Rescues...

I sometimes wish I had a large fenced property set up to run a rescue for dogs....I'd probably have one of every kind...LOL.

We are in the process of searching out a male German Shepherd Dog. It's B's turn to pick out the next dog and she just loves them. I signed up on a GSD message board to learn more, although we have owned one...Cleo was a white GSD/Husky mix..what a stubborn, nippy, smart, exhuberant pup she was! I've been scouring rescues for a young male GSD. We found one that may work with our family and we're waiting on a reply...

As much as I find puppies cute, I don't need a pup. I don't really want to support the breeding industry. When people tell me that they think it'll be great to have a litter of pups from their dog, "because he/she so darn cute, smart, funny"... fill in the blank with whatever and "because people I know would want one", I just roll my eyes. Many times I tell them to go look at the pound because it's full of those puppies that everyone wanted, got tired of dealing with, didn't get fixed and now have made more puppies that were dumped at the pound where many will be euthanized because quite frankly I don't know of a single solitary pound, shelter or rescue that isn't full to the brim with dogs. I get so tired of seeing owners surrendering their 2-3 yr old pet and because they are too cheap or lazy to train it (which by the way makes a 110% difference in your pet), or animal control pics it up half starved because they just let it go. Oh and it's probably pregnant too or got something else pregnant...

Or how about when people move..."we can't take it because the new place doesn't allow dogs"...I guess you didn't try hard enough to find a place. We have moved with large dogs many times. Three times we were in apartments. Guess what? We found atleast a few different apartments in each area that accepted large dogs. Yeah, we had to pay extra, but hey, that's how pet ownership goes. They aren't cheap to have.

I see people with their senior dogs...you know the ones that can't hold their bladder much anymore (there's a pill for that), they're arthritic and can't hardly walk (there's a pill for that), they are going blind-really not a big deal if you aren't moving anytime soon...they adjust well, or ones where their teeth are rotting out-take them to the darned vet and remove them. The owners dump them saying they found an old dog...get real...they just don't want to deal with them anymore...what a nice way to treat the pet that gave you so many years of unconditional love!

Good grief, if you don't want to deal with it anymore, take the dog to your vet, hold it in your lap, stroke it's furry head, tell it you loved it and will miss it as your vet puts it to sleep. That is more humane than some of the other options I've seen people choose. I have a Great Dane. She's huge. She's getting older. She's starting to have issues, but we chose her and she loves us. There will be things that I can't do for her as she gets older just because of her size. She will be humanely put down when the time comes...it's the least I can do for her.

Anyways....sorry for the little rant this morning....just seeing/reading this stuff on message boards and at the animal shelter has just hit my buttons today...besides what are we teaching our kids when we dump their pets? That they are just disposable things? They aren't and I'm so glad my kids know better and I'm glad that they enjoy helping out at the shelter or with dogs they find...