RSPCA Friend or foe?

[Reality Bytes]

Again without wishing to appear unsympathetic you have said yourself that the dog had a behaviour issue caused by a change in it's living conditions which you yourself don't have the time to spend on working on with him, with all due respect you have then handed those issues over to someone else to solve and put the time and effort and expense in that you cannot, can you not see that to the RSPCA workers thats hardly going to make you appear someone deserving of sympathy? There are things that can be done to rehabilitate him which you don't have the time to do, and it's for that reason why the shelter workers wouldn't have been all that kindly towards you as all they see is that the dog is being handed over because his owner doesn't have time for him any more.

But RB, isn't that a reason organizations like the RSPCA exist, to provide people like aardy an alternative to having their pet euthanized and to offer the pet another chance? I know I support my local SPCA for that very reason; the alternatives of people killing dogs or letting them loose is not a viable one--we need organizations which will provide this alternative an I (and millions of others are more than happy to donate to ehlp this happen).

Ish RR - yes they do but they do not exist to make life easy for any Tom Dick or Harry to play fast and loose with responsible dog ownership and rely upon others to clean up their mess whilst they move on to the next cute bundle of fluff whose early development they can mess up creating mature dogs in need of behavioral training.

Believe me I am not suggesting that applies to aardy, but is very much is a huge factor in why people at the sharp end of rescue are cynical about peoples motives because sadly many people we deal with ARE serial re homers and will blatantly lie or spin a sob story to get the rescue to feel sorry for them and take their unwanted dog off their hands, or who got a puppy because it looked cute in 1001 Dalmatians or Britney Spears has one just like it but who are ill prepared and totally unwilling to deal with the adult dog which the cute puppy turns into. And dont get me started on the backyard breeders churning out litter after litter of pups only to hand over their worn out breeding stock or unsold older pups for you and I and other animal welfare supporters to pay for (thats if they don't just kill the poor dogs when they are done being profitable for them).

Then there are the many people who think that it's a good idea to let little princess have just 1 litter - after all she's sooooo cute and such a good dog, yet they give very little thought to the costs involved or what they will do with the pups they can't find homes for - I know lets give them to a rescue to deal with problem solved.

Yes there ARE many genuine people with genuine reasons to rehome their dogs and thank goodness RSPCA, Dogs Trust and the many many other small independent rescues are out there for those people and those dogs, but for every genuine rehomer I would suspect the rescue has dealt with a dozen others who aren't - small wonder then that nice people sometimes get treated a bit brusquely or suspiciously. It's amazing how when you ask someone why they are surrendering a dog you get told one thing and when you say ah well have you perhaps considered trying A B or C? They suddenly remember that yes they have already tried that and it didn't work, so you say OK what about D E F? and my goodness they tried that too but had forgotten to mention it ...

Its a fine line for rescues between biting their lip and saying nothing making it easy to hand over a dog and indirectly contributing to the problem, or speaking their mind and risking that next time the unwanted dog might just be abandoned or even killed. They don't always get it right but you can't really blame them for not always being sympathetic.

[Aard Vark]

I would like to let it known, if anyone has had a dog lose a mate and try to retrain or break a new behavour pattern it isn't easy. I have put time into Troop but he is looking for his mate. I would of preferd to have kept the dog, he was trained to do jobs for me and wasn't. Like round up alpacas and geese, good watchdog and snake alert. HE has saved me twice from Brown snakes onec while just walking out the back door, if Troop wasn't there I would of stepped on the bloody thing.
Why would I give up on a dog like that?
I was walking around the road at 2am because Troop had excapad his pen. That is when the bloke two doors up offered to blow Troop's head off.

What is the best way to break this behavour? Rehome or a new owner this gives the dog a new foccus and that will pull the behavour back under controle.
Yes I have handed my problem to someone else, if it was the choice between taking the time to break the behavour and run the risk of him get shot I took the other otption handing over.
Two weeks retraining and he still kept running off. Please give me a break I didn't come to this easily and I didn't need to be treated like scum. One other point to concider it's a two hour drive to the RSPCA from here, so putting him down would of been a lot easier

[loCAtek]

Alpacas somewhere between a cow, horse and a rabbit.
they just cruse around all day and eat, when they want to they can be very affectionate, you can't ride them and I am told not the best to eat.

How are they like cows? Can you milk them?

[The Hen]

Our local Pound has a 95% rehoming rate.

