Monday, March 29, 2010

Responsible Pet Ownership

I was checking in with my sister the other day to let her know how we were doing here in Colorado. You have to understand one thing about Janice. She loves animals, especially dogs. She has six, count them, six rescue dogs in her beautiful home. The last one she rescued is Savannah. They found her sitting my a freeway entrance not far from her home. When she went back to catch her, Janice crawled through the field with a dish of food. Crawled mind you, so she would not frighten the dog. That dog has fallen into the lap of luxury.

The other day Janice had taken two of the dogs to the park to play. All of a sudden she looked down and a pure bred Scottish Terrier was sitting at her feet. At first Janice thought it was Maggie and that we had arrived home and we were surprising her. Truth be told if it had been Maggie, she would have been running away fast and furious and would have made San Francisco by evening. She is not good at "stay Maggie!"

At this point Janice picks up the dog and notices it has no tags on it's collar. She scours the park for the dogs owner with no luck. In fact, another lady was there that had just caught a lost Yorkie and was looking for it's owner, also. Janice went to some of the houses in the neighborhood with no luck so she took it home. She would have kept it but it started attacking her dogs (I'm sure it was just scared) so she took it to her vets. He said he would keep it until evening. Finally, the Animal Shelter came and took the Scottie which worried my sister. The next day the vet called with news that the owners of the Scotty had come to the Animal Shelter and reclaimed their dog.

So a happy ending to a story that could have gone so wrong.

Now I get to get on my soap box. For heaven sakes people!!!!! If you go to all the trouble to get a pet and go to all the expense pet ownership entails whether it be a purebred dog or or a Heinz 57, for crying out loud get tags for it!!! Tags with the dog's name and your phone number. Get a city license for it so it can be recorded in your area. Get the tags from the vet. And for the love of God, get your animal micro chipped. It is not that expensive. Less than $50. If you truly can not afford to do all of that, and I realize that not everyone can, then you should rethink pet ownership.

Harsh you say? Sure! I am not apologizing for it, either. If I ever lost Maggie I would be devastated. But we have her tagged and chipped and the chances of getting her back are so much greater than a dog that isn't.

So....

**A note of addition: I am very sympathetic with the fact that the economy is in a terrible state. Many people, through no fault of their own, are losing their homes. HOWEVER, this is no excuse to dump you pets or leave them locked in your home and walk away. Call a friend, ask a neighbor, contact your local vet, no kill animal shelter or rescue agency. There is a way!!!

8 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Well, at least the scottie story had a happy ending! I've heard so much about pets being abandoned with the bad economy -- I just figured maybe that's what happened with the dogs in your story. That's a great soap box to be on Miss Jean!

ChaChaneen said...

I totally agree Jean, our cat is microchipped!

fiberdoodles said...

Oh I think I am so related to Janice! We live in somewhat of a rural area which is a dumping ground for the ir-responsible. However I can't say that I have "crawled" ~ lol Anyway, two of my dogs (one big and one little) think they are mother and daughter and no matter how many times I have put collars and tags on them (tons of times) they take them off of each other. I have seen it with my very own eyes and it is hysterical to watch, however defeats the purpose. We have managed to spoil them rotten so they do not roam off but I do worry. I'm so glad the scottie had a happy ending. That isn't always the case.

Thank you for getting on your "soap box" for such a worthy cause!

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

Miss Jean - is there room for me on that soapbox with you?? Before a puppy ever leaves my home to go to it's forever home, it is tagged with its name and either my telephone number or that of the owner. Heaven forbid there would be an accident on the way home but one never knows and I don't want a Rocky Creek Scottie running around without a home.

I highly recommend microchipping and I every so highly recommend Boomerang Dog Tags - I have washed my dogs collars with then on and they never come off - the engraving is high quality engraving on a stainless steel tag, not laser engraving on a plastic tag as so many companies do now.

We owe it to our pets to have them identified!!

Have a great day - I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I do agree with you ever so much.

Lynn

PS - if anyone wants the address of a place that makes high quality leather dog collars at a great price, please email me at rocky creek scotties at yahoo dot com and Boomerang Tags makes a tag that slips right on this thick leather collar.

SweetAnnee said...

Amen.. pets are human too..they need fed loved and cared for. It's a lifetime commitment...
We have a cat and my daughter has a cat
who just had 5 kittens..they are so adorable.

We will be responsible and find them great homes

Dawn said...

Well said Miss Jean. Both our dogs are chipped. Your dog park doesn't have fences? They finally openen ours but the fence in the small dog area is to wide for the tiny dogs. They are working on getting it fixed though. I haven't even gone to it yet though.
Hugs,
Dawn

Anonymous said...

We have had friends who have property who wake up to horses, sheep, alpacas, etc - People just dump the in the middle of the night! I guess you can hardly sell a horse these days because of all the people who can't afford to feed them now. Sad- i wish we could afford to feed a couple of those abandoned horses! Bill has always wanted horses!

Looking forward to a call from you soon!

bee blessed
mary

Michele McLaughlin said...

I would like your sister and love your stand, Miss Jean. I live in a city but (as my neighbors would attest) all the stray dogs seem to end up at my place (maybe because of my 3 babies here). The city used to send someone to pick them up but now I have to take them to the shelter. It is awful to be placed in this position. :(