I have never been so happy to wait in line as I was TWICE today (dropping him off and picking him up). I had delightful conversations with the other folks who were there to have their animals spayed/neutered. It was clear they valued the opportunity the SPCA was providing and loved their pets dearly.

Many were picking up dogs they had adopted over the weekend for the SPCA so I got to witness their joy at taking their new canine companions home. I swear shelters could make money letting saps like me sit behind some glass window and watch those moments - they just fill me up with so much faith and happiness.

Griffith is home now, tired and shamed by his e-collar, but is sleeping it off.

Didn’t get any responses to the CL or LAT “found” ads I posted, so we’re gonna assume he’s up for grabs and I’m claimin’ him!

I tell my clients all the time - you don’t know what you don’t know until you know it.

If what you think you know is fact-based, reasonable and kind, then you’ll do well. If it’s based in ignorance, then you won’t.

Thank you.

;O)

MSN was brought up during a few of our meetings and I truly believe I was instrumental in having it knocked off the agenda pretty quickly. They all know what a piranha I can be about things (removing the limit law is my current baby and we’ve been going back and forth for two years - them suggesting doubling or tripling the limit, me responding with a stern “NO limit is the only acceptable limit”).

A low cost spay/neuter clinic is also in the works, but mostly because our group (made up of local rescue groups) has been putting together plans to raise funds to start a private clinic. And how terrible would it be for a private group to be seen as more proactive than the province’s largest “no-kill” SPCA?

Our position is that a low cost clinic is necessary and we don’t give a good doG damn who runs it, as long as it’s managed properly and ethically (available to EVERYONE for starters).

It’s sad, but we’re just waiting for the agenda to emerge… as it inevitably will.

The only thing that’s sadder than our SPCA is our animal control/city hall.

Shelters which operate this way poison the idea of no-kill. The upper ranks of these places are also usually at the fore-front of pushing BSL, limit laws and MSN in their communities.

Far easier to lay blame than self examine.

With intact pets in your home, you are an unfit adopter AND an unfit foster home.

Yet they will adopt out a husky puppy to a retired, inactive senior because he “thought it was cute!” with nary a word about hair, exercise, training, exercise and hair. Honestly… I can’t think about them without my head reflexively shaking back and forth.

There is also rampant corruption at the top of the chain of command. It’s a sad, sad state of affairs.

Also, they’re a shelter that claims “no kill” by allowing animal control next door to take in all pets, and then cherry picking the most adoptable. Got a dog who has gone kennel crazy? A cat who develops a disease? No problem! Simply transfer said animal back over to animal control! After all, they never claimed no-kill, and the SPCA didn’t actually push the plunger, so no foul!

Grrrr….

No, not really. I think most of us here who do rescue placement go a lot on “feel”. If it does not feel right, it does not happen.

When I say “benefit of the doubt” I mean I do not have many written in stone, predetermined requirements. Dogs get placed with someone whom I have good feelings about based on their answers to questions and meeting them in person.

Kim, so the local humane will not adopt to homes with intact pets? Huh. Has it occurred to them that someone adopting an altered pet is LESS likely to breed than the intact dog owner who ends up buying another intact pet from the paper because the HS turned them away?

Also, that number is “animals”, not “dogs.” We also take in small animals, although rarely, however we do handle a large number of birds and parrots.

The OTHER Pat - not only was I around during the 2007 recalls, I was in the thick of it. I actually work in the industry, on the retail end.

While so many people believe that they were shocked to learn there is little difference between crap and premium, I have a much different take on the situation. I believe people were shocked to learn that the food they had been sold as premium was no such thing.

I have real issues with foods such as Nutro, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Techni-cal and Nutram being referred to as “premium.” Actually, it seriously increased the pressure in my skull…

These corn, by-product, soy and peanut hull filled creations are by no means premium. They do, however, charge a premium price to pay for premium advertising.

That said, I agree with Gina’s point of view that no matter what you’re buying (Instinct or Ol’ Roy) you should be able to count on the product not being responsible for the toxic death of your pet.

The idea that all foods are created equal is just as incorrect as the assertion that Science Diet is “premium.” There ARE some commercial foods that are different, even if they are in fact co-packed (something that’s damn near impossible to avoid unless you’re a HUGE company or you’re co-packing everyone else’s food!).

When I refer to premium foods in my contract, my criteria for those foods rules out the vast majority of foods that consider themselves “premium.”

As for the rest of our adoption criteria, we have relaxed substantially. The first six months we were involved in rescue we were…. well, difficult to deal with, no doubt.

However, we don’t have very many demands in our contract aside from the obvious - no debarking, no declawing, no tethering/outdoor living (within reason), good food must be provided, proper veterinary care (although this is admittedly subjective) no hitting or physical abuse in training (and no, proper corrections do not qualify as physical abuse, we mean actual abuse!), and of course the animal must be returned to us if they are unable to keep them. This last one rarely comes into play, and the very few times it has we have generally provided support, advice and advertising to assist the owner in re-homing.

As for criteria for adopters, we don’t go so far as to declare everyone fit until proven otherwise. Instead we tailor the criteria to fit the individual animal. We only require fenced yards for animals who have a history of bolting. We only restrict children if the dog’s temperament and/or size makes it necessary, etc, etc.

Could we relax further? Of course. Will we? Perhaps. Our local humane society adopts to anyone who is under the legal limit in a home with altered pets and of course, if they have the check. Subsequently we get disturbingly large numbers of recently SPCA adopted dogs knocking on our doorstep because the owner quickly realizes that they are a terrible fit for that pet. :O( This alone keeps me cautious.

At the moment we have a pretty low rejection rate (omitting the completely obvious ones like people who email me with lines like “that dog is coot, where can i pik it up?”) and a VERY low return rate. I’m satisfied with our current program - however, we are always re-evaluating both our procedures AND ourselves.

Off topic, yes… but an interesting discussion nonetheless!

http://www.petconnection.com/b.....be-judged/