Death Row Dogs
by Michael Albee
(Originally
posted to the Iowa Dog Trust blog @ http://iowadogtrust.wordpress.com
I was going to write
an article about the things my dog and I did this past
weekend … and we had a great weekend!!! That is, until I read an
alarming article about the amount of dogs and other family pets
being euthinized across the county each and every day.
I can not stress strong enough,
how very important it is, that when you begin the search for a
dog, that you choose the correct dog for your lifestyle and skill
level.
 8,767
dogs and cats died TODAY in shelters across the land. This isn’t
an isolated incident, this happens EVERY DAY. This works out to
3.2 million pets every year or one every 10 seconds. 1 dog and 1
cat have died since you have read this far into this article. And
they were killed ONLY because they didn’t have a home to go to.
Most all of these great pets were
dumped by the side of the road and captured by local animal
control officers, or turned in to a shelter by owners who were
overwhelmed or unable to correct a variety of behavior issues. On
the other hand, some owners just got tired of them and were simply
unwilling to take care of them any more.
Would they still be in a home if
they hadn’t chewed on a shoe? They didn’t know what it was,
but it was leather, and it was on the floor. They were just
playing and no one told taught them not to chew on
it. Someone just yelled at them in a language they didn’t
understand. The real problem was that someone forgot to buy a
few puppy toys and then teach the dog not to play with certain
thing. Or better yet, keep the items out of the dog’s reach so
it couldn’t even get near them.
Would they still be at home if
they had been housebroken properly? Rubbing the dog’s nose in
what it did only made the dog afraid and ashamed that it had to go
potty in the first place. There are some really good books,
videos and obedience trainers that would have been able to
teach that wonderful dog how to go to the door.
Would these dogs still be at home
if they didn’t bring fleas into the house? Without anti-flea
medicine, they couldn’t get them off of themselves after the
owner had left them in the unmowed yard for days on end.
Would they still be at home if
they hadn’t continually barked for hours? It really wasn’t the
dogs fault! They were only saying, “Help, I’m scared,
Hey, I’m lonely, I’m here, I’m here! I want to be your best
friend, come out and play with me.”
Would they still be at home if
they would have tried harder to make their owners happy? Hitting
them and throwing things at them didn’t make them learn.
Would they still be at home if
their owner would have taken a few minute everyday to care for
them, play with them and to teach them a few social skills
and manners?
After a few weeks, the newness
wore off. So they stopped paying any attention to them. But it
wasn’t because the dog didn’t try! They spent all day,
every day waiting for their owners to love them again. But it
didn’t happen … now,
 |
Dear
Human,
“I
died today”.
Love
Always,
Your Puppy ... |
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