Loves dogs, but hates his job

For Paws

Mod note: the initial post refers to UK statisitics, but the sentiment is the same. Please see further posts for Irish statistics.
I came across this letter on Facebook and thought it should be shared.

A letter from someone who loves dogs, but hates his job.
From a dog pound manager in the UK.

'I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a pound manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal centre for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.

That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my pound when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the pound it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my pound are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our garden". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a pound is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours(24hrs Ireland) to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the pound isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, staffy, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours (24hrs Ireland) and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long. Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a £100 treatment.


Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 60 thousand animals die every year in UK pounds (see here for Irish stats) and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this; DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a pound, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my pound and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.'

paulmclaughlin

Really heartbreaking stuff

looking_around

I'd say most people here know about this.

But yeah, I've always hated when people buy a pet, just because they think a puppy will get more attached to them than an adult dog.

And worse are the people who buy a puppy for their kids, then complain the kids aren't taking care of the dog, so the dog must go!! >.>

And this isn't only with dogs.
I've seen the no space excuse for hamsters!!! where are they going they don't have space for a cage?? !

Too many people still see animals as some sort of disposable object. They believe these animals don't care/feel emotions and it's not 'that' big a deal.

Once talked to someone who were asking me about my dog, cause they were looking at getting one......as there dog is old and it's time to be replace! What? I snapped at them S: ..umm ..yeah ..
bit of a rant reply here, sorry.

It's just so sad that people think of animals as disposable )=

Kinzig

Thats the type of info that needs to be gotten out there to wake people up..it must be like working in a death camp:(:(

anniehoo

I've been volunteering for 2 years for a charity that rescues and rehomes dogs from a certain pound in Leinster. In those 2 years the opinions i've gotten from people have blown me away and not always in a good way.

Despite everyone IRL knowing what i do, i STILL have friends buying puppies from breeders they have no idea about, doing no research into the breed at all or just made a spontaneous decision and have regretted it a few months later. Despite this they still have the cheek to ring me up asking for advice expecting me to feel sorry for them and tell them all is going to be ok.

People also think im crazy for taking time out of my Saturday to go to this pound to take photo of the dogs that are strays or have been surrendered in.I also try and assess their personalities so they can be advertised to the public in the hope that someone might think about rescuing rather than buying a dog. When i explain the "5 day rule" to people they are shocked, but most end up still buying. It drives me bananas. Friends even thought i was crazy recently for holding on to a stray i found for 4 days (even bringing her to work) because i refused to impound her.

The charity i volunteer for are fantastic and as a result this pound has one of the lowest put to sleep rates in Ireland. I was starting to get a bit complacent and taking for granted that all of the dogs i met would make it out. Yesterday i got a BIG wakeup call. I spent quite some time trying to "make friends" with this terrifed lurcher yesterday morning.She literally was frozen in fear and would not budge. "Not to worry" i thought, "i'll take her photo and she'll be ok in a few days,they always are". I was politely informed by the pound staff, she probably won't be making it out of the pound and her photo was not to be advertised.

I bawled the whole way home and it was the biggest reminder me of why i do this.

TooManyDogs

When I explain to people that surrenders don't have to get 5 days in the pound that shocks them to the core. They really think if they hand in a dog it's obliged to have 5 days to get adopted out. When I tell them that as a surrender it can be taken straight in the back and be pts they can't believe it. Now I know often here they do get days, some pounds are better than others but still, how could anyone risk surrendering in their dog on a day the pound is rammed and risk it being pts straight away? :eek:

People need to wake up

anniehoo

TooManyDogs wrote: »

People need to wake up

I've told 3 people in the last 2 weeks (all friends) of the 5 day rule for strays and how surrenders (dogs voluntarily given up by their owners) can be PTS in 24hrs or less if a particular pound is full. All were shocked and genuinely didn't know this. I do not know why this isn't common knowledge in this day and age, i really don't

The pound i volunteer for have 2 charities working with them, depending on which catchment area the dogs have been found or the people live.The staff are very nice i have to say,and sometimes both them and even the warden try to rehome as best they can.

When i see the hassle and grief other volunteers have even trying to get info from the pound staff in other pounds around the country, let alone giving full on access to the dogs like i get, it actually boils my blood. :mad::mad:

TooManyDogs

anniehoo wrote: »

5 day rule for strays and how surrenders (dogs voluntarily given up by their owners) can be PTS in 24hrs or less

I think people hear 5 days and just assume that it's for ALL dogs, regardless of origin. It really makes me mad, this idea that all surrenders will get 5 days so they're bound to be adopted cos "they're such a nice dog", well make the effort to keep the dog yourself then!!!!! Cos they don't have to be given 1 day, never mind 5!!!

