Our Typical Situation

Here in Montgomery County, Texas, we have a mix of high-end surburban communities (The Woodlands), farm-and-ranch remnants, trailer parks, "ranchette" (non-agricultural acreage properties) and newer tract housing. Our typical intake at the Shelter is not an indoor pet that can no longer be cared for by its owner. Instead, our typical intake is an unintended litter from the mating of free-roaming, unaltered neighborhood dogs. These animals are typically found in the rural fringes of our county, and may or may not be considered pets. I am defining "pet" the way PetsMart or your favorite high-end "companion animal" lifestyle magazine defines "pet".

The video below represents a fairly common situation--the owners don't have the funds or transportation to spay or neuter their dogs, and have limited abilities to provide proper whelping care. Several litters just like this one arrive at the Shelter every week. This is the reality behind many of the dogs in the Shelter runs:



As the volunteer for Operation Pets Alive, a non-profit animal welfare group that serves Montgomery County, "This litter of puppies born to 2 free roaming unaltered neighborhood dogs. Found while OPA volunteer was working to TNR a feral cat colony. The owner does not have a car, money, or a job. OPA desperately needs foster homes to move these dogs into. They will all receive vaccinations and will be deworm. They could be ready for the next OPA Flight for Life departing May 14th but have to start their required vaccinations within the next 4 days."

I will provide an update on this litter ASAP.

Puppy Perils

This is "Dezi", who is harder to "dress" than a Barbie doll. The red sweater is held on with the pink harness. The jingle bell helps me find her. The Cone of Shame keeps her from chewing on her cast. She can still move at the speed of light. Thanks to Allie, of "Hyperbole and a Half" for giving me the courage to post one of my pencil sketches, tweaked in Photoshop Elements 6.

Question: What goes "Tick, tick, jingle, tick.....jingle...click, yip, yip, yip."?

Answwer: A Miniature Pinscher with a cast on her front leg.

I do not normally foster puppies. I admit this. I prefer adult dogs. I don't have a puppy-proof house or yard, although my yard is escape-proof.

So when I came home with this 5.2 pound black-and-tan puppy with a broken leg, I assumed that I'd be able to keep up with her. I mean, how fast can a tiny dog with a huge plaster splint around her front leg move?

The puppy, cast and all, fell in my pool, right off the bat. I had to take her back to the Vet to have a new cast put on because she got completely soaked. I paid for it of course.

I swear, I was watching her, but she darted around or behind me (or transported herself through space) in a couple seconds while we were walking around the pool back to the house.

When I figured out that she wasn't next to me, I saw my own oversize MinPin, Chopper, staring intently at the pool, ears cocked, and the puppy was paddling--quite well, actually--to keep her head above water.

Which makes me wonder how on Earth puppies ever make it to adulthood at all.

Dezi, as she is named, is almost impossible to keep up with. Her cast doesn't slow her down at all--without it I'm sure she would move at warp speed.

Things I have removed from her tiny puppy mouth: computer cords, lamp cords, a bit of celery that dropped on the floor, twist ties, sparkly purple stuff from something that must belong to my daughter.

She can climb up stairs, but not down--the Cone of Shame that she must wear to keep her from chewing on her bandages limits her vision.

She can get on the couch (she couldn't do this last week when I brought her home but she has grown, as puppies tend to do). She annoys Cross, my fluffy dog. She gets run over by Chopper because he zooms around snorking up things from the floors like a Dustbuster with legs.

She thinks my husband is the most wonderful man in the world and when he walks in the door, she hops up and down like she's just pounded three Red Bulls. Then, she falls asleep in my arms and snuggles her head into my shirtsleeve and sighs a happy, happy puppy sigh. She is absolutely adorable.

Drive-By Drop-Offs

Puppy season is in full swing—which means that unplanned, unwanted, and often uncared-for, litters of puppies are being brought to the Shelter.  Puppies arrive in clothes baskets, kennels, and cardboard boxes.  Technically, the person surrendering puppies, even strays, should go inside the shelter and fill out paperwork.  Most of the time, there is a fee for surrendering a litter, along with some paperwork that is meant to deter multiple drop-offs from owners who neglect to spay or neuter their animals.

However, not all surrenders are done the right way.  Puppies are often dropped off at night, left behind the plastic picket fence of the play area where where potential adopters and Shelter dogs get to know each other.  Sometimes they are left in old dog crates or big boxes by the front door.  About a month, a volunteer found two tiny puppies huddled on top of a trash can full of soda cans and fast-food cartons.  Amazingly, the puppies were alive and managed to survive.

