People don’t love their pets any more or less because they live in one geographic region or another. But kill rates spike in high poverty areas with limited access to affordable veterinary services for spaying and neutering. In the rural South, unsterilized dogs are often allowed to roam outdoors. Many counties have weak or unenforced leash laws. Shelters in such areas are overrun, with kill rates ranging from 50 to 95 percent. Even where adoptions are encouraged, low population density makes them rare.In the dog park here in Madison, we see many beautiful dogs — Meade blogs his photographs of them here — and you might think that people are going to posh breeders and spending thousands of dollars to get such animals. But time and again we hear that these are rescue dogs... from the South.
Many of the dogs that are routinely euthanized in Southern states — healthy Labs, hounds, shepherds and others, including puppies of various breeds — are in high demand in the Northeast....
May 26, 2014
Why do so many "rescue" dogs come from the South?
There are lots more abandoned dogs in the South and lots more prospective adopters in the North.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
59 comments:
Vicki Hearne on South Carolina vs Connecticut
"If there were dead dogs on the road in South Carolina, that meant that the local humane society hadn't yet rounded them all up and killed them."
I believe the state symbol of Louisiana is a dead cat on the side of the road.
I found a very friendly stray dog at hunting area in LA (dumped, obviously). The parish I was in didn't even have an animal shelter. I went to an adjacent parish and had to argue with them to take it.
They finally took it, claiming I would dump it nearby anyway. Hey, good idea -- the government center complex was right there.
There's no mistaking that charming drawl.
"woowuf woowuf"
All of our dogs are rescues. I'm annoyed by those who insist on buying purebreds for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Rescue dogs typically cost less than $100, and that's mainly for shots.
I can't help but think that the reason people opt for purchasing purebreds is to increase their social status. It's a marker.
There's coyotes that roam around my neighborhood (Southern California), and so we usually go after medium-sized dogs. Coyotes are cowards, and usually prey on smaller, single animals. We like to have two of them at all times so they can keep each other company, and protect each other in case they get out.
"If you're a dog lover, then you're my friend."
Come on down! Lots of stray dogs around these parts. No shortage here. Take some home for the relatives while you're thinking about it. Why I know of a Chihuahua that could be available. He makes El Diablo the Chihuahua (Ceasat's pick for worst dog ever on his shoe Dog Whisperer) look like a sweet puddycat. He is nobody's day at the beach. Let me know.
A phenomenon that Jon Katz has noted.
If you rounded up all the chipmunks and put them in a shelter, you'd have a chipmunk population problem.
But you don't, and you don't.
There is a large Basset rescue shelter in LA and I note that they are sending 20 dogs to New York. They usually have 100 basset hounds and that is a real noise machine. Thank god my basset never learned to bay.
I adopted a rescue basset from them some years ago and he was an angel.
Could it have to do with the milder climate in the South, and resulting survivability chances?
Well bred dogs are a luxury that require a house with a yard, annual vet bills, weekly food expenses and lots of cleaning up around.
So the acquisition of such a dog shows financial well being as a newer model cars, boats and good landscaping.
The Bubble 1998 to 2008 economics diverted many wage earners from apartments into brand new housing bubble homes and they got the dog.
Then the jobs disappeared, the owners homes were foreclosed and their dogs were abandoned.
(See, Smith, Adam: An Inquiry Into The Wealth of Nations and Dogs.
Yep, my 5% beagle/95% mutt came from Metairie, LA.
Yeah, we see a lot of rescue bassets around here.
I'm annoyed by people annoyed by purebreds. Especially the ones that think the value of a purebred rests primarily in their symbol of status.
I'm thinking some people boast their "shelter dog rescuer" status as a "holier than thou" marker.
status symbols...
Perhaps people in the North favor dogs.
"I can't help but think that the reason people opt for purchasing purebreds is to increase their social status. It's a marker."
To some degree, I agree. However, basset hounds are such lovable dogs that they are very popular. It's sad to see them in shelters but that is often because an older owner is ill or dies or because young foolish people buy puppies without adequate room for them. My first basset was adopted from such a person, my second from a shelter and my current one a Christmas gift to my daughter. An impulse buy on Christmas Eve. Of course, he is now mine and she has a chihuahua.
