I recieved this e-mail from a friend of mine who does dog rescues, and I just wanted to share it with everyone. Sad, but true. CeCe Dear Mr. and Mrs. Average Idiot,

We receive an extremely high volume of
inquiries and requests to
accept surrendered animals. To help us
expedite your problem as
quickly as possible, please observe the
following guidelines:

1. Do not say that you are, "considering
finding a good home,"
or, "feel you might be forced to," or, "really
think it would be
better if," you unloaded the poor beast.
Ninety-five percent of you
already have your minds stenciled made up that
the animal will be
out of your life by the weekend or holiday at
the latest. Say so. If
you don't, I'm going to waste a lot of time
giving you common-sense,
easy solutions for very fixable problems, and
you're going to waste
a lot of time coming up with fanciful reasons
why the solution
couldn't possibly work for you. For instance,
you say the cat claws
the furniture, and I tell you about nail
clipping and scratching
posts and aversion training, and then you go
into a long harangue
about how your husband won't let you put a
scratching post in the
family room, and your ADHD daughter cries if
you use a squirt bottle
on the cat, and your congenital thumb
abnormalities prevent you from
using nail scissors and etc., etc. Just say
you're getting rid of
the cat.

2. Do not waste time trying to convince me how
nice and humane you
are. Your coworker recommended that you
contact me because I am nice
to animals, not because I am nice to people,
and I don't like people
who "get rid of" their animals. "Get rid of,"
is my least favorite
phrase in any language. I hope someone, "gets
rid of" you someday. I
am an animal advocate, not a people therapist.
After all, you can
get counselors, special teachers, doctors,
social workers, etc., for
your ADHD daughter. Your pet has only me, and
people like me, to
turn to in his or her need, and we are
overworked, stressed out, and
demoralized. So don't tell me this big long
story about how, "We
love this dog so much, and we even bought him
a special bed that
cost $50, and it is just killing us to part
with him, but honestly,
our maid is just awash in dog hair every time
she cleans, and his
breath sometimes just reeks of liver, so you
can see how hard we've
tried, and how dear he is to us, but we really
just can't ... ."

You are not nice, and it is not killing you.
It is, in all
probability, literally killing your dog, but
you're going to be just
fine once the beast is out of your sight.
Don't waste my time trying
to make me like you or feel sorry for you in
your plight.

3. Do not try to convince me that your pet is
exceptional and
deserves special treatment. I don't care if
you taught him to sit. I
don't care if she's a beautiful Persian. I
have a waiting list of
battered and/or whacked out animals who really
need help, and I have
no room to shelter your pet because you
decided you no longer have
time for your 14-year-old Lab. Do not send me
long messages
detailing how Fido just l-o-v-e-s blankies and
carries his favorite
blankie everywhere, and oh, when he gets all
excited and happy, he
spins around in circles, isn't that cute? He
really is darling, so
it wouldn't be any trouble at all for us to
find him a good home.
Listen, we can go down to the pound and count
the darling, spinning,
blankie loving beasts on death row by the
dozens, any day of the
week. And, honey, Fido is a six-year-old
shepherd mix weighing 75
pounds. I am not lying when I tell you big,
older, mixed breed,
garden-variety dogs are almost always
completely unadoptable, and I
don't care if they can whistle Dixie or send
smoke signals with
their blankies. What you don't realize, though
you're trying to lie
to me, you're actually telling the truth: Your
pet is a special,
wonderful, amazing creature. But this mean old
world does not care.
More importantly, you do not care, and I can't
fix that problem.

All I can do is grieve for all the exceptional
animals who live
short, brutal, loveless lives and die without
anyone ever
recognizing they were indeed very, very
special.

4. Finally, just, for God' s sake, for the
animal's sake, tell the
truth, and the whole truth. Do you think if
you just mumble your cat
is, "high-strung," I will say, "Okey-doke! No
problem!" and take it
into foster care? No, I will start asking
questions and uncover the
truth, which is your cat has not used a litter
box in the last six
months. Do not tell me you "can't" crate your
dog. I will ask what
happens when you try to crate him, and you
will either be forced to
tell me the symptoms of full-blown, severe
separation anxiety, or
else you will resort to lying some more,
wasting more time.

