Monday 14 November 2011

I want that dog/puppy/designer lifestyle :(

Today on Facebook (which I really try not to look at very often) - I saw a dog who looked just like mine.

It is the strangest feeling to look at a dog in a KILL shelter - THAT MEANS, IT WILL SOON BE DEAD IF NO-ONE ADOPTS/FOSTERS - who looks like yours.

You think to yourself, I rescued my dog, and for the last eight years, he has been safe. It could have been different for him.

You look at that other dog, and think, they may not get the chance.

Please people, put away your pedigree puppy aspirations and rescue a dog who maybe only has hours, let alone days to live.

Does that designer puppy really mean so much to you that you will condemn a different dog to death?

Because that puppy you buy, means one more dog, that no-one wants, will end up dead in a shelter (that isn't really a shelter at all - more of a staging post on the way to death).

2 comments:

Vicky said...

Oh Kate, I know, it's so heart wrenching, I've looked at the shelters and sobbed buckets because I've seen a lookalike, like you I think about what the outcome could have been with mine, had they not gone to one of the 'no kill' homes.
Little Sal was in that situation if it hadn't been for the kindly old lady called Ann Fowler (who has since gone to meet all those waiting at the bridge for her), Ann regularly visited a local kill shelter to collect all the ones she thought she could temporarily home before forwarding them to a no kill home, Sal was a day off her 7 day limit when Ann called in and collected her. It could have been oh so different :-(
A big problem is the media, whether it be a TV program, a film or magazines that show the so called 'superstars' with their pedigree dogs, everyone 'wants one of those'
There are a few famous people that have adopted and promote rescues, but the majority want a designer puppy to match their designer lifestyle and until that changes I cannot see any answer.
If the big charities like Dogs Trust, Blue Cross etc can't get the message across our voice is a grain of sand on the beach.
I often think long and hard about what I could do to help solve the situation, but while puppy farms and breeders still exist along with pet owners who say 'Oh he's such a wonderful dog/bitch I want him/her to have pups' there will never be a solution.
Sorry to have taken up such a long post on your blog, but like you it is something very close to my heart that really upsets me :-(
xx

roughseasinthemed said...

Your comment was longer than my blog post!!

I really should be more subtle. There are better ways of saying this message - but sometimes I feel like speaking the fucking truth.

And when someone can explain to me how buying a pedigree puppy saves a rescue dog from death I will be happy to learn. Until then, my view remains the same.