Brazen drop-offs occur in the parking lot.  On April 12^th, according to Dr. Patricia Ryan, the MCAS Shelter director, a pick-up truck pulled up and a young man leaped out and tossed a large cardboard box in front of the door, with many little furry heads and ears sticking out of the top, cruelty jolted when it hit the pavement.  The head officer of Animal Control witnessed the event from inside the shelter.  He rushed out the door--but the truck had alreay spun out and was fish-tailing down the driveway at an amazing speed!

The box contained 15 beautiful brown and black pups were in that box, their little faces serious, eyes wide and innocent.  The officer did get the license plate number, so if the culprit gets pulled over for some other violation, maybe we’ll see some justice.  As Dr. Ryan noted, “When this happens, we all look at each other and say, ‘Well...it could have been worse.’  The guy could have dumped them in the water or by the road.”  Dr. Ryan added that on that day more than 30 puppies (including the 15 abandoned pups) plus several litters of kittens arrived at the Shelter.

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Photo found on Flickr; altered in Photoshop

Mama Dog with 14 Puppies

This small blackish-brown lab mix was brought in on Sunday with 14 tiny puppies. The mama dog weighs only about 35 pounds, so this is a huge litter for a dog her size. Currently she is in an isolation room, but we're hoping to get her and her puppies into a foster home.

Female dogs with nursing litters are brought into the Shelter weekly. I've seen three or four litters at a time in the Lavender and Pink Rooms (the stray-hold rooms). Currently, the Shelter does not have a space dedicated to newly born puppies and their moms--no whelping boxes, no room where it is quiet and calm so that mama dogs can rest.

We're working to improve these conditions, but it is a slow process.

Why People Want Puppies

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a dozen times: "We want a puppy so it can grow up with our kids." What people don't realize is that a two-year-old dog can grow up with a child just as easily (and often without the need to housetrain) as any puppy.

I wish more people would look at the grown-up dogs. We have so many deserving animals--beagle mixes, cattle dogs, black mouth curs, rat terriers, and more. Our Shelter does put pit bulls and pit mixes into the adoption room, but its hard to find homes that work for these guys and gals. And the labs--oh, the gorgeous, lovable--and sometimes crazy labs. We ALWAYS have Labs. Anyone who wants their own Marley needn't go to a breeder--just go to a Shelter in the huntin'-strong south.

Puppies go out fast from the Shelter, but since most bitches haven't had any pre-natal care, and the after-care for puppies is often minimal for surrendered litters, these puppies have the cuteness but not the strong immune systems of puppies from reputable breeders.

Meanwhile, the adult dogs languish--the gorgeous Queensland Heelers, the rough-coated Jack Russells, the Walker Coon Hounds, the Blue Ticks and Beagles, the Huskies (and do we get Huskies--) often seem invivisible.

What I wish our Shelter would do: 1. Make our adoption areas more customer-friendly. 2. Identify breed types more carefully on intake forms. 3. Take better photos of animals for those who are searching for pets via the Internet.

What I wish our clients (those looking to adopt) would do: 1. Do some basic research and planning before coming in to look at pets. 2. Decide in advance who will be the primary care-giver for the animal (dog-walker, pooper-scooper, vet chauffeur, groomer, etc.). 3. If you don't have a fenced yard, realize that you will need to walk the dog for both its exercise and elimination needs. 4. Realize that a dog or cat requires some financial commitment and time. 5. Understand that puppyhood is a brief blip in the time-line of your dog. 6. Consider taking on an older dog. Just because they may give you only three or four--or six or seven--more years shouldn't be a deterrent. That's more time than many marriages last!

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Illustration by Garth Williams from "My Big Golden Counting Book," by Lillian Moore. Golden Press, Racine, Wisconson, 1956, 1957. 1974 printing. Counting.

Puppy Season at the Shelter

Q: How do you know that “Puppy Season” is here at the Animal Shelter?
A: When the “Puppy Carton” is set out by the mailboxes.

Sadly, people come by after hours—some folks truly don’t know the times the Shelter is open, but a large number of people slink in under the cover of darkness, or the soft light of dawn to deposit their litters. The Shelter generally charges a flat rate for surrendering a litter, and the intake staff person is supposed to record the person’s name and license number.

But the “Puppy Box”—or “Kitten Crate” as it is also named—is a necessity. We have a little “dog park” in the front, but the picket fencing is purely decorative. Puppies that are not contained are just a few yards from a major eight lane highway.

On my walk-through today, I counted four litters of six or more puppies, plus a dozen new young dogs under the age of three months. We’re out of canned puppy food and we’re short on fosters who can care for litters. I am not blessed with the patience to deal with puppies so I stick to the needy adult dogs. If you live in Montgomery County, Texas and would like to donate puppy food (canned and dry), puppy milk powder, or disposable puppy pads, leave a comment. If you want to foster, you can leave a comment, too.

A Tale of Two Dogs and One Puppy

A guy goes to an adoption event to pick out a dog as a companion for his grown neutered male dog.

