Sad Words. 'I died today'.... :(

Fools Motto

Fools Motto

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Have a tissue ready.


Dear Mom and Dad,

I died today. You got tired of me and took me to the shelter. They were overcrowded and I drew an unlucky number. I am in a black plastic bag in a landfill now. Some other puppy will get the barely used leash you left. My collar was dirty and too small, but the lady took it off before she sent me to the Rainbow Bridge .

Would I still be at home if I hadn't chewed your shoe? I didn't know what it was, but it was leather, and it was on the floor. I was just playing. You forgot to get puppy toys.

Would I still be at home if I had been housebroken? Rubbing my nose in what I did only made me ashamed that I had to go at all. There are books and obedience teachers that would have taught you how to teach me to go to the door.

Would I still be at home if I hadn't brought fleas into the house? Without anti-flea medicine, I couldn't get them off of me after you left me in the yard for days.

Would I still be at home if I hadn't barked? I was only saying, "I'm scared, I'm lonely, I'm here, I'm here! I want to be your best friend."

Would I still be at home if I had made you happy? Hitting me didn't make me learn how.

Would I still be at home if you had taken the time to care for me and to teach manners to me? You didn't pay attention to me after the first week or so, but I spent all my time waiting for you to love me.

I died today.
Love, Your Puppy
 
Doesn't make me want to cry so much as punch the wall :(

Please be aware if you live in the UK, if and when you send your dog to a council-run pound or your dog is collected from the street by a council dog warden and taken to the pound, they can have as little as SEVEN days before they have to be rehomed, sold, reclaimed or PTS and the pounds are under no obligation to advertise that the dog is there for rehoming or sale - it's not the council's fault....
 
What exactly is the point of that? Are you trying to preach to the converted?

I am pretty damned sure that everyone on here is a responsible dog owner hence their joining and contributions.

Where exactly are you aiming that prose that will do any good?

I'm really sorry to spoil your thunder but those sort of ridiculous pieces of writing really get my goat.

Its the same as the charities who rehome dogs, writing the same sort of drivel to attract donations - surely, doesn't that detract from the professionalism of the charity? Aren't they looking for an experienced and competent home or simply palm off a dog to anyone whose heart strings have been pulled?

Lets get real, education is the way forward not a load of pathetic whimpering!
 
I think this part of the forum is visible to all and sundry without having to register.
So we might have some ill educated people/people who don't neuter their pets/people who breed cause they think puppies are cute etc etc reading this without us even knowing :)
Even if there isn't, is this thread really something to get so worked up about?
Most charities I know are very careful who they re home to.
I went to 1 place and a doberman mix caught my eye. They refused to even consider me as I had no experience with dobermans! they didn't even take into account my experience with various other breeds including mastiffs.
 
Ravenwood that is very harsh, you may be an expert but some of us are not.

Also without that poem CC wouldnt have reminded us of the harsh realities of what happens to a dog going into the pound.
 
RW, I think it is aimed at people (not necessarily members but there are many hundreds of people who view these forums without joining) who toddle off to the pound or not-so-good shelter with their dogs, drop them off and think they will immediately get an awesome home with a kindly matron aunt in rolling hills and a long happy retirement by the fireside.
When in actual fact they will either get the needle or bark themselves hoarse alone, in a kennel, for a few years, then get the needle.


And is is written in the American idiom so I doubt the OP wrote it.
 
I am most definitely not an expert - far from it!

But doesn't it worry you that this sort of writing attracts the wrong people to rehome a dog?

To me the dog world, the rehoming world and at grass roots the breeding world needs a reality check.

There was a post on the Dog Forum recently about a GSD that had been abandoned in Ireland, it was shipped to a rescue home in Sussex, that rescue didn't have the funds to pay for the operation that the dog needed as it had been hit by a car so they put out a plea in the same vein.

And yes I can fully understand that such a prose would pull the heartstrings and bring in donations to enable the dog to have the operation it needed but doesn't it make you wonder - why did that charity take on that dog in the first place when they couldn't afford its medical bills? Who were they hoping to rehome it to eventually?

I think the rehoming, charity business needs some sort of regulating body so that these dogs eventually find a decent home - don't you?

Sorry - close to my heart. Every day it angers me how charities pray on vulnerable and often elderly people with woe stories with their constant mail circulars with pitiful pictures - if only the vulnerable knew who much went into admin and advertising and PTS of healthy animals would they maybe think about contributing from their measly pension!
 
I do actually get your point to an extent...until the problem is tackled at source and people are better educated, nothing will improve.

And yeah, I would far rather *certain* dogs be PTS if there is *no* real chance of them being rehomed, for whatever reason, and would prefer the original owners did it rather than pass the burden onto an authority/charity.
I do NOT believe in keeping an animal alive at all costs.
Not of course, if the reason is that they did not match the furniture or ate a shoe.

However I think that is dealt with in the OP's message - tell people where to go to get training on how to teach their puppy not to eat the shoe or poo in the house, to not bark, etc etc etc, or to educate people on how much work a dog is, how, if you get a puppy, yeah, you will have to deal with eaten shoes and pooh on the floor.