After a year or so a basset is not very interested in exercise and is a good pet for an old guy like me. They are not cheap, however. Their ears need attention and they do have expensive ailments.
I live in Massachusetts, and it took months to be matched with a dog (I needed one that was good with children). I learned I needed to watch the internet for when the newest batch of "Dixie Dogs" were posted, and if I saw one I was interested in, put a $25 non-refundable deposit on it before we went to the shelter. The dog we finally got is a beautiful sweetheart; when we went to meet him (after the deposit) his cage was surrounded by people who would have taken him before we could get there if not for the deposit. How can be? How can there be such a supply/demand imbalance? Probably because we have such a strong culture of getting pets spayed and neutered.
Please come get the rest of them.
Northerners are more hoity-toity about it. "She's a rescue." It's a sign of human virtue. In the south, she's a dog.
I smell a piece carefully calculated to make Yankee New York Times readers feel superior to Southerners.
It's because of Hurricane Katrina, so it's Bush's fault.
We adopted a shelter dog in January. I went to the pet store to get her a new leash.
"Oh, what kind of dog?" asked the clerk.
" Not sure - we think she's a black lab, pit bull mix."
"Atlanta Special," she said knowingly. And indeed our girl does seem to have a lot of relatives in Please-Save-Me pictures from the shelters.
We were a little nervous about the pit bull part, knowing the breed only from horror stories, but she was too sweet, and too grateful to be rescued, to even think of taking back.
It's a dog's life.
One problem I've heard from people who live in rural areas is that city people dump their pets in the country. Perhaps they imagine their unwanted pets will find a home on a farm. Reality is far different.
We acquired one of our cats when he just showed up at our door last winter. Where does that place us on the virtue scale?
We got a "rescue" Lap/Pointer mix about 4 1/2 years ago, and we love her dearly. But dogs aren't cheap, even if you get them for free. There's no Medicaid for dogs so far as I know, and even with the best of care, dogs can get injured or sick. Ours has. I'm a Yankee living in the South, and outside the Pinehurst bubble where we live, there's a lot of pretty obvious poverty. Hank Williams, Jr. has a song called "A Country Boy Can Survive"; I'm sure he's right, but I wonder how sometimes.
The story we were told is that our dog was born in the pound (I guess her mother was doing hard time). Animal Advocates took her, got her her shots, etc., and placed her with a family 100 miles from here. For some unknown reason, after several months the adoptive family took her to the local animal shelter. Fortunately, they brought along her paperwork, so the shelter notified Animal Advocates, which picked her up, and put her on the adoption block again down here. When we adopted her she was almost 11 months old, and her only possessions were her nylabone and her name. We let her keep both.
I'm a Northern transplant to South, and maybe it's my Yankee imagination but it seems like every other year there's a scandal involving an animal shelter where the animals are mistreated or killed. I've also gotten the impression (and it is just an impression) that animals are abandoned rather cavalierly here than in the North.
I would not be able to get a rescue dog if I wanted because I don't have a fence, and that's an absolute rule.
Rescue organizations always know best even when they're clueless.
Nobody knows about trained dogs anymore.
The reason to get a Doberman though can be found in Vicki Hearne's Adam's Task, the essay How To Say Fetch.
I hate the whole "rescue/mutt" snobbery. I have two beagles, one we purchased as a puppy and one we got from a breed rescue. Both are wonderful dogs. Some of us prefer a purebred because we know what the breed is - behavior, temperament, future size, etc. We did not want a big dog and the beagles are the perfect size.
I frequent the beagle rescue website from around these parts. Seems like a fair number come into rescue due to owners losing their houses to foreclosure (in the central valley, not in the SF bay area so much). I think that's how our rescue beagle ended up at a pound up in Sacramento.
Getting dogs from some shelters comes with its own set of challenges, not the least are the control freaks who make adopting a dog more difficult than adopting a child.