He considered three choices from among the 10 dogs we had with us on Saturday at our local PetsMart--an adult female black-and-tan hound mix, an 8-month energetic female retriever mix, and a 12-week-old black lab puppy.

First, he looked at the black-and-tan hound—she was very playful and the guy’s dog seemed to like her. Next he looked at the young retriever—a beautiful, red-spotted girl with hound-dog ears, one blue eye and thick, silky fur. But the adolescent dog was wild on the leash and kept grabbing the strap in her mouth. The guy’s dog didn’t seem particularly impressed or put off by this dog. Then the guy looked at the black lab puppy. The puppy was a floppy, soft, bundle of sweet-smelling fur and big paws. The puppy was already exhausted from being at the adoption event, so he snuggled down into the guy’s arms and sighed with joy. The guy’s dog didn’t pay any attention to the black lab puppy.

The guy and his wife debated the choices—the black-and-tan hound (the choice I would have recommended, as I had fostered this girl for a week at my house and so knew her temperament) was dismissed without a backward glance. The guy’s wife was afraid that the 8-month old dog was “too hyper” and would be too hard to handle. Besides, the guy’s wife said, “Look how calm that puppy is.” Of course, the puppy would be as boisterous as red-spotted girl in five more months, but perhaps better trained, since the guy’s first dog appeared to have fairly decent manners. It was clear who was going home to be the new “companion” for the guy’s dog. As usual, the guy picked the puppy.

I hope this puppy won’t come back to us, or be turned over a few months later to some other shelter. Or end up on Craig’s List with ads saying, “He’s too energetic for us…” Or on a poster at the vet’s office that reads “Active Dog Needs a Big Yard.”

So, a great adult dog, a perfect “playmate” choice, and an energetic, untrained (but not hyper) adolescent dog are once again passed over.

What I Do on Weekends

On Fridays, I go to the shelter, select some dogs from the Adoption Room and put “off-site” tags on their kennels, then on Saturdays and Sundays, I haul the dogs in the back of my minivan to various locations (PetsMarts, bookstores, pet-gift stores and the like) hoping to place dogs in good homes. Ideally, I am saving a shelter dog’s life by finding it a loving, forever home. The reality is that I’m doing the best I can NOT to rent puppies. In the dog-rescue arena, however, cute, cuddly puppies and small lap dog always win out over the adult dogs.

The big black dogs are ignored as people lift up the soft, floppy lab babies or the speckled beagle-mixes or the fluffy shepherd-hounds. The medium-sized brown dogs are passed over if there is anything—adult or puppy—that looks like a Chihuahua, even if that critter is too tall, long-backed, sickle-hocked and snappish. The nine-month old adolescent dogs—the ones who were smooched on and loved over as puppies—jump and bang against their crates, clamoring for attention because no one ever taught them basic manners.

People come in with amazingly detailed shopping lists—“I want a white female malti-poo.” Or “We’re looking for a black-and-tan dachshund puppy.” My personal eye-roller is “We want a dog that won’t get too big.” I generally ask the potential adopter, “Show me with your hand how big is ‘too big’.” The person may hold their hand at least knee-high, but they’ll often add: “I don’t want anything over 25-pounds.”

Meanwhile, my portable crates are filled with soulful eyed coonhound mixes, eagle-eyed Australian cattle dogs who need day-jobs, and, of course, the dime-a-dozen lab and retriever types who bring new meaning to the word “boisterous.” Not one of these dogs is close to weighing 25 pounds.
If they can’t find their shopping-list dog, people often fall in love with the puppies. And all too often those puppies end up in a shelter several months later as untrained, leggy, and wildly exuberant not-quite-adult dogs. These “teenage” dogs have it roughest—they don’t have the cuddle-currency of a puppy, and since they often are not quite housebroken (many owners take a lax stance on the potty issue, so the dog never quite gets the routine down) and lack even basic leash training, they’ll be passed up, again and again.

Even my best adult dogs don’t stand a chance against the puppies. Every shelter volunteer will tell you about the amazing, awesome, superb and wonderful adult dogs we have seen in the kennels. But it’s an uphill battle trying to match these animals with the right family—and those cute puppies don’t make the job any easier. Combine the puppy factor with the fact that many adult dogs enter the shelter system for shaky reasons (yard too small, schedules kids won’t care for the animal, people are moving, and it’s no wonder more animals than ever need loving homes.

So my weekends are spent with kennel-crazed shelter dogs. I put collars on them, spritz them with doggie perfume, then lavish as much attention on them as I can—walks, ear rubs, a little basic command-practice and lots of treats. And when an adoption match-up works, I know that I’ve at least done a small part in saving one dog. But I won’t rent you a puppy.