Althouse: "In my observation, most rescuers are motivated by an anthropomorphic need to feel morally superior to the 'heartless' people who do not try to fix the unfixable..."

December 15, 2014

"In my observation, most rescuers are motivated by an anthropomorphic need to feel morally superior to the 'heartless' people who do not try to fix the unfixable..."

"... and by their own inability to make the difficult but necessary decision to euthanize dangerous animals. The results are uncounted animals like the dog in this story, medical and veterinary bills, and untold frustration, disappointment, and sorrow on the part of the final owners. Dogs, cats, and horses are domestic animals, shaped by millennia of selective breeding for temperament to overcome the aggression of their wild fore-bearers. Until the rise of the rescue movement, it was generally understood that the best way to acquire a pet was to take the time to go to a breeder whose first concern was temperament, and to acquire the pet at an age when it could be well-socialized top the family in which it would live out its life. Badly bred animals who were innately aggressive, or those which had been badly socialized were destroyed before they could hurt someone, and wisely so. People and other animals were safer and happier with one another, and aggressive animals did not reproduce, and did not live out what otherwise would have been their angry, fearful lives. That approach took a kind a maturity, discipline, and emotional strength that appears to be missing from the current rescue movement."

Comment at a NYT opinion piece called "The Wrong Dog."

69 comments:

JAORE said...: Might have been the wrong dog. It was definitely the wrong home for that dog.; 12/15/14, 2:17 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: What a load of hooey. The vast, vast majority of shelter animals are perfectly normal cats and dogs who have lost (or been dumped by) their owners.

The commenter appears to be suggesting that owners of "rescues" are deluded, that purebred animals are preferable to mutts, and that you get a better class of animal that way. S/he is supported by the likes of PETA, whose "shelters" kill something like 97% of animals unfortunate enough to land in one, and whose leader, Ingrid Newkirk, some months ago advocated killing all feral cats because, songbirds (in opposition to the trap/neuter/release folks).

Breeders do more harm than good to popular breeds; every time there's a fad for a particular breed, it gets inbred to a dangerous degree. Meanwhile, animals of other breeds (or none) languish in shelters until there's a big enough lot to lock them all in a big box and suck all the air out.

Sorry for the shrillness, but this is an area where I do have both expertise and passion. Also, two cats. Since they have no pedigree (one, indeed, came from a feral cat colony in MD as a kitten), I've no doubt they're inferior specimens in the commenter's eyes.; 12/15/14, 2:24 PM
Anonymous said...: "Until the rise of the rescue movement, it was generally understood that the best way to acquire a pet was to take the time to go to a breeder..."

I am from flyover country. I thought it was generally understood that pets come from the dog pound. Or they just show up in your yard and no one comes along to claim them. Both methods are tried and true.; 12/15/14, 2:28 PM
Michael K said...: I tend to agree with the writer. Good dog breeders, and the emphasis is on "good" do a better job. My basset hound was a pet store puppy and has issues. My lady friend at the time saw him and just had to have him. He is a beautiful basset but I believe he was mistreated by the breeder, which was probably a puppy mill. I would never buy a dog from a pet store again.

He is my pal but I don't trust him around other dogs, although he seems to be afraid of them and he hates the car, the only dog I have ever had to be that way. He is OK with my grandkids but, again, I don't trust him.

I don't trust any large dog around babies and have seen some disasters.

Adopting animals is fine but I would be very careful about mixing them with older pets.; 12/15/14, 2:30 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: I agree with Michelle whole-heartedly.

And I think the "training experts" added to the dog's problems.

While dogs do not like to be shunned, timeouts (which I suppose means putting the dog in a crate or shutting them up in a room) does not strike me as a sensible method for modifying unwanted behavior.

In fact, I would think that it would aggravate behavioral issues. Dogs are social animals. You can't explain to a dog that it is being put in timeout for particular behaviors and if it ceases those behaviors then it will no longer be put in timeout. All it knows is that for some reason that it cannot figure out (or perhaps for no reason at all) it is forced to endure isolation.; 12/15/14, 2:41 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Michael K., pet stores are yet another can o'worms. (An increasingly rare one, at least in my experience: Petco, for example, stocks lower animals -- reptiles, fish, &c. -- from breeders, probably even rabbits and ferrets, but all the dogs and cats I see are "loaners" from local shelters.)

