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!!!