And, if you succeed in placing your pet in a
shelter or foster care,
do not tell yourself the biggest lie of all:
"Those nice people will
take him and find him a good home, and
everything will be fine."
those nice people will indeed give the animal
every possible chance,
but if we discover serious health or behavior
problems, if we find
that your misguided attempts to train or
discipline him have driven
him over the edge, we will do what you are too
immoral and cowardly
to do: We will hold the animal in our arms,
telling him truthfully
he is a good dog or cat, telling him truthfully
we are sorry and we
love him, while the vet ends his life. How can
we be so heartless as
to kill your pet, you ask?

Do not ever dare to judge us.

At least we tried. At least we stuck with him
to the end. At least
we never abandoned him to strangers, as you
certainly did, didn't
you? In short, this little old rescuer/foster
momma has reached the
point where she would prefer you tell it like
it is:

"We picked up a free pet in a parking lot a
couple of years ago. Now
we don't want it anymore. We're lazier than we
thought. We've got no
patience either. We're starting to suspect the
animal is really
smarter than we are, which is giving us
self-esteem issues. Clearly,
we can't possibly keep it. Plus, it might be
getting sick; it's
acting kind of funny.

"We would like you to take it in eagerly,
enthusiastically, and
immediately. We hope you'll realize what a deal
you're getting and
not ask us for a donation to help defray your
costs. After all, this
is an (almost) pure-bred animal, and we'll send
the leftover food
along with it. We get it at the discount store,
and boy, it's a
really good deal.

"We are very irritated you haven't shown pity on
us in our great
need and picked the animal up already. We
thought you people were
supposed to be humane! Come and get it today.
No, we couldn't
possibly bring it to you; the final episode of
'Survivor' is on
tonight."

Author Unknown

What the h@#$? I'm totally lost on that one :(

I actually agree with everything the post says. I think that is great and working at shelters as many years as I have that is so true.
People get a pet and dump it like its tomorrows trash because society is lazy and does not want an animal that they have to put time into.
We have even had people bring in Bettas because it is a pain to clean the bowl. WTF ? How are people so lazy that they cant take two minutes a week to change 1/2 the water in a one gallon bowl.
If you have ever rescued or fostered dogs you will get very tired of people and there lame excuses.
i THINK THAT IS A GREAT POST!!

Ok, I had to read it two times to get it I must be alittle slow:). That email so right on point,people get puppies and pets because their cute but when they get big or have behavorial problems they take the easy way out. To top it off they try to make it look like their being good owners by giving them away so they have a good home. GET REAL....

Boy, the cold hard truth! Wish people would read this before they adopt or purchase an animal and think twice if they do not want to put the effort necessary in it.

I don't know how anyone could ever bring themselves to give up a pet if it wasn't absolutely necessary.
In one of my earlier posts I wrote about adopting a GSD mix from the shelter and having to return her because of aggression and temperament problems. It was an agonizing decision and was only made after consulting with 2 dog trainers, the vet, and a specialist in animal behavior, and even still it was absolutely heartbreaking to have to take her back. But she was emotionally damaged by abuse beyond what anyone could do to help her. I only had her for 3 weeks and I don't even comprehend how you could have an animal for months/years and then just take it and give it away without a really, REALLY good reason.

In the face truth... every person that ditchs a pet should read that, it kinda makes you wonder why they even attempt to take a pet? then to just throw it away when they are done? my gosh i can barly go to the store with out missing my little guy so much i rush right home..
This is sad but true..

That's a good one alright. Think about how many parents try to buy their kids love by getting them a pet only to realize the kid only wants what he can't have. If only people would really stop and think about how much work and responsibility it is to properly care for a pet... we wouldn't have so many homeless cats and dogs sitting in shelters waiting for adoption.

I got the best phone call yesterday and I wish I had the lady's e-mail address so I could forward this to her.

" We're looking for a puppy because our kids want one. We don't know anything about the breed - so please spoon feed me everything I want to know - but don't tell me the downfalls of the breed because I have my heart set on one because they are so cute and I don't have the brains to realize no dog is perfect. I don't want to spend what you're asking for your puppies - so can you sell one to me for the price I'm willing to pay? I also want one RIGHT now - so can I have it when it's 6-7 weeks old even though your told me that you hold all your pups until 9 weeks. What do you mean I'm going to pay more than $300 for a well bred, good quality dog of this breed? Why would anyone sell a puppy for that much? I found some in the paper for $100... but they don't have a female, and my kids already have a little girl name picked out. Oh, and by the way, I don't want to spay her because I would like to have a couple of litters of puppies out of her in order to get my money back on what I paid for her and hopefully pay for all her costs for the rest of her life... What do you mean you shouldn't just let the dog have puppies in the garage? Dogs can have c-sections??? What are "color genetics"? Don't ALL Sheltie just come in brown - like Lassie? You run a WAITING list? Why do you do that? ...."

