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First Comes Fido or Fluffy, Then Comes Baby

August 27th, 2010

Hershey was given up due to the kids

People give up their pets for many different reasons, but one of the saddest, I think, is because the owners had a baby or family dynamics changed, adding stepchildren to the mix.

Our first rescue, Hershey, came to us indirectly because she didn’t get along well with the family’s children. The owners gave their then 5-year-old miniature Dacshund, which had been their baby before having their own children, to the grandparents, who then decided she didn’t “fit their lifestyle.”

They admitted to us that their grandchildren tormented Hershey without repercussion from the parents. They knew she needed a home void of kids, but threatened to take her to the municipal shelter anyway, where temperament testing would have labeled her as “unadoptable.” We did adopt her and she lived her remaining years happy and spoiled.

A new study in Indiana revealed that people’s feelings toward their pets do tend to change after they have children. Pets that were once doted upon and sometimes treated as children are replaced by the human ones.

Some pets are luckier than others, being shuffled off to the backyard or into the basement, instead of being relinquished to the municipal kill shelter (some people even still believe the myth that cats will smother babies in their cribs). This paper demonstrates that “lifestyle” changes, including having children, was one of the top 10 reasons people give up their once beloved 4-legged family members.

However, parents do not have to choose one over the other. While it is understandable priorities change when parents add human kids to their household, it is possible to include everyone and every dog and cat into the mix. Proper planning and pet socialization can help your pet accept the new baby from Day 1; and keeping your pet as part of the family will also teach your human children to love and respect animal life from Day 1.

Smoky, the German Shepherd that was part of my parent’s household before I was even born, remained a vital part of our family until she died at a ripe old age when I was a teenager. From the first day I came home from the hospital, she protected me by warning anyone – except my parents – away from my crib. Her presence in my life shaped how I view animals and taught me invaluable lessons about unconditional love, loyalty and respect for other living beings.

Next week, we’ll meet a family who successfully integrated baby and pets and learn about the rewards they’ve experienced.

Have you rescued a dog or cat given up because a family had a baby?

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Tags: babies and pets, First Comes Fido or Fluffy then comes baby, giving up pets due to the kids
Posted in K9 Rescue | 4 Comments »

Do Puppy Mill Laws Help Reduce the Numbers?

August 20th, 2010

Puppy Mill

When speaking with a friend last week who has a rescue in Missouri, we were discussing some ideas on how to reduce the dogs and cats that find their way into the municipal shelter and if they’re lucky, eventually into her rescue.

One of the main problems in Missouri is that it is the Puppy Mill Capital of the Country and is home to more than one third of the nation’s puppy mills.

We discussed Proposition B, which will be on the ballot in Missouri in November. The proposed legislation would require people with more than 10 breeding dogs to meet new standards for housing, veterinary care and food. It would limit breeders to 50 dogs.

I expressed hope that the bill, if passed, would put some of the puppy millers out of business. According to ABC News, similar legislation in Pennsylvania, which competed with Missouri annually for the most puppy mills, put many puppy millers out of business.

The number of mills in Pennsylvania was reduced from over 300 to just 111 at the beginning of the year.

The cost to comply with the law was just too much for many Pennsylvania puppy millers and they went out of business. That law, however, is the toughest in the country, requiring dogs to have access to the outside to feel grass beneath their feet. It also requires them to do away with wire bottom cages and doesn’t allow the stacking of cages any longer.

Several other states, including Louisiana, enacted tougher puppy mill laws in 2008.

It’s unclear what, if any difference Missouri’s Proposition B, would make in the number of puppy mills in the state. My friend expressed doubts that such legislation would do much, if anything to reduce the amount of puppy mills. She told me she has a neighbor who has been cited several times for USDA violations and he just closes and reopens under another name.

I see her point. I’ve written stories on puppy mills since 2000 and have seen numerous mills violated on several occasions and continue to run business as usual. In one instance, a miller simply closed, sold her property in Kansas and moved on to Colorado.

Do you think tougher puppy mill laws are helping reduce the number of unwanted pets, or will, once more states enact them?

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Tags: do puppy mill laws help reduce the numbers, missouri proposition b, puppy mill
Posted in K9 Rescue | 7 Comments »

In the Minds of Animal Hoarders

August 13th, 2010

I watched a couple of episodes of Animal Planet’s new show, “Confessions: Animal Hoarding.”

I knew little about animal hoarding, except that the people doing it most often feel they are somehow saving the animals, even when the pets are clearly in poor condition and often sick and dying.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, the Humane Society of the U.S. estimates that 250,000 pets are the victims of animal hoarders.

Little is known about the disorder that triggers hoarding, but it is believed hoarders have an attachment disorder. “They have a desperate need to be attached and to control another living creature,” says Mary Lou Randour, director of professional outreach in the animal cruelty and fighting campaign for the HSUS. “But they are in denial and don’t see the suffering.”

A few months ago, after interviewing Madeline Bernstein, president of the SPCALA for the story on Scooch and pet trusts, I saw her on the Dr. Phil show with an animal hoarder. She seemed very sympathetic to the hoarder. I wondered how anyone in animal welfare could be sympathetic to anyone neglecting and killing animals.

I didn’t understand until I watched the shows on animal hoarding, which had me crying in sympathy with the people involved as much as I was for the pets.