For Paws

People, I started this thread because not enough people know what happens in pounds. Maybe I'm crazy enough to believe that if only people knew, they'd change their beliefs and responses and the problem would lessen enormously.

But you and I know that this won't happen. People are lazy, stupid, cruel & careless.
We always have been, and will continue that way.

But I'm going to keep telling people how it is, and appeal to them.
And I'm thanking others who do, and I'm asking you all to keep doing this.

It has often been said that we don't have to do anything in return for our dogs' love. It's true. But this is a chance to pay something of that love back.

'You think dogs will not be in heaven ?
I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.' (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Pumpkinseeds

Sadly the horrors of what shelter workers see often burns them out. It is so sad that some of the biggest animal advocates/lovers will end up with compassion fatigue, I suppose it's just the minds way of coping. Either that or crack up at the sheer bloody endlessness of human ignorance and cruelty to animals.

anniehoo

While the sentiment is the same I have edited the main post so people know that some of the terms apply to UK (and possibly US).

Irish pound statistics are available online here There are mutliple tabs for each category below. Make of them what you will :rolleyes:

Donnielighto

Read that, just emailed the local spca to offer my services. Good job OP.

wandatowell

Thats a very tough read.

anniehoo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Sadly the horrors of what shelter workers see often burns them out. It is so sad that some of the biggest animal advocates/lovers will end up with compassion fatigue, I suppose it's just the minds way of coping. Either that or crack up at the sheer bloody endlessness of human ignorance and cruelty to animals.

+1

I only do this part time and even then that's enough for me. I cant EVEN imagine what fulltime rescuers have to put up with, i really can't.:eek::o:(

I genuinely have it "easy" though because i volunteer for a charity who's Pound is very open to rescues/charities and isn't bound by the ridiculous so called rules of a very well know national organisation.

I had a wake up call yesterday though...after 2 years, so i definitely have had my head in the sand too long.:o

saltyporridge

I feel so sick reading the OP. I love my dog (she's the first thing I see in the morning and she faithfully follows me to bed every night - where she promptly steals the duvet and snores like a pig).

People just don't realise that a dog is for life, and that, properly trained and cared for, they give back much more than they ever receive. Our lady is the first thing every visitor to our home looks for (I'd be jealous only for the fact that she faithfully waits at the window for me coming home from work every day). What the OP said about making pets part of the family is so true. We (and I mean the whole family) had the most miserable Christmas a couple if years ago when our last dog died (of old age) at the beginning of December. There were rumblings about getting a replacement for Christmas but I didn't act until the following summer when I knew I'd have the time to look after a pup and train it properly. The result is the best behaved and loved (and the ones we had before were very special) dog we've ever had.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that dogs are not just ornaments, they need care, affection and attention. But they give it back ten-fold.

No-one should get a dog unless they're prepared to make a really big commitment to it (and they don't mind the holes in the garden, being stared down at dinner time and regularly tramping around the neighbourhood with a full poop bag in hand in all weathers).

Anyone thinking about getting a dog should be required to read the OP first!

Wish I could rush home and give osky a big hug!
We always look to shelters, and doggies are always part of the family

roosterman71

Jaysus that's sad reading
Anyone got the original link? I wanna share it

d31b0y

Got a pup from Ash Animal Rescue recently and love her to bits. Best decision I've ever made getting her.

Would have never bought from a breeder anyway, but especially so after reading that.

bluecherry74

anniehoo wrote: »

I've told 3 people in the last 2 weeks (all friends) of the 5 day rule for strays and how surrenders (dogs voluntarily given up by their owners) can be PTS in 24hrs or less if a particular pound is full. All were shocked and genuinely didn't know this. I do not know why this isn't common knowledge in this day and age, i really don't

I must confess I didn't know this. Both my dogs came from the pound and they were both handed in by their "breeders". The thought of them being PTS so quickly is awful.

JustAThought

While I sympathise with the OP, and like to see adoptions from
pounds and rescues; it is very disingenuous to all the tens of thousands of people who choose the type of dog try want, research & buy it, and care and look after it throughout its life.

For Paws

JustAThought wrote: »

While I sympathise with the OP, and like to see adoptions from
pounds and rescues; it is very disingenuous to all the tens of thousands of people who choose the type of dog try want, research & buy it, and care and look after it throughout its life.

Apologies for being disingenuous.

It's just that I have this thing about dogs dying needlessly.

looking_around

JustAThought wrote: »

While I sympathise with the OP, and like to see adoptions from
pounds and rescues; it is very disingenuous to all the tens of thousands of people who choose the type of dog try want, research & buy it, and care and look after it throughout its life.