For the record, my beagle-mutt rescue dog wasn't something we looked for; he found us. Good friend of my wife is one of the northern termini of the underground doggie railroad. We had a dog (an old Black Lab) and had agreed that we'd not get another until Bumble (the Black Lab) passed. Wife's friend brings in Oliver around Mother's Day '09 and the deal was done. His personality just made the deal. Ollie & Bumble got along OK for the 6 months Bumble had left in her and having Ollie made Bumble's passing much easier for my daughter.
Re your question, FWIW, according to a story in a NJ paper from last month, it could be just as likely to be Mexico or Puerto Rico -- or even China, quien sabe? see http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/pet_hoarding_animal_shelters_puppy_farms.html#incart_river_default
Sorry, not adroit at links.
Logic:
1. Some dogs are transported from the south to the north for adoption. "Hundreds of Thousands' according to the article. (Citing no source.)
2. These dogs (all of them)? are adopted in the north.
3. "An estimated" 3-4 million pets (not dogs) are euthanized each year in the entire country. (We are not told the source or accuracy of the estimate or the distribution of the killings. Just how wild ass are the guesses?)
Based on this, therefore (?) there are a lot more abandoned dogs in the south than the north?
Missing: (1) the definition of "north" and "south" (2) the relative canine and human population of those two areas (3) any actual data on uthenization by region (4) any actual data on adoption by region.
In my world no supporting data = bullshit.
Contributing bullshit factors: An author who has to tell us that his dog eats scrambled eggs every morning, visits Maine and has been in Online Vogue. Also owners from Madison who believe that their dogs are from the south but may also believe that must of us go out nights with shotguns to shoot up black neighborhoods and intimidate black people.
My beagle-aussie mix came from a local southern shelter 8 years ago. Her whole litter was adopted, as was her mother. They were well cared for dogs who had been bought in my a military family who could not take them to their new assignment. This is a common occurrence, and the dogs get placed and adopted. In this shelter, they are not killed unless they are seriously unhealthy or exhibit aggressive behavior.
Here's another possible theory.
If indeed there are more dogs brought to shelters in the south, it's because most of our military are from here and are based here. Try to find a military family or base around Madison or in New York.
Because of their jobs, the soldiers give up more dogs for adoption. I promise not to tell them that one of their dogs got sent to some guy who made sure that doggie got pictured in Online Vogue.
Happy Memorial Day.
Yes, most definitely the climate difference. The dogs that are abandoned in the North simply freeze to death in that hateful, brutal cold. It is an agonizing and cruel death. Much better to be an dog in the sunny South.
Our dog came to a New Hampshire shelter from San Antonio. A wonderful woman from Connecticut drives to San Antonio on a regular basis, picks up about 30dogs that have been neutered and checked out. She drives them to new hampshire. The Boston Globe did an article about her and what she does. Our dog was featured. He is an apparently pure bred Portugese Rabbit Hound (Podengo Poqueno)> he is gentle, friendly and loves our Grandkids. Our hats off to the wonderful doggie railroad from the South to New England
Al and Bea
all the peeps rescue dogs here are from the south.
Julie C. I totally agree about holier than thou making it impossible to adopt rescue places. I have been a volunteer at 2 shelters The people who train us are great. The people who you have to work with are often weirdos who are terrible with people. At one of the places you got the distinct feeling that the women didn't want anyone to adopt the cats. No one was good enough. Or they were dismissive of me for only having two cats. At a famous shelter on Long Island I was yelled, screamed at by some "manager" for cleaning out a dog dish that was dirty. I thought why do I need this on my weekend?
Also you have to allow people to surrender with out judgement. You want to encourage ppl to surrender to a shelter than can take care of them (no kill) rather than getting hit by a car.
I would love a dog, but my lifestyle is not dog friendly at the moment so I have always had cats n also rescued a few superstars n found them homes. Only 1 came from Animal control (they have to kill) the rest were "I found a cat in my backyard" word of. mouth. All different characters, but sweet and grateful.
