Give a dog a home.
As I opened my e-mails this morning, I knew I would be greeted by the usual “Urgent. Home needed for dog” please. Sure enough, today’s was marked “Beyond urgent”. An elderly dog who had lived with the same family for 9 years was in immediate danger of being put to sleep. Well behaved, used to children and cats, it’s only crime being that the owners were divorcing. The husband had gone to live in a flat where animals were not allowed, and the wife, furious when she discovered he had another woman, told the husband she was putting the dog on the streets. She stood by her threat. All the rescue centres contacted were full, so apart from it being dumped, the dog’s only other alternative was euthanasia.
Hundreds of unwanted dogs are put to sleep in the U.K. every single day.
In total, 30,000 a year.
Rarely is it a dogs fault when they are taken to a pound or put to sleep. Almost always, it is due to human failure. Failure to train a dog correctly, consistently and responsibly. Failure to see a dog as a long term commitment. Failure to treat it as a dog instead of expecting it to understand human logic and failure to give it enough exercise.
Ultimately, dog breeders who just see puppies as pound notes have to bear the biggest responsibility for the epidemic of unwanted dogs, but so too, are the people who see dogs as fashion statements, as toys to amuse their children, or as “pets” which are locked up in an empty house all day whilst the owners are at work.
It doesn’t take long for the fashion to become dated, the toy to bite and the chewed furniture to become a bore. Out goes the dog.
Six months ago my husband and I took on a very old, half blind, half deaf and arthritic Staffordshire cross. She was found wandering, terrified, in and out of traffic on a busy dual carriage way. Despite being micro chipped (she was dumped first time round 15 years previously) the address was out of date and no one came forward to claim her. She spent three bewildering months in a rescue kennels (this in itself was a miracle as most dog pounds euthanise elderly dogs within 7 days) as every prospective owner overlooked her because of her unappealing looks, age and unknown history.
She was a broken soul when she came to our home. Distraught, she walked all day and all night round and round in never-ending circles. She drunk copious amounts of water and soiled the house constantly. At night she howled like a wolf, so loudly there was no doubt the neighbours (and anyone within a mile!) would complain. This continued for two weeks. I swear it felt like two very draining years. At night my husband took to sleeping on the sofa with her and during the day we took it in shifts so she was never left without human company (we have other dogs but she seemed totally oblivious to their existence).
Slowly but surely, little by little, chinks of the dog she once was, began to appear. After 4 weeks she wagged her tail. Once. Just one, solitary swing. It took several days for it to happen again.
As the weeks went by, you could visibly see the burden of her ordeal falling from her shoulders. Her manic drinking lessened (although vets tests show her kidneys are failing) and she is totally housetrained. She relaxes and sleeps so soundly a bomb could go off and not wake her. She has developed a bond with my husband that is so strong, I truly think she would walk to the end of the earth for him. Not only does she now wag her tail constantly, she also shrieks with happiness whilst all four soldier-straight, arthritic legs jump off the ground at the same time.!!
Her transformation was so enormous and rewarding that we decided to take on another, two months later. One more elderly, emotionally crippled creature, homeless due to human failure. Another 29,998 are waiting...
Every day on my computer there is always another, begging for one last chance. Every day my heart breaks. Having witnessed the fragile, empty shell of a bereft dog, fill up and overflow with joy, personality and contentment, I can prove beyond a doubt, that animals feel sadness, stress and grief, every bit as much as a human does.
If you can offer a dog a forever home, contact www.oldies.org.uk or visit the local rescue kennels HYPERLINK "http://www.oldclaytonkennelsandcattery.com/"www.oldclaytonkennelsandcattery.com
Karen Davey . E-mail: K18ren@btconnect.com
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