What the heck?

Next month in August I will have been involved in dog rescue for 32 years.  I began at the age of 23 and now I am older than dirt at 55.  And still, after all these years, just when you think you have 'seen everything', something else will come along to let you know most people are not much sharper than a marble when it comes to taking good care of their pets.

Rumor: "All dogs can swim"... My husband retired from the LAPD and he has always said he has pulled far too many dead dogs out of swimming pools each year while on the job.  Usually in the spring, he makes me get into the pool with each dog and we water test them for the year.  The point of this exercise is not to really see if they can swim, but if they know where the steps are to climb out.

Yesterday was Momma's test... and no --- not all dogs can swim.  While Momma can do a lot of things, and some extraordinarily well, swimming is not on her asset list.  I can absolutely command her to do some things and I would bet the mortgage payment she will respond and immediately without hesitation or question.  But swimming?  While I was thinking she'd do OK with this new experience, not only did I have to carry her into the pool, I had to sit with her on the first step and 'quiet coo' into her ear to calm her down enough to sit with me in the water.

Once I got her back into a quiet state and tried to explore going further, Momma was having nothing of this at all.  I released her and she immediately got out of the pool and stayed out!  Then barked at ME pretty heavily because I was still in the pool.  Throwing her toss toy (her FAVORITE thing to do) into the pool made no difference.  Well, at least we know she won't accidentally drown, 'cause that pool and she will never meet again no matter what!

• Pool Safety Tips
• Keep Your Dog Safe Around Pools This Summer

Rumor:  "Oh, it's not really that hot"... At least once a week, someone comes into our rescue shop and tells us about a dog sitting in a car in the mall's parking lot with the windows cracked. 

By California law, your car window can be broken to get a dog out of a hot car, but there will still be folks that are 'going to run into the store for just a second' and leave their pooches in the car to cook.  We see it happen all the time and it makes the news as well... But will any of these incidents teach people to stop doing this practice?  Nope, sorry...

When it reaches 70 degrees (and some reports say 60 degrees), it is too hot to leave your dog in a car, cracked windows or not.

• Even 60 Degrees Is Too Hot For Your Pet 
• Pets in Hot Cars 

Heartbreak of a dog turned into a shelter recently

Rumor: "I can't keep my dog because...."  This is one thing we hear all the time and as rescuers, we become quite jaded because of the huge amount of dogs being given up by people. 

I have had an adopter return a dog to me because it no longer matched the new carpeting she put in her home. 

Now, you would have thought if matching the carpet was that important, and she truly loved the little dog she had adopted from me, she would have thought this all out before she had new carpet installed, right?

And yes, I thought it was unique to me, but on the list of the most ridiculous reasons people give up pets, this mindset showed up (along with someone who gave up their dog because they thought the dog was gay - OMG!)

Companion Animal Psychology did a research project on this rumor and what I found interesting to read was an underlying cause of 'dis-connect' that was going on... And you can't really say that isolationists who usually dis-connect fall into the same category - they tend to dis-connect from humans and yet?  Some groups (i.e. the homeless society) tend to be much more connected to their pets than the average pet owner --- so much so, they will give up an opportunity for a bath or even a home so they are allowed to keep their pet!!


Now, I don't have the answer for why so many people give up their pets and flood our shelters... Even in almost 32 years, I don't have any real answers that I can say were valid for giving up a pet you have loved, fed and probably even slept with for years...

What I have done is to give time and energy towards someone keeping their pet if I sense they truly don't want to give up their furry BFF... And the majority of these folks have ended up keeping their pets simply because they now found a solution to the problem that was forcing the surrender.  There are MANY rental properties that will allow folks to keep their pets, and most behavior problems can be trained out and corrected.  But if someone is not 'connected' and suffers from a form of 'dis-connect', that is not something any of us in the humane community can fix.

A puppy might be cute and tug at your heart strings, but if you take your time, go ahead and sleep on it, BUT set your alarm for 3AM ('cause if you going to adopt a puppy, they are going to wake you up at this time to go potty), you will usually have a change of heart.  I would say just about everyone I have given this piece of advice to has called me back the next day to say they have reconsidered the idea of adopting a puppy, and the majority of them have instead adopted an older dog that is past that stage.

Bottom line is that you have to care - plan and simple.  And if you don't have compassion for young children, the sick or the elderly, you really aren't cut out for owning a pet.

• Top 10 Reasons Dogs End Up in Shelters by Cesar Milan