My parents are involved in a dobie rescue. Their first couple of Dobermans came via breeders, but for close to thirty years, all their dogs have been rescues. This does lead to some, er, compatibility issues with large adult dogs (in fact, they had to "re-gift" their latest after one of the resident dogs took an extreme dislike to her), but it's still better than the alternative.; 12/15/14, 2:42 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: "they had to "re-gift" their latest after one of the resident dogs took an extreme dislike to her"

Sometimes dogs just don't get along and there is nothing to be done except find one of them another home.; 12/15/14, 2:47 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ralph Hyatt,

Have you by any chance read this, from just a few days back? A basic compendium of things that might or might not work with human children, but certainly will not with your dog. All of them trying to counter bad behavior with unpleasant stimuli; all of them certainly bound to be misinterpreted by the dog, who only knows that he's being frightened and humiliated for (apparently) no reason.; 12/15/14, 2:48 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Research paper topic (psychology or anthropology?): Compare population belief in nurture over nature with relative incidence of rescue adoption rate or other proxy for choice of rescue animal over intentionally bred animal. Cross compare national (or ethnic) beliefs about related topics (aborting "defective" fetuses, euthanasia (of sick young), possibly even original sin, etc) with attitudes towards animals, specifically how one or one's society should treat bad/unwanted domesticated animals.

Follow up paper - chart inconsistent beliefs in primacy of genetics across different topics within subpopulations (ie NYT comment writer believes badly bred dogs are likely irredemable but almost certainly believes "badly bred" people can be saved; many in different subpopulation believe the inverse). Use both survey data and identify proxies for revealed prference data.; 12/15/14, 2:50 PM
Revenant said...: Who, apart from people making well into six figures or above, goes to a breeder to get a new pet? Who could afford to?; 12/15/14, 2:57 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ralph Hyatt,

Sometimes dogs just don't get along and there is nothing to be done except find one of them another home.

And the truth is that this is usually very easy to do, thanks to Craigslist and the like. My parents' Emma (now renamed Sammy!) found a new home immediately, and they are in continual touch with her new owner.; 12/15/14, 2:57 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: @Michelle

No, I hadn't seen that, but I have read a couple of books on dog training by an animal behaviorist with a doctorate.

And I took my dog to an obedience class led by someone knowledgeable where I was the one actually being trained, on how to communicate with a dog.; 12/15/14, 3:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Breeders do more harm than good to popular breeds; every time there's a fad for a particular breed, it gets inbred to a dangerous degree."

And those puppy mill dogs become the rescue dogs. We see so many particular breeds -- not mutts -- who are called rescue dogs. It seems to me that "rescue" -- the term and the process -- is a way to launder out the stigma of puppy mills.; 12/15/14, 3:00 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Revenant,

Oh, it's not actually that expensive. Compare ca. $50 for a shelter cat to ca. $500 for a bred one. $500 isn't chicken feed (how much for a shelter chicken?), but neither will it break the bank.

"Show-quality" dogs and cats are another matter. But breeders generally sort their pups/kits into "show" and "pet" cohorts very early on.; 12/15/14, 3:01 PM
TCR James said...: Hilarious. They let the dog sleep in the bed then are shocked when the dog acts like it runs the house. Then they criticize others for anthropomorphizing their pets. Did your wittle snookums misbehave?

As my father - who owned many difficult to handle and intelligent working dogs - put it, the first thing in training dogs is to be smarter than the dog.; 12/15/14, 3:01 PM
traditionalguy said...: No fault dog divorce. Even dog-human loyalty is a thing of the past.; 12/15/14, 3:01 PM
Wince said...: We'll Make Great Pets

Children are innocent
A teenager's fucked up in the head
Adults are even more fucked up
And elderlies are like children

Will there be another race
To come along and take over for us?
Maybe martians could do
Better than we've done
We'll make great pets!
We'll make great pets!
We'll make great pets!