More than 40 years ago, an average of 20 million dogs and cats were euthanized annually. Humane organizations started a campaign to spay and neuter pets, especially those coming through shelters, and today fewer than four million dogs and cats are euthanized yearly—still terrible, but a vast improvement. In addition to pet sterilization, an effort also began to find accommodations for homeless animals outside the municipal and private shelter systems, which have limited room and often short deadlines for keeping animals before moving them to death row. The new organizations take potentially adoptable pets out of the shelters and foster them, usually in private homes, until the right owner comes along. They control the fate of an increasing number of animals. In New York City, for example, almost 45 percent of the dogs and cats that come into the Animal Care & Control system are passed to one of more than 150 private rescue groups.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/heavy_petting/2012/01/animal_rescue_want_to_adopt_a_dog_or_cat_prepare_for_an_inquisition_.html
In other words, over half the dogs and cats which come into the NYC animal control system are likely killed. The best of them (the pretty and fashionable ones) are skimmed off by the rescue organizations. But there are not enough pretty fashionable dogs from NYC, so they go south (or somewhere) to get the dogs that might have a shot at Vogue Online.
So much bullshit, so little time.
I forgot to mention: my last dog was a stray mutt that I found in the street after it was hit by a car in New Haven, Connecticut. I immobilized her broken hip, paid a pile of cash to the veteranarian for all necessary repairs, and it never occurred to me to call her a "rescue."
By the way, comedian Adam Carolla does a bit about rescue dogs. This version is from his "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks" book,
'You didn’t go into a burning warehouse or the roof of a flooded barn to get the dog. You went to the pound, because you were too cheap to go to the mall. You don’t love dogs nearly as much as you love the idea of people thinking you’re a hero. You ever notice people who buy their dogs rarely discuss how they got them, versus these a--holes who work the phrase “She’s a rescue” into every f---ing conversation? What do you want? Spielberg to make a movie about you? I’d love to follow one of these douchebags around for a year with a clicker counter bouncers use at the door of the club, and find out how many times they utter the phrase “She’s a rescue.” Over-under would be fifteen thousand. When I was a kid, all the sofas in my house were freebies we got from other people who were throwing them out. My mom never once referred to them as “rescues.”'
Interesting post. Here in the Atlanta area we have a lot of rescue Yankees. Once they are let out of the North and head South they find that our towns and cities are occupied with black people, red necks and broke aristocrats and so they head to the enclaves built on the outskirts of our towns and ciites for yankees. Developers call these rescue communities because it permits yankees to rescue themselves from the black people, rednecks and broke aristocrats who occupy the zipcodes associated with our towns and ciities and allows the yankees to enjoy our weather and cuisine without having to have much to do with the locals. They hate the racist rednecks and fear the broke aristocrats but love the black people who live very far away. Rescue Yanks. They always need shots and deworming.
If we get a dog, it will be a purebred standard poodle because they are easy to train and do not shed. Since we will always have it given the pet clip, we may be rescuing it from a life of outrageous haircuts.
We Southerners. . . .
"But dogs aren't cheap, even if you get them for free."
Country wisdom I learned while living in N Carolina 40 years ago: If you want to get even with a man, give his daughter a horse.
" Titus said...
all the peeps rescue dogs here are from the south."
So they say, Titus. And maybe it's true. The South is known for superior bloodlines. Even our mongrels, and we have a ton of them, are coveted by the Yankees.
This guy adopts dogs he finds:
http://hellinahandbasket.net/
Mine was found along a road in California.
Al&Bea said...
Our dog came to a New Hampshire shelter from San Antonio.
Probably a Centro Americano dog then. Sounds like a keeper. If you have trouble, call Cesar Milan. He knows what to do.
Anyway, even if it's not a Mexican dog, it's a Texas dog. That's not the south. That's Texas.
A wonderful woman from Connecticut drives to San Antonio on a regular basis, picks up about 30dogs that have been neutered and checked out. She drives them to new hampshire. The Boston Globe did an article about her and what she does. Our dog was featured. He is an apparently pure bred Portugese Rabbit Hound (Podengo Poqueno)> he is gentle, friendly and loves our Grandkids. Our hats off to the wonderful doggie railroad from the South to New England.
