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Another point of view on bringing shelter dogs from the South

New England Border Collie Rescue is withdrawing from the Pet Rock
adoption event on September 7th. Our reason is that we cannot support
the current fashion of transporting rescue dogs from other areas,
particularly from the South, to shelters and rescue groups in the
North. It appears to be a trend on the rise, and the shelter that is
running Pet Rock (Sterling Animal Shelter) is in the forefront of
this trend.

You've probably heard the arguments in favor:

"The shelters in the South are overcrowded, and have a high rate of
euthanasia.
People don't spay or neuter their dogs, and lots of accidental
breeding takes place."
"As long as a dog is saved, what difference does it make where they
come from?
If we don't take these dogs they will be put down."
"People in the North are looking for particular breeds (or for mixed
breeds, or for small dogs, or for puppies), and we don't get these
types of dogs in the North--we are only making available what people
want to adopt. Why should they go to pet stores when there is a
rescue dog that needs a home?"

Now, hear the arguments opposed:
In the Northeast we have some similar shelters. You know the ones
--shelters that are always overcrowded and also have a high rate of
euthanasia. Some have inexperienced workers, unsanitary conditions,
and noise and crowding that drive dogs insane or make them
aggressive.

Every time a dog from the South is saved by a shelter or rescue
organization in the North, a dog from the North must be denied a
place, and that dog will likely be put down. In addition, some
shelters and rescue groups have begun to refuse dogs of certain types
that come to them locally--for example, adult dogs, dogs that need
medical care, and senior dogs. We have been experiencing this
phenomenon in NEBCR. On the rare occasion that we've had the need to
find an all-breed rescue or no-kill shelter for a mixed breed dog
that came in to us, we have been turned away and told "we have to
have cage space for the puppies that are coming up from the South."

Usually, only dogs that are easiest to place (i.e., puppies and small
dogs) are being brought. This means that grown dogs and seniors of
medium and large breeds still languish in these "horrible" Southern
shelters. Often, the puppies are placed almost immediately upon
arrival. What has happened to the semblance of evaluation of
potential adopters? We are just beginning to see the results of this
trend. Several dogs have been called to our attention recently as
needing rehoming that had been imported by "volunteers" in the North
from shelters in the South. The shelter that imported them will take
them back, but only to euthanize them. If people are going to bring
pups up here wholesale, they need to take the responsibility if the
whirlwind placements don't work out, for whatever reason.

The Sterling Animal Shelter says on their website that in the last two
years they have placed 2,000 puppies from situations such as these.
What will happen to future puppies when the "market" becomes
saturated? It might seem now that there is an infinite supply of
potential adopters in New England waiting for any dogs brought in
from other areas, but in reality, potential adopters are a finite
resource. We are already seeing this resource diminishing. This
summer NEBCR has had dogs remaining in rescue on an average of twice
as long as all previous years combined.

What happens to the current "crop" of puppies when they can't be
placed even in the north? Puppies are cute, but they grow up. Some of
these breeds are difficult ones and are being placed randomly. What
happens to them when they grow up? We know the answer to that: we'll
cross that bridge when we come to it. Well, that bridge is the
Rainbow Bridge, and when shelters and rescue groups become
overwhelmed with new arrivals and returns, they do what the shelters
in the south are doing now: euthanize, euthanize, euthanize. It may
be done more humanely, but dead is dead.

In NEBCR we have more foster homes than we ever had before. This
should mean that when a dog comes in on an emergency, we should be
able to accommodate it. However, this is not what is happening. What
is happening is that we also have an enormous rise in our intake of
dogs, and all our foster homes are constantly full. This, and the
fact that some of our foster homes have had to double or even triple
their intake, means that, in jobs like ours where burn-out is
rampant, our foster homes will be burning out even more quickly. But
not just ours, mind you, yours as well. Can you afford to lose those
dedicated volunteers?

Aside from the practical aspects of importing dogs from other areas,
wouldn't it be more ethical to be taking care of the problems in our
own area and to insist that the people from other areas take care of
their own? If we keep taking dogs from the South, what incentive do
they have to clean up their own act? Shouldn't we be educating
potential adopters to the fact that there are thousands of grown dogs
that need a home right here in their own backyard, that grown dogs
are easier to care for than puppies, and that there are organizations
who put enormous effort into socializing dogs in a home environment,
finding the appropriate home for each dog, and thereby finding the
appropriate dog for each home? Dogs are not a wholesale commodity to
be shipped in bulk and sold to the first person that comes along with
money in their hand. If this is what shelters and rescue groups are
doing, then how is this different from puppy mills and pet shops?

New England Border Collie Rescue
http://www.NEBCR.org

Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Aug 8, 2003