My friend says we're like the dinosaurs
Only we are doing ourselves in
Much faster than they
Ever did
We'll make great pets!
We'll make great pets!
We'll make great pets!; 12/15/14, 3:02 PM
Big Mike said...: The dog trainer mentioned in the story didn't train dogs -- he trained dog owners. His goal wasn't to teach the dog how to live in that household, it was to exert social pressure on the writer and her husband to keep the animal despite their forebodings.

And it worked. Sort of.

One thing I learned a long time ago was that when you're on the spot, when there is absolutely, positively, overwhelming pressure on to say "yes," that's the time to say "no."

The advice was good, I wish in retrospect I had always had the guts to follow it.; 12/15/14, 3:04 PM
Brian said...: "Think carefully about what kind of dog you want" really is excellent advice, but it doesn't come into tension with "get a dog from the pound" until you decide you've just got to have a new dog *today*. If you're willing to wait, eventually the dog you want will appear at the pound. Problem solved.; 12/15/14, 3:12 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ann,

And those puppy mill dogs become the rescue dogs. We see so many particular breeds -- not mutts -- who are called rescue dogs. It seems to me that "rescue" -- the term and the process -- is a way to launder out the stigma of puppy mills.

No, no. There are particular-breed rescues, sure. As I said, my parents belong to one. My mom also is involved in a feral cat rescue, which is definitionally non-breed-specific.

Any dog (or cat) can be abandoned by its owner for any reason. My cat Charlie, the feral rescue kitten, was initially adopted by a very old man who made his relatives promise to take care of him after he died. When he did die, of course, said relatives dumped Charlie right back at the shelter. Mom was fostering him when I came to visit; I shared a small room with him, and ... you know the rest.

He and the other cat (Lili, from a Novato, CA shelter) have a pretty complicated relationship, one with its share of fisticuffs. But I can't think the place would be better off w/o either.

Anyway, "rescue" applies to any dog or cat, purebred or not, taken from a shelter into a home, or from a foster home into a "forever home." (Yep, saccharine language; makes me upchuck too...); 12/15/14, 3:12 PM
Julie C said...: My sister in law had a purebred dog that they'd purchased from a supposedly reputable breeder. Over the course of the animal's life, she lunged at small children, other dogs, bit their son, growled when her husband sat down near her, etc. It got worse and worse, and this breed of dog has very powerful jaws.

My brother in law did not want to put the dog down. But it became apparent that at some point something very bad was going to happen. They took the dog to a university with a reputable veterinary school and had the dog examined. The list of medical issues this dog had was a mile long, and the vets felt likely accounted for most of the dog's behavior. They recommended the dog be euthanized, and she was. To unload that dog on an unsuspecting rescuer would have been criminal in my opinion.; 12/15/14, 3:14 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Big Mike,

The dog trainer mentioned in the story didn't train dogs -- he trained dog owners.

Well, he trained them badly. But that's pretty much par for the course. For example, there's this book. It may be titled "Outsmarting Cats," but most of the contents (I'll except the worryingly-long "what to do about cat urine" chapter) are basically about rearranging your expectations, such that what your cat wants and what you want are now in alignment. Brilliant!; 12/15/14, 3:18 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Julie C.,

We had one Dobie like that. He would growl, and then snap, and ultimately was plain unsafe. And, yes, he was ultimately euthanized. I think he was the last Dobie we got from a breeder, rather than a shelter or a rescue.; 12/15/14, 3:21 PM
Larry J said...: I recently had a conversation with a fascinating woman who trains puppies to become service dogs. As she described it, she did the )"K-12" level of training and then others did the advanced training. She said that inbreeding has caused many service dogs to be prone to cancers and to have shorter lives. She said that they're experimenting with Lab/Golden Retriever mixes to get the right level of intelligence, temperament, and energy level. To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, if your family tree does not spread out, you may be a pure bred. In genetics, there's a term called "hybrid vigor" that describes how mixed genomes are usually better than pure breeds. It works regardless of whether you're talking about plants or animals.; 12/15/14, 3:23 PM
Julie C said...: We have two dogs of the same breed. Our female dog is the one we've had since she was a puppy (we purchased her).