The show really brings to light the fact that these people absolutely do not understand what they’re doing. “It’s like someone who is anorexic being on the verge of death, but they still see themselves as fat,” says Randour. “We all think, ‘how can they not see that’? But the disorder distorts the reality.”

Here are some of the signs someone you love or a neighbor might be headed toward hoarding:

• Hoarders often start out by rescuing homeless animals. They maybe be know in their communities for doing this and people may even routinely dump unwanted animals at their door. Hoarders sometimes pose as legitimate, non-profit 501C3 rescues.
• Hoarders are usually slightly older and usually have suffered a major loss in their lives or maybe overcame a very troubled time such as winning the fight with a major illness.
• Hoarders will most often think they are the only ones who can care for the animals.

How can you help the animals in a hoarding situation and the hoarder:

• If you think a family member might be headed toward hoarding, intervene immediately before the situation gets out of hand. One of our Rescue Me readers commented several weeks ago that her mother had rescued several cats and suddenly found herself with more than she could care for. It’s unknown if that reader’s mother was headed toward hoarding, but that is exactly how it starts, says Randour. “Step in and be direct and have a plan in place,” says Randour. “Find good homes or rescues for all but 2-3 animals.” (of course, make sure those remaining pets are spayed/neutered)
• Randour says if it is a neighbor or a friend, you can try to talk to them and help them, but if the situation is already out of control, reporting the issue to authorities is necessary. “Reporting is not doing anyone a disservice. The animals need our help because they depend on us for protection, but the people need help too.”
• If the neighbor is elderly, you might also try calling elder services. “Depending on how bad of a situation it is, it’s probably a housing or health violation,” says Randour. “Call the police if you feel the person is in danger.”
• Even after the situation is under control – the animals have been taken away and the person says they are receiving counseling – keep your eyes open. Hoarders have a very high rate of repeating the behavior.

Have you ever known a hoarder or do you think someone you know might be on their way to hoarding?

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Buster’s Heroes

August 6th, 2010

Buster before he was injured

Jodi Robinette was tired of returning to her home in Littleton, Colorado to an empty house everyday.

She felt she needed the unconditional love of a dog and knew she was ready to also return that unconditional love.

She couldn’t have known that just two months later, that unconditional love for Buster, a Chihuahua mix she adopted from The Dumb Friends League in Denver, would be thrown in the national media spotlight.

At the same time, two pit bulls would be hailed as heroes for saving Buster from an uncertain fate for at least the second time in his life.

Last Saturday morning, Buster awoke Jodi at 6:30 to go outside. “I went outside to make sure everything was ok because there are woods and I’ve seen foxes around,” says Jodi. Buster did his business and they came back inside. “He wanted to immediately go back out and sniff and play,” says Jodi.

Not seeing any danger, she let Buster out of the back door and just as she got sat down on the couch, she heard the “worst scream I’ve ever heard anything make,” Jodi recalls.

By the time she crossed the 10 feet and got out the back door and around the house, she saw a coyote shaking Buster violently in its mouth.

She ran after the coyote screaming. The coyote ran, shaking Buster as it made its way to the middle of an open field.

The coyote suddenly stopped and dropped Buster.

That’s when Jodi saw a neighbor’s two pit bulls coming after the coyote. When the wild animal dropped Buster, they stopped and surrounded the tiny, terrified 4-year-old dog.

“They were circling him and licking him under a bush,” says Jodi. Her brother had pit bulls and she didn’t have some of the biases against the breed played up by media hysteria.

“I was never afraid that the pit bulls were going to harm him, I knew they were there to protect and coddle Buster.”

The neighbor, who had been out with her pitties, brought Jodi a blanket and she had him at the Columbine Animal Hospital and Emergency Clinic within 7 minutes. Buster spent 3 days in intensive care with a collapsed lung, a crushed chest and a total of 5 lacerations so severe, they required surgery to restructure the muscles.

The surgery and hospitalization cost Jodi over $4,000, but saving Buster’s life was never in question. “I’m financially secure and was ready to take on the responsibility fully and do whatever necessary,” says Jodi.

Buster came home on Tuesday, wobbly, but able to walk and eat. He should make a full physical recovery.

As for his mental state, only time will tell. Jodi says he was shy and docile when she brought him home. “I don’t know if he was hurt by someone, but he was scared around other people and large animals,” says Jodi. “I started socializing him and gave him lots of love, we had a really good start.”

There’s one thing for sure, though, Jodi says she hasn’t been in her backyard since the incident and now only takes Buster out the front door and keeps him on a leash. Her home is a rental and she doesn’t know if her landlords, who are also friends, will fence the yard. Experts warn of allowing pets alone in yards where coyotes might be present, or sticking to a routine, as coyotes have been known to learn the routines and lay in wait for their prey.

As for the pitties and their mom, she wants to remain out of the public spotlight and has ignored all requests for interviews. “I washed her blanket and took her a half dozen roses and a thank you card,” says Jodi. “But now I think she just wants to be left alone.”

Jodi’s been interviewed by local media, as well as People Magazine. “I needed Buster, he needed me and then he was rescued again,” says Jodi. “I just think it’s a good story all around.”

Have you ever witnessed an act of heroism by one dog for another dog or other animal?

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Tags: buster, Buster's Heroes, columbine animal and emergency clinic, dogs and coyotes, jodi robinette, the dumb friends league
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