Its just sad that there is still people buying dogs when there are sooooo many in the pounds . ):

monkeysnapper

This is all so true, we got our 2 westies and we both loved them to bits, then we started our family and the wife said a few times she didn't like the dogs because they growled at the 1 year old. If it was up to her they'd be long gone. Dead!!

But I assured her it was just the dogs were having there hair pulled out and tails pulled. Anyway 2 years on and the 2 dogs are getting walked by our 3 year old and she loves them to bits . I know loads of people that have had dogs and suddenly the dogs have disappeared . Very sad!!

I felt very emotional reading the op thread , for the love of god can't people cop the feck on

meoklmrk91

OP I am not a crier, it's not my thing, but I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes reading that. I bought my dog, I love him to bits and wouldn't give him back for all the tea in china, he is my baby, I wasn't eligible for most rescues because of where I was living at the time but I am now planning on getting another dog at some point in the future, I was thinking of buying as I want a specific breed but you know what even though I knew everything that was in post it really drive it home to me that I just can't do it, as much as I want a specific breed, I just can't go and pay for a dog when I there are thousands of dogs dying here every year. So when the time comes I will be going to a rescue or my local pound, it might only be one life saved but its the right thing to do.

gazzer

I really really admire anybody who works in a pound or rescue center. I would love to offer my services part time when I am not in work but tbh I would be heartbroken seeing any animals been pts. I would want to bring all the dogs home to live with me. I would find it too upsetting to be around animals that have been abandoned and no homes for them to go to.

anniehoo

gazzer wrote: »

I would be heartbroken seeing any animals been pts. I would want to bring all the dogs home to live with me. I would find it too upsetting to be around animals that have been abandoned and no homes for them to go to.

You don't have to go to a pound to be helpful though. I take photos because i live really near to the pound my charity is involved in.There's only 8 (!!) of us out of 20k people who do, so don't feel bad.

When i can't do photos, i do transport runs (helping dogs get from the pound to fosterers/forever homes/vet checks etc); i also homecheck;fundraise;promote on facebook/twitter; petsit for fellow fosterers.....the list is endless.

I only properly got into "rescue/pound" work 2 years ago, 2 years......believe it or not. I was doing random stuff for years, but decided on 1 charity 2 years ago and have stuck with them.

Are there 7 gazillion other charities? Yes! Do i feel bad i haven't picked more than one? Yes ....and also No!

Yes, because there are so many worthy causes out there and there are so many suffering animals.... But...NO because i'm only one person, and the small bit that i can help with is ALL i can do.

2 years later, i'm still learning about the "rescue" world,even more so the Pound world and i'm very glad i have volunteered.It sounds cheesey but "every little bit helps"! I haven't fully immersed myself into the rescue world, because i can't and I'm ok with that.

It's OK, to do "just a little bit" because not everyone is able for it. I'm certainly not. As long as you know the pets/animals you are responsible for are well looked after.......anything you do after that is a credit to you ;)

endacl

Mod note: I have watched all 14:51 of this video.It is upsetting but also relevant to this thread.Do not press play if you don't wan't to be upset

Again, not an Irish situation. And from some time ago. This is from the US, but illustrates the opening post very clearly. Why anybody would buy a cat or dog is beyond me.....

Sorry in advance ladies and gentlemen. Kleenex at the ready. Ye have been warned.

Poor Rusty.

endacl

endacl wrote: »

Mod note: I have watched all 14:51 of this video.It is upsetting but also relevant to this thread.Do not press play if you don't wan't to be upset

This video the first thing that popped into my head when I read the OP. I saw it some years ago, and it has stuck with me. I've been thinking about posting since yesterday, and nearly didn't. I was actually just thinking about taking the link down...

Again, apologies in advance for any upset. As per Mod note, maybe give it a miss if you think this might mean you.

SillyMangoX

Here is a other video, this one filmed in an Irish pound. Some disturbing images, so as above don't watch if you don't want to be upset.

fatmammycat

For Paws wrote: »

Apologies for being disingenuous.

It's just that I have this thing about dogs dying needlessly.

I've a thing about dogs dying needlessly too, yet I bought my dog from a breeder, having researched the breed to the nth degree. My dog will live out his life to its natural end with me and never set foot inside a pound or need a rescue.
There's no doubt that puppy farming has a lot to do with the abundance of dog being bred in this country, but buying a pup does not automatically = bad.

rannerap

This thread made me so sad I wish I could adopt more animals but it's not really plausible at the minute. At least I'm giving one animal a happy home. Couldn't imagine ever giving her up!