The Great Betrayal
Over six million dog owners in the United States surrender their family dog to a shelter or re-home every five years. 94% of those owners get a new dog, often a puppy, in less than three months.
I get frequent messages from dog owners asking if I can help them rehome their dog. It is often quickly apparent to me that their underlying motivation is driven by hope that I’m a sucker with a soft enough heart who will take the animal off their hands so they can get the new puppy or designer breed they covet.
I used to fall prey to the old “We’re at the end of our rope and if you can’t find a home for Benji he’s going to be put down…” ploy.
No more. I have six dogs, three of which legitimately had to be surrendered but the rescues are so overtaxed with illegitimate surrenders and corruption they weren’t an option. I INSISTED on taking those three because they would have been euthanized almost immediately at a shelter.
Shelters typically don’t spend the time or develop the skills and resources to fix dangerous behavior.
It’s too easy in this culture to simply hand off your dog to another owner, rescue group, or shelter along with any guilt you would have to endure if you had the animal put down yourself, simply so you could free up resources for that cute puppy or pure-bred status symbol like the one your neighbors have.
Re-homing options, shelters, and rescues should be there for folks who have fallen on truly hard times and/or animals with dangerous behavior issues.
Instead, a massive number of folks use them as dumping grounds for animals who’s novelty has worn off or have outgrown their cuteness.
A deeper dive into the stats indicates most of those who surrender an adult dog and almost immediately obtain a new puppy are adult women between 19 and 36 years of age.
Adult men of all ages tend to keep a dog for its entire life.
I’m sure there are numerous variables contributing to that, like divorce resulting in a woman stuck with a large power breed, women being more susceptible to taking in a dog they don’t really want out of soft-heartedness, etc.
Yet I suspect much of it is caused by a cultural shift toward instant gratification and disloyalty.
The new age philosophy of shedding any anchor that keeps a woman from achieving anything she desires seems to have extended to our pets.
For decades we have had a growing militant movement to use abortion as routine birth control rather that an option only for the most dire circumstances. If human life is valued so little, how far down the chain of sanctity are the lives of our pets?
References
American Pet Products Association, Inc. (2015) 2015-2016 APPA National Pet Owners Survey. American Pet Prod- ucts Association, Inc., Greenwich.
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (2014) Pet Statistics.
http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics
New Jr., J.C., Salman, M.D., King, M., Scarlett, J.M., Kass, P.H. and Hutchison, J.M. (2003) Characteristics of Shelter- Relinquished Animals and Their Owners Compared with Animals and Their Owners in U.S. Pet-Owning Households. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 3, 179-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327604JAWS0303_1
Salman, M.D., New Jr., J.C., Scarlett, J.M., Kass, P.H., Ruch-Gallie, R. and Hetts, S. (1998) Human and Animal Fac- tors Related to the Relinquishment of Dogs and Cats in 12 Selected Animal Shelters in the United States. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 1, 207-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327604jaws0103_2
American Humane Association (2013) Keeping Pets (Dogs and Cats) in Homes: A Three-Phase Retention Study. Phase II: Descriptive Study of Post-Adoption Retention in Six Shelters in the Three U.S. Cities. http://www.americanhumane.org/petsmart-keeping-pets-phase-ii.pdf
Scarlett, J.M., Salman, M.D., New, J.G. and Kass, P.H. (2002) The Role of Veterinary Practitioners in Reducing Dog and Cat Relinquishments and Euthanasias. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 220, 306-311. http://dx.doi.org/10.2460/javma.2002.220.306
Zawistowski, S., Morris, J., Salman, M.D. and Ruch-Gallie, R. (1998) Populations Dynamics, Overpopulation, and the Welfare of Companion Animals: New Insights on Old and New Data. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 1, 193-206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327604jaws0103_1
Patronek, G.J., Glickman, L.T., Beck, A.M., McCabe, G.P. and Ecker, C. (1996) Risk Factors for Relinquishment of Cats to an Animal Shelter. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 209, 582-588.
Scarlett, J.M., Salman, M.D., New Jr., J.G. and Kass, P.H. (1999) Reasons for Relinquishment of Companion Animals in U.S. Animal Shelters: Selected Health and Personal Issues. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 2, 41-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327604jaws0201_4
Weiss, E., Slater, M., Garrison, L., Drain, N., Dolan, E., Scarlett, J.M. and Zawistowski, S.L. (2014) Large Dog Relin- quishment to Two Municipal Facilities in New York City and Washington, D.C.: Identifying Targets for Intervention. Animals, 4, 409-433. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/4/3/409
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani4030409
446 E. Weiss et al.
U.S. Census Bureau (2013) Census Regions and Divisions of the United States.
http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf
Shore, E.R. (2010) Returning a Recently Adopted Companion Animal: Adopters’ Reasons for and Reactions to the Failed Adoption Experience. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 8, 187-198.
Weiss, E., Slater, M. and Lord, L. (2012) Frequency of Lost Dogs and Cats in the United States and the Methods Used to Locate Them. Animals, 2, 301-315. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/2/2/301
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390
