To Owners Of Dogs
On Facebook by GSP National: Missy Neal on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 5:09pm
Before you surrender your ailing elder dog to the shelter for the reason that you can't bear to euthanize the dog yourself, please think about this. That dog has stood by you for all of its life - 12 years? 14 years? 17 years? That dog has loved you unconditionally, put up with your kids and grandkids pulling his ears and taking his toys, perhaps hunted for you, sat shotgun in your truck while you ran errands, laid on the couch with you when you were down with the flu. Sure, he may be a counter surfer, gets in the trash, chases the cat, barks his head off at neighbors walking by. But by the end of a dog's life, the good things always, always far outweigh the bad things.
What has this dog done to deserve the cold hard cement floor of a shelter as his last home? As his owner and partner of over a decade, don't you think you owe him the dignity of dying in your own home, or if at a vet at least dying in your arms? Perhaps you can't bear the thought of putting him down, can't watch. Instead of dumping him at the shelter, take him to your vet who has also undoubtedly loved this dog as you have for over a decade. You take him to his friend, the vet, and you wait in the lobby until it is "done" and then take that poor tired body home to bury in your yard.
Think about what you're going to tell your kids, what example you're setting for them. For your kids or your grandkids. Are you teaching them that their pets are expendable, and when they're old and weak it's better to just "disappear" them to a shelter than to stick by them until their end?
Do not take comfort in the fact that Rescue will come along and save your dog. We take as many as we can with the understanding that these senior dogs will probably die in foster care because their owners were too selfish (or chicken) to deal with the sad, unpleasant reality of the end of their beloved dog's life. We can not and DO NOT SAVE THEM ALL. Those that we can take, we do. But many, many dogs perish in shelters because they have been surrendered by their owner, they are old and sick and no one wants to adopt a dog that is old and sick. No one is going to stand by that dog like you would and should stand by him, as the owner who has loved him for more than a decade.
For the last few weeks we have been working to get Ellie, a 14 year old GSP, into foster care. Ellie was pulled from a shelter in Spokane by a Mastiff rescue volunteer. This volunteer was trying to get her stable enough to transport to foster care with a GSP Rescue group. Ellie passed all blood work - no heartworm, no parasites, no organ failure - she had an upper respiratory infection. They put her on tramadol for osteoarthritis. She had a benign tumor in her ear and needed dental work. Personality - terrific. She was housebroken, sweet, a "leaner", loved people, got along with other dogs, ignored cats.
By the volunteer's description, Ellie was an elderly, tired, and very weak dog.
However, the conclusion from the vet was deliberate starvation. This was middle of February. For 2 weeks Ellie was fed "anything she wants - hand fed human food and mega-calorie prescription diet. She can only eat a couple of spoonfuls at a time - is being fed every 3 hours."
On Monday we learned that Ellie would never make it to foster care in GSP Rescue. Here is the note we got from the wonderful Mastiff Rescue volunteer who had been caring for Ellie:
"Thanks for all of your support and assistance. I regret to inform you that "Ellie" was euthanized today due to a blood clot and congestive heart failure. We determine through an ultrasound that she was terminal and her failure to thrive was probably linked to her heart. Her heart was pumping about 25% of capacity. I feel right about the decision - Ellie was in a warm loving environment for her last two weeks, had the best of medical care and if she would have survived and thrived would have moved on to a group that would have loved her as we did."
I have attached a photo of Ellie to this note. This should NOT be why we do Rescue, folks. Dogs should die in the arms of their family who has loved them for all of their lives. You owe it to that dog. Sending him or her to certain death at a shelter is not an honorable action, and you should not have a clear conscience should you choose that course of action.
Please, before you consider just looking the other way and dumping your loyal companion of many years at a shelter, think on these things.
Ellie the day she was pulled from the shelter. Less than 40 lbs.
Ellie, weak but grateful
See? It's not only ME. (Hugs Missy) Can you understand why we can never stop being "the responsible"? Someone has to do it...it's part of the passion, or should we say COMpassion thing...that ends up killing our souls, making us hate people, with each one like Ellie we handle. Welcome to our world...
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