my heart. I hope you are doing better…
It is very, very hard to let a kid go. You take them in all timid and shy with no idea what’s going on, let them come out of their shells, teach them how to play and come up to you without fear of harm, see their fur grow back, heal their injuries and then, off they go! You really feel empty. But you do get to look back and know you did some good. I remember one guy who came was hit by a car, left for days, almost starved and was finally rescued. He had to have his leg amputated and needed disc surgery and he recovered at my house. That dog was one of the best fetchers I’ve ever seen. He ended up going with a gal who works with physically disabled people for a while and then was eventually adopted by one of the nurses at the clinic he was treated at. So many people came together to help him, it was so heartening.
:rolleyes:
THAT is only true if the dog has PEOPLE in the country. A few years ago we had to give a dog up for several excellent reasons and she ended up moving in with a family friend who lives out in the country. She has LOTS of room to roam and a fenced acre or so of woods to play in and people to see that she’s all right. It sounds like dog heaven to me.
Dumpers should be lined up and shot.
Update! We may have a potential adopter! She sounds great:
Lots of fenced land to roam
Has a young dog to play with
Has had the breed in the past
Fosters dogs herself
I’m so nervous. She could be the one!