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An elderly couple who left their 13 ½ year old Dachshund tied outside of the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter near Los Angeles with a note asking for him to put to sleep because they could not afford to care for him will be reunited with the dog.
Leaving a dog tied-up to the outside of a shelter is inhumane, and most-likely illegal. Someone with ill intent could have taken the dog, weather conditions could have harmed the elderly dog, any wildlife (ants, raccoon, hawk...) could have attacked the dog, etc.
It seems to me like the owners who abandoned the dog were both lazy & cowardly, unwilling to surrender the dog properly, because it would have meant that they would have had to look eye to eye with other humans. Not going that route, even though doing so would have benefited the dog, is cowardice.
I have been volunteering in the right area of a public animal shelter many times to witness the sad event of a person --or entire family-- at least caring & being responsible enough to show-up at the shelter during normal operating hours to surrender an animal, or specifically bring the animal in for euthanasia. Some of the people simply didn't want the dog or cat any more (no reason beyond that...). These were also usually the same type of worthless people that never bothered to train or socialize the animal to begin with, which usually meant it was very fear-aggressive & thus pretty much an automatic death-sentence for the animal (I fostered many dogs that came to the shelter in such circumstances & 'saved' a handful, but many were killed). While the poor animal is sitting in a kennel during the holding period waiting death, the stupid humans are enjoying no-longer having to deal with the 'hassle' of the animal & are pretending that the creature they dumped will magically get adopted out & live happily ever after.
What if this were a human baby, or a 90 year old human woman that was tied-up to a pole outside a doctor's office or retirement home at night? Does it really make a difference if there's some sob-story letter left? If I broke into your house & stole your jewelry, but left behind a note apologizing & saying I need to sell your jewelry because I am a 70 year old homeless, one-legged minority Vietnam War veteran needing money, does that make you feel any better?
There *ARE* charity groups & veterinarians that are willing to work with responsible pet owners that do have issues making it difficult to continue to care for their animal, providing free or heavily discounted medical care, free pet food delivered to the home (Meals on Wheels has started doing this), free fostering if the human gets sick, etc.
I'm glad the dog was found alive. I'm glad some rescue organization got involved. I realize just about no-one would want to adopt a 13.5 year old Dachshund (though that is the exact type of dog that I & at least a few others around the country *do* seek out to adopt/hospice), but my care and compassion is for the dog & it's well-being, not the humans who illegally dumped it, no matter what sob-story they gave.
I will never, ever forget just arriving at the shelter one day to volunteer, and seeing an elderly woman walking with an elderly dog in the parking lot. They were headed to the shelter entrance used for people surrendering animals, and I intercepted them in the parking lot, stating I was a volunteer & asking if I could help with anything. Turns out she had an appointment to have the elderly, frail, blind dog that had cancer euthanised. While we were walking to the entrance, she told me what a wonderful life the dog had with her & her family over the past 15 years, but that it's 'Time' had come. I felt very emotional because here she was, bringing the dog in on her own. She was very stoic about it, but once I got them inside the building, I pet the dog for a while but then I just had to go home (my emotions were compounded by one of my own dogs recently dying).
Witnessing things like that, I have no respect or sympathy for a person or persons that take the cowardly, cruel & illegal approach or just tying a dog up outside a shelter & then basically running away, putting the animal in discomfort & at high risk because they were too lazy to come back when the shelter was open, or embarrassed to face another person to surrender the animal.
While some of you are saying what a wonderful, happy ending this is, I'm thinking how the bottom-line is that the owners of the dog are now being rewarded for their irresponsible behavior, and how it may entice more people to also take this cowardly route.
Well Doggie, you are entitled to your opinion but rescues AREN'T in the business of giving dogs back to irresponsible people so MAYBE just MAYBE they had reason to feel there were circumstances at play that were beyond the owners control and MAYBE if you read the article you would see that.
The "what ifs" you provided really don't hold water either because they didn't reflect what happened...where the heck breaking into someones house and stealing came from, I don't even know. The situations simply cannot be compared logically.
Well Doggie, you are entitled to your opinion but rescues AREN'T in the business of giving dogs back to irresponsible people so MAYBE just MAYBE they had reason to feel there were circumstances at play that were beyond the owners control and MAYBE if you read the article you would see that.
