There is a Right Way and Wrong Way to Give Up Your Dog
by admin
Filed under Dog Health, Dog Talk Tips
If you must give up your dog, choose the right way to do it . . .
Matthew Major, on behalf of Public Opinion’s editorial writes about a particular kind of dog abuse that occurs more frequently in times of economic distress–dog abandonment:
It takes an especially callous brand of laziness to simply dump an unwanted dog in a public place, in hopes that the animal will be rescued by others or maybe just to be rid of it, whatever its fate.
But that’s what someone did recently to Thor, a Doberman Pinscher left to fate and the elements at South Mountain Golf Course, where concerned hunters found him last weekend and summoned authorities to see to his rescue.
Although, “rescue” might be the wrong word, since Thor only had a five-day window for someone to claim him before Antietam Humane Society in Waynesboro put him up for adoption.
When officials took him into custody, Thor showed signs of starvation, despite wearing a collar and bearing signs of having been neutered. Someone had clearly cared for him before leaving him for dead.
He was hanging around the golf course, because that’s very likely where he was dropped off. A dog will remain at the spot it’s been abandoned, in the vain hope that its pack leader will return.
Animal shelter officials note that the number of people seeking to unload their pets increases in times of financial stress, since a responsibly tended pet — especially a large dog — can run through a lot of kibble. But as with nearly everything else, there’s a right way and wrong way to go about it.
It can take a long time and a lot of contacts before one might find a new caretaker for a domestic animal, but they’re out there. It just takes some effort.
We recommend that anyone having trouble holding on to their pet make this effort, because you don’t want to become the kind of person who heartlessly abandons a dog. And in the meantime, if anyone can spare some room for Thor, we hope you’ll head down to meet him at Antietam Humane Society in Waynesboro.
Find out more about dog behavior and how to treat dogs–become a pro, yourself!
[tags]how to give up your dog,dog abandonment,rescue dogs,humane society dogs[/tags]
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