Actual Good News
After months of bad news we could all use some good news. And not some gimmicky anecdote, but real good news.
The Riverside County Animal Shelter has a beautiful problem: It's all out of adoptable animals. “As you can see, we have a completely empty adoption center,” animal services director Julie Bank says in a video posted Wednesday on the California shelter’s Instagram account. She and her coworkers, all wearing masks, throw their arms up and cheer, showing off empty pen after empty pen. A few days earlier, on Sunday, Chicago Animal Care and Control’s Adoptable Pets program had similar news. “CACC has no dogs currently available for adoption,” the shelter told its Facebook followers. “We’ve never typed those words before.” The last adoptable dogs—a “short, squat beefcake” named Penn and a “boisterous babe” named Alley—had found loving homes that day.
All over the country, from New York to Wisconsin and North Carolina to Colorado and New Mexico, animal shelters are reporting massive upswings in the numbers of animals they’ve been able to adopt out or place in foster homes. The reason why is no mystery: As people are practicing social distancing to curb the spread of Covid-19, many have come to the conclusion that now is the perfect time to bring a pet into their homes.
According to Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, the rates of fostering, in particular, have increased by 90 percent in some cities. “Folks who don’t have animals for one reasons or another, because of their work schedule or their travel schedule, that’s all changed right now,” Block says. Some New York City shelters are seeing application numbers at 10 times the normal rate. One Pennsylvania shelter saw its foster application numbers rise from three-to-five per week to 40 per day.
This is a Golden Age for dogs. Suddenly their people are home with them 24/7 and they are getting extra walks. What could be better?
That's not all the good news for animals.
Let's not forget wild animals, that suddenly were in charge.
Comments
I know!
We are part of an animal rescue. The animal shelter in a county next to us can only keep animals for a week, then puts them down. So we take out the dogs and cats, medicine them up, train them, get them to like a home and other animals, then adopt them out. We are down to one dog. Even our harder cases have found people that were not unhappy the dogs needed constant attention to get over emotional trauma, etc. It was kitten season a few months ago. We took in 27 kittens in a week. We are down to one or two that don't have someone claiming them as soon as they are old enough.
But if anyone is looking, we have a chocolate lab, pit mix that was a terrified creature when we first took him in. He is getting more confident every day and loves playing with other dogs!
I really hate being Debbie Downer.
People give up animals very quickly when faced with hard times. I liked hearing this story when it was first noticed a few weeks ago but I knew then that it is a trend that will inevitably reverse. I hope I'm wrong.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
I sure hope people are thinking long term
“Folks who don’t have animals for one reasons or another, because of their work schedule or their travel schedule, that’s all changed right now,”
Eventually these people will be going back to work and returning to their normal schedule.
I am sure there will be
But on the other hand, a lot of people know that getting a dog, especially a puppy, requires a LOT of time of front. However, once trained and accustomed to the rules of the house, that requirement drops considerably. Many of the people that have adopted from us say that is the main reason they delayed getting a dog.
We do background checks. Check their vets, etc. We don't just give dogs or cats to anyone.
But we still get animals back from people that just can't handle them.
I figure a pet is a lifetime commitment
for the life of the pet anyway. I even feel that domestic species bred only to be companions, dogs and cats, we owe a special responsibility to. I don't like "shelters". We shouldn't require them. I understand that pets are a great joy to many peoples lives, but I dislike how we are so cavalier about them. People get pets emotionally. I just wish there were more care.
As I type an 19 month old Australian sleeps under my desk, the place she likes best when people start howling at 8pm. Like all dogs it seems like her greatest joy in life is having a chore to do and completing it well. I hardly deserve her.
I think about adopting a dog
but worry about keeping them healthy. The vet bills I've seen with friend dog owners rival human doctor bills (I do a big gulp at my own). The shelters charge around $450-$500 to adopt (vet care, evaluation etc.) and are very picky about their requirements. The dogs seem to be mainly grown pit or rottie mixes from down south, way bigger than I would feel comfortable with. I guess there's a long waiting list for puppies. Some are problem dogs that get returned to the shelter (for a fee) to be adopted out over and over. Cats are out because of allergies, and I really like dogs.