The male we got from a breed rescue. He'd been dumped at a shelter in Sacramento and because he appeared old, was days away from being put down. The breed rescue was more than happy to get him and drive him to the Bay Area for me. He's been an absolutely wonderful dog.

We were concerned at first about how he would get along with the female so we were very careful and let him know his place in the pecking order. They now play together, chase each other in the back yard, and sleep next to each other during the day when I'm gone.

I don't think you can just add a dog to a household without thinking things through. We got a male dog, for instance, because we'd read that putting two females (or males) together was more problematic. We were very careful when we first fed them, since the male was underweight and likely had some issues with food. They eat side by side now with no problems.; 12/15/14, 3:25 PM
Michael K said...: "Their first couple of Dobermans came via breeders, "

Many years ago, a friend had several dobermans and I asked him about it as he had small children. He explained that the breed had gotten such a bad reputation that they were unsalable. The breeders (the good breeders) began breeding for behavior and after a while dobermans became very gentle dogs as a breed.

I have rescued a basset from a basset shelter here in the Los Angeles area and he was an angel. he was also handicapped and was in a little cart for his hind quarters when we took him home. After a few days, I was able to return the cart to the shelter and he lived with us for about three years until he was so disabled that it was merciful to put him to sleep. He had good years and we loved him. I still miss him. If he had been younger, I would have looked into surgery for his spinal stenosis but he was an old dog.

Most bassets are very gentle but Winston has a weak tendency to "spaniel rage", which is the problem that some dogs get. Treating him correctly minimizes the problem and I have become very attached to him. I am under no illusions about his problem nor about the issues of adopted dogs.

Such dogs should not be around children or other pets.; 12/15/14, 3:26 PM
Fernandinande said...: she leaped onto the middle of the bed and growled with bared teeth

I'd probably never keep a dog that acted like that, certainly not around kids, especially if the dog were only 5-months old. That's pretty bad behavior for a puppy.

We just "adopted" a stray rez dog, about a year old, very friendly and relaxed with people, that had never been in a house or car, and never had on a collar or leash. He'd been living in a motel parking lot for two weeks.

He'd freeze and shiver if you put him in a stationary car, much less moving, and freeze with a leash tug.

But after a couple of weeks of intermittent work, he loves the car and the leash, which means a walk* or car-ride. Walks like a pro, without tugging.

*first 100yards of a walk are on a leash, the rest off-leash cuz we're in the sticks.; 12/15/14, 3:26 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: All animal trainers are training the owners. As a friend of mine put it, after a few beers, what the trainer can get your dog to do doesn't mean s***!

The issue is, is the training you are getting actually useful?; 12/15/14, 3:30 PM
Michael K said...: Larry J, there is no question in my mind that inbreeding shortens lives and increases the risk of cancer. Bigger dogs have shorter lives, too.

My father had a cocker spaniel that we got when I was in the 8th grade and that I finally put to sleep after my father died 20 years later. We had another basset that died of cancer at 7. Winston is my third basset and he is very smart and my companion but I know his problems and am not naive about his issues.; 12/15/14, 3:31 PM
David-2 said...: My comment at the NYTimes site (which has not been published by the moderator yet):

"Foster mother" of a dog? "Pet parent"? An anecdote in the closing paragraph directly equating giving up a dog with given up a human son?

There's a problem here, but it isn't with the dogs.; 12/15/14, 3:40 PM
Big Mike said...: @Michelle Dulak Thompson, I think that the trainer succeeded in his goal, assuming it was to convince the people to hang onto the dog despite their misgivings instead of giving it back. The trainer doesn't seem to have done anything to evaluate whether the dog was safe to keep near children or other pets.

I have a great deal skepticism regarding experts. There are experts and there are people with credentials. The overlap in the Venn diagram is not null, but in many cases it is pretty small.; 12/15/14, 3:44 PM
Michael K said...: A little more about Winston.

And Charlie .; 12/15/14, 3:48 PM
B said...: Badly bred animals who were innately aggressive, or those which had been badly socialized were destroyed before they could hurt someone, and wisely so. People and other animals were safer and happier with one another, and aggressive animals did not reproduce, and did not live out what otherwise would have been their angry, fearful lives. That approach took a kind a maturity, discipline, and emotional strength that appears to be missing from the current rescue movement.