ARGH.... I get phone calls like this about once a week from people looking for a dog RIGHT now that know next to nothing about the breed and also think they are going to start breeding dogs because they see how much breeder's are selling puppies for and figure they can make a buck or two. I have NO doubt in my mind that even after I explained to this same lady that she doesn't want a Sheltie puppy that is kennel raised (they tend to be really high strung and barky) and that she wants a good health guarantee that she turned around and called the "Puppy Farm" that is 45 minutes from her (she was 6 hours from me) that happens to advertise on the same site as I do and probably got a puppy that was ready to go home that same day for $300 with breeding rights. It also probably has a parasite problem (the breeder is known for sending out puppies with coccidia, giardia, and worms), is undersized, has terrible bone structure and conformation, and since I know the breeder has a problem with LP and Elbow Displaysia in her line - but only has a 1 year guarantee that covers ONLY hips and eyes - she also probably has a dog that has some kind of joint problem - which she'll discover after she breeds the dog the first time because she'll undoubtedly let her have puppies on her first or second heat cycle...

I HATE people who want instant gratification - and instant gratification works just as well in getting rid of the dog as it does in aquiring it... My vet techs have a variety of animals that people have brought in with minor health issues that require surgery and want them put down rather than shelling out the $1000 for the sugery to correct it. They have the owner sign a release saying they are surrendering the animal, the clinic does the surgery and then one of the vet techs or vet's end up with it. There are 3 clinic cats that have either amputated legs or a missing eye... People just don't want to deal with something that is less than ideal.

On the other side, last time I was in the clinic I guy came in with his dog that had been hiking with him and had fallen from a small cliff. She broke both her back legs and the guy was telling the vet that he would do whatever it took to make sure she was well again - money wasn't an issue and he didn't care what he had to do as far as rehab...

Rather than go into a tirade about what I've seen and heard people do...I'll just say I had to wipe away a couple of tears after reading that. It is a shame that something we care about so much can be just thrown away so callously by someone claiming to care even more. Don't tell me about your intentions and good-heartedness, SHOW me is the attitude most of us develop after a few exposures to the shallow people who get a vanity pet. I don't even work in any area of the pet industry but I try to learn as much as possible because it is the responsible thing to do. It has helped but it has also targeted me for every coworker or kid in the neighborhood who got something they can't keep after it isn't cute anymore to try to get me to agree that they've done all they can. Sorry, no can do.

Abby....I think those same folks are calling me too! lmao
I love the...I am getting the puppy for my daughter...she really wants one, it will be for her....
"how old is your daughter" Answer" 8 months
Riiight, geesh

Rescuers are no angels either. Their attitude is often what makes people come up with those excuses or just avoid the confrontation and the lecture that is sure to come and dump them at the local shelter, or worse, dump them in the street. If they really care about the dogs’ well being, they should just take them and keep their mouth shut. Berating the person and questioning their reasons may help ease their frustration and make them feel better, but it doesn’t help the situation one bit.

I had a breeder friend who had 10 dogs. Unfortunately, he lived in an area not zoned for more the 3 dogs, so he could not get a kennel license. One day the AC showed up and gave him 2 weeks to get rid of 7 or they’ll take them and fine him.
They were mostly older dogs, so he couldn’t find anyone to adopt them in the short time he had.

As last resort, he contacted a breed rescue group to see if they can help.
They came over and gave him hell for being a breeder. They made him feel lower then dirt. They could not care less that he didn’t want to get rid of the dogs and that he was forced to. After an hour of degrading comments, they agreed to take 5 dogs if he get them fixed first which he agreed. They also wanted him to fix the remaining dogs he had as a condition for their help but he refused. That brought some more verbal assault upon him. If he didn’t care about his dogs, he would have thrown those people out after 2 min, but instead he bit his tongue and took the abuse as long as his dogs will be taken care of. Finally, they agreed to take the 5 dogs. Then he had to take the remaining 2 that the rescuers did not want to the pound where he got some more dirty looks and snooty comments for doing something they forced him to do.