ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANISATIONS HAVE HEARD IT ALL, NO JOKES!
Surrendering animals is an all-year-round thing, but especially close to holidays and the first few weeks into the new year, shelters and rescues are overwhelmed, so much, that some have to say “We are full” and can’t take in any more. It is just heartbreaking! What follows, might sound ridiculous to you, but if you volunteer in animal welfare you have heard all this!
Editor’s note – This article is a reprint from 30 March 2022.
HELLO. YOU HAVE REACHED THE KENNELS.
Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:
Press 1 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home right away.
Press 2 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150-pound, 8-year-old dog.
Press 3 if you have three dogs, had a baby, and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.
Press 4 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog that you’ve had for 16 years is having problems adjusting, so you want to get rid of the old one right away.
Press 5 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.
Press 6 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home today and pick up the dog you no longer want.
Press 7 if your old dog has had years of being tugged at and jumped on by your children, and now the dog is sore and arthritic he has shown his teeth so you need to get rid of him right away instead of teaching your kids how to behave.
Press 8 if your dog is sick and needs a vet, but you need the money for your holiday.
Press 9 if your dog doesn’t like your new partner.
Press 10 if your relative has died and you don’t want to care for their elderly dog, because it doesn’t fit your lifestyle.
Press 11 if you suddenly have no time for your dog.
Press 12 if your two-year-old male dog is marking all over your house, but you just haven’t gotten around to having him neutered or trained.
Press 13 if you want to return your recently adopted dog, and seeing him in kennels isn’t as heartbreaking as it was when you adopted him.
Press 14 if you heard that your unchipped dog has been brought to the safety of the kennels, but you’re angry and don’t want to pay the small fee that keeps the charity running & looking after dogs like yours.
Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.
Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog, which you have had for fifteen years because it is not our responsibility.
Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten-year-old dog to be euthanized because we won’t take it.
Press 18 if you didn’t realize that dogs require exercise and training and your dog is a chore. So, you would prefer not to have a dog anymore.
Press 19 if you want one of our perfectly trained, housebroken, kid and cat-friendly purebred dogs that we have an abundance of.
Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbour’s cats.
Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don’t have any kennels left to take in dogs, so you called again to see if a different staff member could magic a kennel out of nowhere.
Press 22 if you want an 8-week-old puppy for your kids in time for Christmas.
Press 23 if your dog has had a litter in time for Christmas and now that you’re making money from them, you want to get rid of the dog.
Press 24 if your young husky keeps getting out of your unfenced garden and would rather get rid of them than spend money on fencing and training. The same goes for cats!
Press 25 if you have found a “stray”, and when we collect it, you slip up by calling the dog his name and he cries when we take him away.
Press 26 if you’re lying to make one of us feel bad and take your pet off your hands.
Press 27 if you have done “everything” to housebreak your dog and have had no success, but you don’t want to train the dog.
Press 28 if you’re angry that we can’t rehome an unsocialized purebred dog with your children because you’re ok with the dog biting other kids.
Press 29 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter’s birthday and you forgot when she was born.
Press 30 if your dog’s coat doesn’t match your new furniture and you need a different colour or breed.
Press 31 if your new partner of 4 weeks doesn’t like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend instead of the dog.
Press 32 if you went through all these ‘options’ and didn’t hear enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our staff who is holding a discarded old dog, while he is confused as to what he did wrong to be abandoned and homeless, and now has to wait for someone to see past his age and health problems and adopt him……
Credit: Elize Steytler
Also, read more about the why and how of spaying and neutering your pets and why “free to good home” is playing Russian Roulette with an animal’s life.
If you can no longer take care of your pet for some honest and real reason, then contact your local animal welfare organizations to handle a responsible adoption, including home checks, sterilization, an adoption contract, and more.
Join us next week for more on ANIMALS 101.
WHEN YOU KNOW BETTER, DO BETTER!