We're only a hop skip and a jump from eugenics there. The human animal, the most dangerous of them all.; 12/15/14, 4:01 PM
rhhardin said...: You can fix any dog with The Koehler Method of Dog Training, long out of print because it's not PC.

Koehler's Guard Dog book reprints it inside. I think that's still in print.; 12/15/14, 4:01 PM
Alex said...: Cue my shock when another dog owner complains that their beloved left another steaming pile on their expensive Persian rug and now they are going to send it off to to pound to be euthanized. Idiots.; 12/15/14, 4:04 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I don't think the problem here is rescuers as a general rule- I don't think the highlighted comment provides any real argument. The problem was this particular animal. The new owners had their warnings in the dog's aggressive behavior and ignored it. It is that simple. Yes, the dog probably needed to be put down, but I wouldn't paint with such a broad brush here; 12/15/14, 4:08 PM
Achilles said...: ""In my observation, most rescuers are motivated by an anthropomorphic need to feel morally superior to the 'heartless' people who do not try to fix the unfixable...""

Multiple choice question! What is the subject of this article?

A. The "War on Poverty?"
B. Insuring the Uninsured?
C. The War on Drugs?
D. Welfare?
E. Social Security?
F. Medicare?
G. Increased Gun Control?
H. Fighting Racism?

I could keep going. This is an astute and widely applicable observation.; 12/15/14, 4:30 PM
Titus said...: My rare clumber has a pedigree, both parents champs-natch. The breeder has also had an extremely competitive line in Westminster-natch.

They are specifically bred for body, coat, temperament and fabness. The only reason I was able purchase him was because he had some tiny defect in his nose-which I overlook-most of the time.

The interview process was grueling-home visit (they were wowed), personal interview, and 5 references.

The other rare clumber in Boston is on Beacon Hill-divine. Quarterly we meet at the Boston Common for socialization and bonding. We then eat at a fab cafe on Newbury Street which allows dogs.

kiss kiss; 12/15/14, 4:31 PM
Titus said...: In New England I know of a few other rare clumbers in Manchester-By-The Sea, Newport, Greenwich and Barnstable-fab zip codes.; 12/15/14, 4:34 PM
Fernandinande said...: HoodlumDoodlum said...
Research paper topic (psychology or anthropology?)

Entering thoughtcrime zone.; 12/15/14, 4:37 PM
Paul said...: 'No Man is an Island'

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were;

any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne

And all Erica-Lynn Huberty says is crap.; 12/15/14, 4:38 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "Until the rise of the rescue movement, it was generally understood that the best way to acquire a pet was to take the time to go to a breeder..."

What a bunch of la de freakin da Little Lord Fauntleroy bushwah. NONE of my family's pets ever came from a breeder, nor do of Deb's and my current cats/; 12/15/14, 4:40 PM
Fernandinande said...: Michelle Dulak Thomson said...
feral cat colony...

"The way things are going, the cats with the greatest reproductive success will be feral, and the cats best adapted to living with people will have low fitness. "; 12/15/14, 4:45 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: An overly aggressive dog is dangerous--and should be put down.

I've seen a Rottweiler kill a small poodle being walked by a 12 year old girl--terrifying the girl.

The owners took it back "He's really a good dog." 18 months later the Rottweiler attacked and killed the owner's two year old granddaughter.

I'm a little sensitive on the question of putting down a dog today. I took that last trip to the vet with my 14 year old "rescue" yellow mutt this morning. My wife and I have had six dogs since we graduated from college--two pure breds--a Basset and a Sheltie--and four "rescue" mutts.

Most of them were good dogs--and the Basset was fine until he reached the age of 7 or so and started having seizures. He'd wake up snarling and snapping and was kind of "out of it" for 15 minutes or so until he came to. We had very young children at the time--and I had the Basset put down in a New York minutes.

A dog that will injure a human or attack and kill another dog has no place in this world. Sorry folks for all you who believe otherwise, but that's the way it is.