If people read that and think for a couple of seconds that yeah, a puppy is cute for a couple of months but then becomes an adolescent and needs training and I cannot be bothered with that, then they might think twice about actually buying that cute puppy and that cute puppy might not end up dead in that way.

Better still, if that cute puppy had not been bred in the first place, then it would not have been sold to unsuitable owners and wound up dead.

I do think some rescues, charities and local authorities have cottoned on and are offering free or cheap neutering and education in schools, on the interent, etc, but THAT needs to be the emphasis, rather than cleaning up afterwards - if there is always a comfy safety net, of course, that will be abused.

Also, now more than ever, especially with the internet and BLOODY free ad websites, breeding dogs has become a way for people who have never bred dogs before and have no interest in the breed or dogs they are breeding, in health, in character, in construction, in a home for life, JUST to make money and nothing else - that is a HUGE part of the shitstorm now being dealt with by rescues/shelters/charities/local authorities. THAT needs to be stopped and if it takes a wee call to the tax man (undeclared earnings!), DO IT!!!
 
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In that case CC I think you and I are singing from the same Hymn sheet - education is the way forward :)

Soppy, heart pulling prose that anthropomorsism (impressed?) dogs really isn't morally correct.
 
I think that a lot of people 'get' soppy though. If it makes ONE person think 'actually, I don't have the time or patience for that cute puppy' 'actually, I think I will spay this bitch' 'actually, I'll go to the shelter instead of buying a pup from a free ad'......then I think it is a good thing.

Right - BED!!!
 
OK - a case in point. My friends down the road have a mass of working spaniels ;) almost each year they breed a litter, one to keep for themselves and the rest to sell ( but not done for profit).

They sold a pupply who returned to them a year later, this dog then went onto a gamekeeper in Wales who unfortunately hit tragic cirumstances and the dog in question was 5 yrs old and it returned to the breeder down the road!

That to me is responsible breeding - no kennel club registration and probably no health checks done, but purely a longevity of good working dogs who have a name of being bred by decent people. This all goes back to me castrating Toby because of his joint issues - yet his pedigree and working abilty would have earned me hundreds if I had used him as a stud dog!

Like I say - its all down to education, common sense and people who don't use their dogs for profit.
 
Ravenwood said:
In that case CC I think you and I are singing from the same Hymn sheet - education is the way forward :)

Soppy, heart pulling prose that anthropomorsism (impressed?) dogs really isn't morally correct.
Click to expand...

...almost. It's anthropomorphism!

Also, presumably micro-chipped lost dogs are safe from the seven-day death threat? Mine is, but that worried me...
 
LOL - I stand corrected!! I couldn't spell it correctly :o but you get the drift ;)

As far as I am aware (and having worked in this industry) a lost dog if reported to the dog warden they will scan for a microchip and one hopes that they have the wherewithall to realise that the chip can move around the body!
 
I have read that before, and yes I am a softy and it does make me feel sad. However I do agree that in some cases, particularly aggressive dogs, it is far kinder to pts rather than keep in kennels for months in the hope the right hope turns up.
Re microchipping, I wouldn't have total faith in microchipping. I found a lost dog and after several attempts to call the number on the collar I called the dog warden. He scanned but no chip showed up, when I did contact the owner it turned out the dog had been chipped but it had obviously moved, DW only checked over his shoulders. :(
 
I also agree that some dogs are better off pts. It always makes me sad when I see rescues saying they need £3000 for surgery for one dog, when for that money so many could be saved. If it was an appeal, RSPCA style, I wouldn't mind so much (i.e. if they received £10,000 from that call for help), but the rescues I know will get e.g. £1500 and then pay the rest on a personal credit card ... which just caused further harm to people and animals in the long run. I am all for giving every animal a chance, but sometimes it's not realistic and the greatest saviour of all is to ensure no more suffering can happen.

ON THE OTHER HAND my soppy side tells me we always have to try! My dog had 5 homes before me and bit several people before she arrived in a decent rescue. They didn't brand her aggressive, they didn't give up on her. She just needed socialising and *ignoring!* .... She's attention seeker number 1 and once she learnt that attention comes by being calm and quiet, she became calm and quiet. Positive or negative attention doesn't make any difference to her ... lucky for her she found a proper rescue with resources in place to help her ... and then give her to me :D :D :D
 
Mmmm,well that is similar to the sheet of paper that arrived in my post a week after I had bought my bull terrier girl from the famous Ormandy kennel back in `71. It basically said all about training/feeding /holiday boarding (difficult breed) and the Welfare scheme for bullies.And ,that owners make good dogs,in other words don`t mess up our puppy please.
Good breeders nowadays give out tons of advice sheets and will always take back and rehome their past puppy sales,but for those days that note was one that made me think.
Maybe THAT piece should be issued with every puppy sold anywhere.
 
RW, get what you are saying, each to their own in terms of breed requirements but for my own breed, I would not call anyone who does not health test their breeding stock a 'responsible' breeder, my breed has the problems it does because people reversed their bitches into dogs and hoped for the best, a few generations ago.
 
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