It is the best in the country.

The local shelter's figures are nowhere near as good. But then they have to deal with so many more animals because most people think they will have a better chance of having them rehomed in a Charity than with the local Government pound.

[Aard Vark]

Alpacas are like cows because they don't much other than eat grass, like horses because you use them for cary stuff and you can't milk them, like rabbits as they are cuteand I should of said like sheep because you shear them.

We got a call from the local shelter this morning. They found a home for troop, I wish I had waited or they had called before we drove into town

[The Hen]

That is brilliant news Aardy.

I am so pleased they were able to place him.

[loCAtek]

Me 2!

[Andrew D]

But RB, isn't that a reason organizations like the RSPCA exist, to provide people like aardy an alternative to having their pet euthanized and to offer the pet another chance? I know I support my local SPCA for that very reason; the alternatives of people killing dogs or letting them loose is not a viable one--we need organizations which will provide this alternative an I (and millions of others are more than happy to donate to ehlp this happen).

A friend of mine is fond of taking in feral cats. One day, he took kittens to the SPCA to be neutered. The SPCA people took the kittens in back. Then they returned and told my friend that, without bothering to consult him on the matter, they had deemed the kittens unadoptable and killed them.

I used to support the SPCA. No more.

[The Hen]

Some feral litters are too far feral to revert to a domesticated situation.

They would be killing machines and would escape given the first opportunity. Some you would not want to handle unless you were wearing butchers chain-mesh gloves.

[Andrew D]

Some feral litters are too far feral to revert to a domesticated situation.

They would be killing machines and would escape given the first opportunity. Some you would not want to handle unless you were wearing butchers chain-mesh gloves.

My friend needed no such equipment to transport the kittens to the SPCA for neutering. And they needed no opportunity to escape; they were free to come and go as they pleased.

Anyway, he brought them in for neutering, not for adoption. He had already adopted them. But without bothering to ask him where they would live and how they would be fed -- in fact, they lived in his house and were fed by him -- the SPCA people, evidently based on, at most, a few minutes of interaction with scared little kittens reacting to a foreign and frightening environment, killed them.

What is there in that to support?

[The Hen]

Nothing whatsoever.

Kittens are the least thought of animals at shelters. They get so many, they get so hard-hearted.

[Aard Vark]

Not that I have had a lot to do with ferral kittens I was told you can tell a lot about what a cat will be like with a few simple tests.
One is how they react to being held on their back. If the kitten fights fearesly tooth and claw you should be carefull the odds are it will be agressive and unpredictable.
an nother is to hold a kitten's back legs if they pull or turn to see what is holding them but not strugle and fight they should be fine.

If your friend told RSPCA he had ferral kittens and wanted them fixed. They would of done these tests and a few others and found them not suitable for a domsetic life.
I have seen massive ferral cats rip hunting dogs to bits and I would spend more time picking my nose than I would trying to domesticate one of these kittens. It is a genetic thing, only the biggest and most agressive cats survive and reproduce so the kittens carry these traits. You can't take that out.

[rubato]

I think think the SPCA needs to get busy and deal with the terrible level of prejudice in sports mascots. By what right are only bulldogs singled out as the only mascot-worthy dog? How do you think that makes Terriers feel? or Bloodhounds? Bad, that's how they feel. Like bad dogs.

So stamp out dog prejudice! Let's see some fighting Shar-Peis and doughty Beagles!

yrs,
rubato

[Andrew D]

If your friend told RSPCA he had ferral kittens and wanted them fixed. They would of done these tests and a few others and found them not suitable for a domsetic life.

The SPCA had no right to make that decision for my friend. He had already adopted the kittens. The SPCA simply murdered his pets.

[Aard Vark]

Andrew D wrote:
The SPCA had no right to make that decision for my friend. He had already adopted the kittens. The SPCA simply murdered his pets.

I am not saying they didn't go to far I just see the other side of the coin or kitten in this case.
It's a bit like the "tame" big cats some people say are as safe as any domestic cats. Then they end up in hospital because their lion or tiger has bitten an arm off. You can't change the nature of some animals, one of our cats is a top ratter. She will and has taken on mice, rats and even rabbits and a hair (we saw her catch and hold it down). She will come in and sit on your lap loves to be petted but has no fear even putting the mastiffs in their place. 6Kg cat 65Kg Mastiff

The shelter didn't have to the right to put these down without some sort of agreement but they must of had their reasons