And did I ultimately have each one of my dogs put down? Yes. As they get old and feeble, they'll tell you when it's time. You do it because you love them--but today is not a happy day.; 12/15/14, 4:54 PM
Rusty said...: Revenant said...
Who, apart from people making well into six figures or above, goes to a breeder to get a new pet? Who could afford to?

Hunters.; 12/15/14, 4:56 PM
Schorsch said...: Some people aren't right for dogs, but it seems almost everyone things they are. The relationship with a dog is wonderful, but it requires of the human a firm but benevolent demeanor that most people are uncomfortable with. All the training and behavior modification in the world cannot hope to supplant being your dog's boss.; 12/15/14, 5:15 PM
Dave Schumann said...: This isn't really true of cats. Until the rise of show cats bred for appearance, cats do not appear to have been subject to selective breeding for temperament or anything else. Cats appear to have evolved to live on the margins of human society, with longer digestive systems and smaller brains than their wild counterparts specialized for eating scraps and pests.

As to cats' temperament, the best guess is that the ancestors of today's housecats were preternaturally tame, leading to their acceptance by humans (an essentially commensal relationship).

In short, humans did not breed cats. Cats bred themselves enthusiastically and succeeded by being, for whatever random genetic reason, naturally affectionate towards humans.; 12/15/14, 5:22 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Fernandinande,

"The way things are going, the cats with the greatest reproductive success will be feral, and the cats best adapted to living with people will have low fitness. "

"Low fitness" by cat standards is still pretty high. My cats have never been outside, apart from a few brief escapes (and Charlie's first eight weeks, of course), but woe to any bug that crosses their path. I don't think there are rodents in this house, but if there should happen to be one, I assure you it would be toast in five minutes. Their hunting instincts (Charlie's especially) are very much intact.; 12/15/14, 5:38 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Dave Schumann,

In short, humans did not breed cats. Cats bred themselves enthusiastically and succeeded by being, for whatever random genetic reason, naturally affectionate towards humans.

Nah. They succeeded by humans being naturally affectionate towards them, of course.

Old dog vs. cat joke:

Dog: "You feed me and shelter me and warm me and give me all good things. Why, you must be God!"

Cat: "You feed me and shelter me and warm me and give me all good things. Why, I must be God!"

Too true, actually. Cats are utterly undemanding pets, so long as you keep exactly to the regime they've laid out for you :-); 12/15/14, 5:43 PM
H said...: I'm new to dog-world -- less than 2 years in for my first dog.

I got my dog from the pound -- he had been caught wandering free in a generally suburban county (to DC) and he was ribs-showing thin. But he was perfectly house trained and almost perfectly leash trained so he had been a "house dog". (He was totally unfamiliar with stairs -- go figure -- a barn dog? an apartment dog?)

So, I'm with Michelle D. T. My dog wants to make me happy. He comes to comfort me when I'm sad. And he feels bad (tucks his tail and refuses to meet my gaze) when he realizes (from my tone of voice I suppose) that he has disappointed me (why is this empty bread bag in the basement?)

Mixed breed dogs are more likely to be free of weird genetic diseases and issues. And they can be so sweet -- give them a chance.; 12/15/14, 5:44 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Dave Schumann (cont'd): The theory I've seen (most recently a week or so ago, though I'm hanged if I can remember where) is that men wanted cats for pest control, and cats wanted men for food and stroking.

I wonder how long it took for men to figure the latter out. It took me a couple of years living in a two-cat household to discover that petting a cat is very like its getting licked by another cat. And that cats specially like being scritched round the ears and on the face because these are the bits they can't lick directly.; 12/15/14, 5:50 PM
H said...: Oh yeah. I meant to say as well that I am totally open to putting a dog down. I don't believe that a dog owner should spend $1000s to preserve a dog's life by a few months.

I am philosophically committed to that. Will I follow through when my own beloved dog needs treatment? Time will tell.

Read Kipling's poignant poem the Power of the Dog. It may not be good poetry, but it will make you cry.

Farm boys (and girls) are more able to take this in stride. ("Sissy won the best calf category in 4-H" (in September) Then in March: "Tonight we have veal stew." "Is this Sissy?" "Yes."; 12/15/14, 5:52 PM
Skyler said...: I am not a fan of the rescue movement for dogs. I've never been a fan of shelter dogs either. I think we should support responsible breeders instead.; 12/15/14, 5:58 PM
Michael K said...: " The only reason I was able purchase him was because he had some tiny defect in his nose-which I overlook-most of the time."