All my dogs have been free mongrels
The last was a puppy my wife found in a local newspaper "free to good home". When she called and asked what kind od daog she was, they answered "the mother is a mixed breed, the father was a stranger in the night". She (the puppy) resembled her mother but grew up a bit beefier, about beagle size. She looked much like an Australian sheep dog. I saw similar puppies in a Manasses pet shop advertised as beagle/spaniel mix.
The mother was already training the puppies. They had a dog door and when a puppy would squat, she would pick it up with her mouth and take it outside through the dog door. Best dog I ever owned. Non-agressive and loved petting. Didn't bite. Didn't bark. Loved chicken. We went to a county fair. There were other dogs. There were chickens in a coop. The other dogs mostly ignored them, but ours bristled, laid her big floppy ears back, and snarled, crouching like a wolf with a ferocious look in her eye. The chickens went crazy. After that I called her my Virginia Chicken Hound. Well, sometimes we forget, but they are carnivorous predators. Just doing what comes naturally.
She lived 17 years and finally was put down. She got old senile, losing handfuls of fur, digestive troubles (cried with pain after eating) and was generally dull and listless. The vet said we were doing her no favor keeping her alive. I figured a dog that can't enjoy eating doesn't have a life. So I let him give her a massive shot of Quaaludes.
EDIT:
Anyway, none of my mutts needed those multi-thousand dollar hip operations like inbred dogs need. They were generally healthy and only needed regular checkups and minor treatment. There is a national campaign to wipe out mongrels. IMHO they are the best of dogs. I don't need a dog with a better pedigree than mine!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
You and you pup
sound very fortunate. I don't think I ever saw an ad for a "free dog". The shelter dogs run about $400-$500 and the pures $1500-$2500. My son adopted a dog that was returned to the shelter who we think is a Basenji-Corgi mix he called Bernie. It'll take a while to get him trained, but Bernie will eventually get my son whipped into line.
I thought shelter dogs were free.
Now i know better.
Another dog we had was by chance. My daughter was three. We were having a last picnic in the Cook County Forest Preserve, Dam #2 woods. She was bugging me for a dog. I said we would get a dog when we got to Virginia. Just then a group of teens with a beagle that I had noticed came up to us. They said the woman in the Ford station wagon had gone into the woods with a box and come out without it. She had abandoned a litter of puppies and the beagle found it. Well, I had just promised my daughter a dog. Her little eyes were still closed, a newborn. We took her to a vet who guessed that she was a lab-shepherd mix and gave us a formula. We mixed distilled water, skim milk, unflavored yogurt and strained Junior beef in a blender. it looked and smelled like barf. The puppy loved it! And drained her bottle. a little coaxing to get her started then she never stopped until the bottle was empty. those big dogs are born hungry unlike small dogs that sometimes have to coaxed to eat. bad part was she ripped up my hand with those sharp claws batting it as she drank. My wife took over feeding and wore work gloves. She was very obedient. my wife got her a rhinestone collar took her for walks without a leash. She didn't stray far and always stuck close to my wife. After a month I left for Virginia. The dog grew and grew. My wife got worried and gave the dog to her sister. a year later we came back to Chicago to visit. the dog jumped on me, knocked me down and sat on my lap. The dog weighed 160 pounds, twenty pounds more than me! I guess she remembered me because she was very excited and kept pushing her head into my hand. I think she remembered me trying to wean her with bits of bacon and strips of fried chicken which she would suck down. I didn't think she would remember me.
How can someone abandon puppies in the woods? At least take them to be killed humanely.
Unwanted because no papers? She was healthy, kind, loyal, and loving. What more would anyone want from a companion. at least run the ad in the local paper, "Free to good home."
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.