There you have it.
Wonderful women from Connecticut are driving all over God's creation to steal our southern dogs.
You can bet your ass that this wonderful woman from Connecticut avoids Bridgeport like the plague. "All those poor black and hispanic people. What will we ever do with them? It's so depressing I can hardly think about it. Think I'll rescue a dog."
I love the railroad metaphor. Like the Underground Railroad, right? This from a part of the country that did everything possible to discourage migration of the emancipated slaves to their pure New York and New England cities and towns after the Civil War.
The Abolitionists were all for abolition but not much for blacks coming anywhere near where they lived.
The Doggie Railroad. So much bullshit, so little time.
rhhardin said...
I would not be able to get a rescue dog if I wanted because I don't have a fence, and that's an absolute rule.
I went to get a cat at a shelter in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. They wanted me to sign a paper that said I would never let the cat out of the house. Because birds. And streets with cars and other hazards. So I signed. It was a lie but they knew it was a lie and it made them feel good that I signed.
When I got my dog in South Carolina they said "Like the dog?"
"Love her," I replied.
That was all they needed to know.
You don't know dog until you've seen how they breed/raise/use sled dogs in Alaska.
Michael: Here in the Atlanta area we have a lot of rescue Yankees. Once they are let out of the North and head South...They hate the racist rednecks and fear the broke aristocrats but love the black people who live very far away. Rescue Yanks. They always need shots and deworming.
Don't know which are a thornier social problem - rescue Yankees in the South or rescue Californians in the Northwest and Mountain states?
Some insist that there's nothing you can do with the latter, they just have to be put down.
I was a rescue boy when I was young. My parents were always making babies and had more children than they could handle once I came along so they farmed me out like a minor leaguer who has to work his way back up to the bigs.
My grandparents didn't call me "rescue boy", they just called me by my name (or simply "Sonny"). I don't think the concept of rescue anything had yet been invented and, besides, my grandparents weren't big status seekers, they just tried to be good people, and they were.
It was on their Indiana cattle farm where I learned that not all dogs are pets. Some — the lucky, happy few — get to be farm hands, sleeping in the barn by night and moving cattle from pasture to pasture by day. My grandfather always kept several border collie/aussie shepherd type dogs and each and every one of them was named simply "Tip".
This post was rhhardin-bait.
I'm annoyed by people annoyed by purebreds. Especially the ones that think the value of a purebred rests primarily in their symbol of status.
I'm thinking some people boast their "shelter dog rescuer" status as a "holier than thou" marker.
We have a rescue dog that's a pure-bred. Not sure where we fit on your scale :)
Our dog came from Chicago by way of Mexico, where it was used by a breeder. So he has lots of kids.
We get our pets from the pound or shelter, they don't need to be called "rescue". They prefer to see us as the one that was rescued.
It's been an entire thread and not one Northerner has offered to rescue the southern Chihuahua with a bad asshole complex I offered to provide at a future date. Sigh... One does loose faith in one's fellow human beings...
There are no guarantees, but $1500 for a dog from a breeder may be ultimately much cheaper than a rescue dog with all kinds of hidden health odds. Again, no guarantees, but you try to stack the odds in your favor and hope for the best.
I am annoyed by "Southerners" that treat their animals so poorly. Who would drop a dog in an"overnight dropoff" at a pound? No Northerners are not superior but in general we take personal responsibility for our pets. That means we give them heart worm and flea and tick med and spay/neuter as a matter of common sense. Yes it is somewhat a cultural divide but really should the animals suffer? In placing dogs from the south or wherever we do home visits because we want the dog to have a forever home.
Attitudes need to change in states where 90,000 animals are euthanized annually.
I think the purchase of an animal should be taxed heavily and the proceeds should be given to animal shelters.
Tax the heck for purebred sales, give it to shelters and rescues.
Tax the heck for purebred sales, give it to shelters and rescues.
Post a Comment