I bought a male weimariner from a breeder and got a good deal because he had only one testicle. He turned out to be rather aggressive and unhousetrainable.

I gave him to a guy with a Christmas tree ranch in Oregon. He sent me a picture of Sport and his female weimariner. Not a dog to have around kids or indoors.

"Mixed breed dogs are more likely to be free of weird genetic diseases and issues. And they can be so sweet -- give them a chance."

True as to genetics. some breeds are sweet. Bassets are usually and Winston is as long as we know his limits.; 12/15/14, 6:00 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Skyler,

I am not a fan of the rescue movement for dogs. I've never been a fan of shelter dogs either. I think we should support responsible breeders instead.

In other words, for you "shelter" = "roach motel"? You can check in, but you won't check out. Not, at least, if the rest of the public agrees with you.; 12/15/14, 6:19 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Anyway, "rescue" applies to any dog or cat, purebred or not, taken from a shelter into a home, or from a foster home into a "forever home.""

I realize that, but show me the statistics. I want to know what is really happening, and my suspicions are based on the fact that I continual see dogs that seem to be specific breeds that have a "rescue" origin story. And I'm often told that these dogs were brought up from "the South."; 12/15/14, 6:37 PM
Dave Schumann said...: Michelle -- yeah except that's not plausible (that cats were actually *used* for pest control). The reason being, they don't hunt on command. A cat who's just hanging around the village will kill vermin exactly as well as a cat somehow bred for that purpose.

This is to distinguish them from animals actually bred for work, such as draft animals or hunting dogs.; 12/15/14, 6:41 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ann,

I want to know what is really happening, and my suspicions are based on the fact that I continual[ly] see dogs that seem to be specific breeds that have a "rescue" origin story. And I'm often told that these dogs were brought up from "the South."

When you're in WI, most of the rest of the country is "the South." You're imagining a South full of dark satanic puppy mills, yes? I don't think that's actually the case.

I'm not crazy about the "rescue" language, which carries more than a hint of the sexual-assault "survivor" language. Still, the gist is that the dog (or cat) was adopted from a shelter, or from a foster home. The idea that animals so adopted, rather than bought from "reputable breeders," are inferior is an idea guaranteed to kill many shelter animals who would be perfectly normal, happy, frisky pets if given a chance.; 12/15/14, 6:50 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Dave Schumann,

Oh, exactly. How long do you think it took the cats to work out that wrinkle?

Seriously, though, there must have been some sort of "domestication." Nothing like what there was for dogs. More a mutual non-aggression pact: Humans provide food (vermin, plus assorted noms on request) and scritchinks; cats provide vermin removal and warm bodies. Cats agree not to scratch or bite; humans agree not to kick or strike.; 12/15/14, 6:57 PM
khesanh0802 said...: @ Revenant To answer your question: people who are concerned about the personality and performance of the pet that they purchase. Any reputable breeder will tell you that the purchase price of the animal in question is almost irrelevant given all the other expenses involved in keeping a pet - not to mention the intellectual and emotional commitment.

The first hint of something amiss for the author should have been that the "foster" mother could not put the puppy on the ground where a normal dog would ultimately adjust to its surroundings.

I have had numerous dogs all from reputable breeders and they have performed as expected. If I were ever to try a rescue dog I would be as fussy about the rescue operation as I am about the breeders I have used.; 12/15/14, 7:41 PM
Kelly said...: The best dog I ever had I got from a puppy mill. At that time I had never heard of puppy mills, this was in the early nineties. I wanted a Scottish terrier and saw an ad for one in the classifieds for only a hundred bucks and it came with papers.

I thought it was odd and sad when I pulled up to the little trailer in the middle of nowhere with kennels stacked on top of kennels covered in tarps behind it. From what I could see they contained all sorts of pure bread dogs from cocker spaniels to pugs. The puppies were kept in a little prefab barn. Dozens of them. So many I finally just pointed at one to get it over with. Smartest dog I ever had. He went everywhere with us including Germany. It crushed me when he died.

