While watching the news a while ago, the story of the baggage handler who fell asleep in the cargo hold of an aircraft came on. Watching the on screen graphic as the reporter expressed how frightening it was to awaken in a dark, noisy underbelly of the plane I could only focus on all the dog crates shown in that hold. What must they be experiencing? The same darkness and noise but without the foreknowledge of the cargo hold let alone a cell phone to call for help? Then I thought about their confused or panicked little faces and my heart ached. But then I realized how pets have to find their way through a myriad of life’s twists and turns that would freak out most mere mortals.
A question that reverberates through the shelter daily by staff and visitors is, “Why would anyone give up that pet?”. Whether a free-to-a-good-home ad or a Craigslist pet-for-sale ad or the adoptables in a pet rescue or shelter, why do they come here? Let’s be frank, we are thankful for every pet owner who, when realizing they cannot provide the home every pet deserves, takes the loving time to schedule an appointment to meet with staff and answer all the questions about the pet to help us find it the best new home we can.
Each pet is as unique as a fingerprint, and how they handle the transition of leaving one home for another can vary. Most hop right into the lap of the staff person after just a few minutes. Others are more wary of this new adventure. Most all at some point, however, have the same concerned reaction when their owners walk out the door, not unlike children left with the babysitter for the first time. New is strange and change can be hard for anyone. So to make sure we do the best we can to find the right placement, we ask questions of applicants, familiarize ourselves with the profile from the owners, perform our own behavior assessments and discuss among staff and volunteers our combined experiences and observations of each pet. They become our shelter pet family and we become theirs.
And time after time someone again raises the question, “Why are you here?”
So looking back over the pets for 2013-2014 who were entrusted to us by their owners, here are the reasons why:
- Moving 15%
- Too many pets 15%
- No time 7%
- Can’t afford 7%
- Landlord issues 6%
- Allergies 5%
- Behavior issues 5%
- Owner Health 5%
- Found it and now can’t keep it 4%
- Abandoned by roommate 3%
The remaining 24% of the reasons include, in descending order:
- Personal problems
- Change in lifestyle
- Unwanted litter
- Not housetrained
- Doesn’t like other pets
- Too much responsibility
- Just don’t want it
- Wrong sex
- Pregnant pet
- Death in family
- Not enough room / No fenced yard
- New baby
- Bite history / Illegal pet
- Health of pet
- Escapes
- Too active
- Doesn’t like kids
- Aggressive to other animals
- Can’t train
- Divorce
- Temperament
- Too needy
- Destructive
- Too noisy
- Too old
- Chases animals
- Unwanted gift
- Homeless
- Aggressive to people / Unfriendly
- Owner Pregnant
Our goal is to match 100% of adoptable pets into permanent placements while being mindful of the myriad of reasons people may not keep them forever…so they never have that “locked in the cargo hold” feeling ever again.