Leaving a dog tied-up to the outside of a shelter is inhumane, and most-likely illegal. Someone with ill intent could have taken the dog, weather conditions could have harmed the elderly dog, any wildlife (ants, raccoon, hawk...) could have attacked the dog, etc.
It seems to me like the owners who abandoned the dog were both lazy & cowardly, unwilling to surrender the dog properly, because it would have meant that they would have had to look eye to eye with other humans. Not going that route, even though doing so would have benefited the dog, is cowardice.
I have been volunteering in the right area of a public animal shelter many times to witness the sad event of a person --or entire family-- at least caring & being responsible enough to show-up at the shelter during normal operating hours to surrender an animal, or specifically bring the animal in for euthanasia. Some of the people simply didn't want the dog or cat any more (no reason beyond that...). These were also usually the same type of worthless people that never bothered to train or socialize the animal to begin with, which usually meant it was very fear-aggressive & thus pretty much an automatic death-sentence for the animal (I fostered many dogs that came to the shelter in such circumstances & 'saved' a handful, but many were killed). While the poor animal is sitting in a kennel during the holding period waiting death, the stupid humans are enjoying no-longer having to deal with the 'hassle' of the animal & are pretending that the creature they dumped will magically get adopted out & live happily ever after.
What if this were a human baby, or a 90 year old human woman that was tied-up to a pole outside a doctor's office or retirement home at night? Does it really make a difference if there's some sob-story letter left? If I broke into your house & stole your jewelry, but left behind a note apologizing & saying I need to sell your jewelry because I am a 70 year old homeless, one-legged minority Vietnam War veteran needing money, does that make you feel any better?
There *ARE* charity groups & veterinarians that are willing to work with responsible pet owners that do have issues making it difficult to continue to care for their animal, providing free or heavily discounted medical care, free pet food delivered to the home (Meals on Wheels has started doing this), free fostering if the human gets sick, etc.
I'm glad the dog was found alive. I'm glad some rescue organization got involved. I realize just about no-one would want to adopt a 13.5 year old Dachshund (though that is the exact type of dog that I & at least a few others around the country *do* seek out to adopt/hospice), but my care and compassion is for the dog & it's well-being, not the humans who illegally dumped it, no matter what sob-story they gave.
I will never, ever forget just arriving at the shelter one day to volunteer, and seeing an elderly woman walking with an elderly dog in the parking lot. They were headed to the shelter entrance used for people surrendering animals, and I intercepted them in the parking lot, stating I was a volunteer & asking if I could help with anything. Turns out she had an appointment to have the elderly, frail, blind dog that had cancer euthanised. While we were walking to the entrance, she told me what a wonderful life the dog had with her & her family over the past 15 years, but that it's 'Time' had come. I felt very emotional because here she was, bringing the dog in on her own. She was very stoic about it, but once I got them inside the building, I pet the dog for a while but then I just had to go home (my emotions were compounded by one of my own dogs recently dying).
Witnessing things like that, I have no respect or sympathy for a person or persons that take the cowardly, cruel & illegal approach or just tying a dog up outside a shelter & then basically running away, putting the animal in discomfort & at high risk because they were too lazy to come back when the shelter was open, or embarrassed to face another person to surrender the animal.
While some of you are saying what a wonderful, happy ending this is, I'm thinking how the bottom-line is that the owners of the dog are now being rewarded for their irresponsible behavior, and how it may entice more people to also take this cowardly route.
I agree with you. However, what is most important now is what is best for the dog. And though those people don't, in my opinion, deserve to have their dog back, the dog deserves to be with his people. So even though it sucks that they were rewarded for such hideous treatment, the most important thing is the dog is where he belongs and getting the care he needs.
Sadly though, because of this so called "heartwarming" story, it will invite more people to abandon their pets.
They didn't really abandon him. Abandoning would have been leaving him in the woods or someplace to starve to death or get attacked by another animal. They left him tied up so he would stay in place in an area where caregivers could find him. Often you cannot just walk into a shelter and just give an animal up, with some shelters you have to be on a wait list and they didn't feel there was time for that if this was the situation. Or maybe they are just old and and tired and afraid and that's what they thought they should do at the moment. It doesn't look as if they put this dog in danger under the circumstances.
Now that they have the funds for the dog to be taken care of, it will be monitored because of all the publicity that has been given them. The welfare of the dog, at the end of the day, is what matters. Who else is going to take in and care for a 13 year old ailing dog?
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