The worst dog I ever had is currently snoozing in front of the fire. We got her from a rescue. She has never been trusted around children and even many adults though she's never been aggressive with us. Before her hips went bad and I stopped walking her, I had to take her to secluded trails away from joggers, bicyclist, cars and people in general because she'd frank oit at any noise. She's a beautiful dog and even when warned, people would insist on trying to pet her.

Once she's gone I'm done with dogs. She's about thirteen and doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.; 12/15/14, 8:10 PM
Moneyrunner said...: I wonder if observant Muslims are aware how much the infidels of Madison blaspheme against Allah?; 12/15/14, 8:38 PM
L Day said...: Nothing has done as much harm to dogs as the "closed registry" and the very concept of "purebred" animals. If you love dogs, please read this article. http://www.terrierman.com/inbredthinking.htm; 12/15/14, 9:03 PM
L Day said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/15/14, 9:04 PM
CatherineM said...: The writer should have gone with her gut. Her priorities should have been to the children and happy animals already in the house. How horrible for her tortie.

My neighbors found a beautiful torte a few years ago. This cat was the talk of the block be what personality. She is so outgoing I know that's how she must have gotten lost. Got out and then followed people walking. I took her in when we realized she was homeless. I found her a home with a dog and they are best friends. I would have kept her because she is such a pisser, BUT she bossed my cats around and they were miserable. It was unfair. She found an equal relationship with the dog in her knew home.

I would never ever risk the life of my current pets to rescue another, never mind kids. The first time she had to rescue her cat should have been the last straw. Horrific.; 12/15/14, 9:23 PM
CatherineM said...: Before I was born, my parents had a bull terrier. Don't know from where, but it was the early 60s. Theyraised him from a puppy. As he got older, he did nutty things. Ate kitchen towels (and shit them while running in the backyard) dragged the Christmas tree up the stairs, ate bees and then they began to notice his inability to feel pain. He would run thru a thorn bush, come out bloody and didn't care. Broke his head through the car window, shattering it to bark at another dog and continued while bleeding. My dad said dogs 3 times his size were scared of him like they knew the dog was nuts. They tried drugs from the vet, but one day he wouldn't let anyone leave the house. They called the pound To pick him up.

When my mom called to see if he had been put down, they said Mrs. M you did the right thing. While he was waiting in the pen, he dragged his face along the chicken wire, ripping it up.

I love dogs, but many can not be rehabilitated.

Heartbroken and shaken my parents didn't have a dog for years until well into retirement, but they have since had 3 greats and have a stray now for 5 years who is an angel.; 12/15/14, 9:43 PM
tim maguire said...: Animal rescuers are a type, not the type I'm likely to be friends with, but a type we need. I did a scan of the article and the lady had cats before she got this dog. Did she not know that most dogs don't get along with cats? Does everything she knows about cats and dogs come from YouTube?; 12/16/14, 5:05 AM
Fernandinande said...: Michelle Dulak Thomson said...
"Low fitness" by cat standards is still pretty high.

"Fitness" refers to reproduction, not necessarily hunting ability, etc., though they're often linked, of course.

Wild cats reproduce, and the cats who are more "fit" to life in the wild reproduce more than those less fit (by definition), whereas tame cats are often spayed or otherwise prevented from reproducing.

If your cats don't reproduce, their genetic fitness is zero, regardless of their skill at catching bugs and mice.; 12/16/14, 8:50 AM
Bryan C said...: "Until the rise of the rescue movement, it was generally understood that the best way to acquire a pet was to take the time to go to a breeder whose first concern was temperament, and to acquire the pet at an age when it could be well-socialized top the family in which it would live out its life."

I doubt that very much. My family and friends have had dozens of pets over the last 40 years or so. Of all of them, I recall exactly one dog that came from a breeder. They were strays, inherited, hand-me-downs, or extra kittens/puppies from litters of mutts. The single exception was a stud dog that a breeder had thrown away once he was past his prime.

So, no, I daresay going to the local breeder and purchasing your personal purebred Tralfaz is not the traditional method by which most pets were acquired.; 12/16/14, 3:27 PM