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GRUMPA'S SHEPHERDS

Follwoing is one of my favorite dog poems. It is sad but unfortunately takes place over and over so many times across not just this country but others. The true need not only for rescue, but the absolutely critical need of all to take a stand and speak up is held within the lines below. Read the lines and than take a long look in your backyard.

The White Card Dog

The white card over the door said he was a 2-year-old German Shepherd, but the four-legged creature occupying the cramped cage was neither noble, fearless, majestic, nor proud.

He was a layer of skin draped over a skeletal frame. He hadn't even the strength to lift his head. The offer of a meat tidbit was ignored, the will to continue existence in a human world had vanished.

Although he had been placed in a row of cages marked "for adoption," officials hadn't bothered with inoculations. A dog that no longer wanted anybody, was insensitive to the flies that feasted upon his dirty body, could hardly be expected to appeal to visitors seeking dogs to adopt. He no longer cared. He had no desire to be anyone's friend. He wasn't waiting to be claimed by anyone except death. And it seemed as if death wasn't in much of a hurry either.

I couldn't help wondering how this dog came into this world. Was he the result of someone who owned a female and felt she was "entitled" to have at least one litter? Was he the by-product of a family educational object lesson? "We felt the kids should see the miracle of birth."

Was he once someone's cute Christmas puppy that was discarded along with the tinsel and tree? Or was he a training aid, acquired to teach a child "responsibility"? Perhaps he was once a status symbol, his usefulness outmoded by changing fads.

Is he nature's result of a dog allowed to run the streets because of the mistaken philosophy that "dogs should be free and not confined"?

The person who felt his female was entitled to have at least one litter should be advised that at least one of the dogs he felt she was entitled to have, has laid down on the floor of a cement cage to die - unwanting and unwanted.

The parents who gave their children the benefit of seeing the miracle of birth didn't complete the lesson. Their children didn't get to see the miracle of death and how it is slowly putting an end to this creature they caused to be brought into this world.

The parents who hoped a new puppy would teach responsibility to their child should know that the living, breathing being that they gave to their child has almost breathed his last. Yes, they should have waited until their child demonstrated his ability to assume responsibility before placing a life in his hands.

And to the limp body on that cold cement floor - what can I say to you, old fellow? What excuses can I offer for the suffering you have endured? How can I justify your existence? But it really doesn't matter to you anymore, does it? You don't even feel the ticks sucking the last vestiges of life from your veins.

We don't deserve to be your best friend, do we boy?

If people fail to step up and make a difference, than organizations like PETA will. Animal Right groups want to stop situations like the one below by stopping all of us, YOU and ME, from any type of pet ownership. If the HSUS has its way, all purebreed dogs will cease to exist. And if we don't care enough to stop others from throwing away animals, than perhaps we will deserve it.

Make the need for rescue extint. See what happens in your neighborhood and make a difference. Have the courage to offend someone who hurts, neglects or abandons an animal. Expect others to live up to their obligations and don't look away because it was just a dog and not worth burning a bridge. Burn that bridge and ensure no other animal ever has to be dragged across it again.

The above poem has been posted in dog newsgroups across the web. It brings out strong replies each time it surfaces. I was very surprised by some of the hatred toward it. Perhaps some truths do hurt to much.

• There were some who immediatly attacked the writer as uncaring. More interested in the glory of seeing their work on the net instead of actualing helping the animal. They felt the writer had the obligation to do what ever was necessary to help the dog instead of bothering others with it.

  This was my reply:

  This narrative came up on this list, or another list I'm on, many months ago. Surprise - same questions were asked than. I don't think anyone knew if it was about a 'specific dog' or simply a composite of shelter dogs.

  It's aim as I take it, is to make people think. To open dialog and encourge people to look at the available shelter dogs instead of just looking at puppies. To encourage owners to spay/neuter their dogs. To make people realize that dogs and thier offsprings should not be looked upon as science or social lessons for thier children. It's not about THE dog - its about ALL the dogs. No one can rescue all of them, all rescuers will tell you they have to chose where their resources go and go home and cry about those left behind with their 'white cards'. If owners didn't create this problem, no dog would be the motivation for this poem.

  I like it. Having owned a ferret shelter for all those years, I believe in the message the author tries to convey. Deena 8/21/2003

• There were some who took offensive to it. Claiming the people who posted it were implying that they weren't doing enough to help. Cries once again went up that everyone should take care of what they see and stop looking to others for help. "I gave last time someone asked. Someone else should also help."
  
  
• There were those that were insulted that it was posted to an animal group. After all, the mere presence that they were on the animal newsgroup gave them presumed status as above reproach. Major BS: anyone can join an animal group just as anyone can move in next door to you.

  This was my reply:

  I didn't take this as preaching to the choir. I knew it wasn't meant toward me. I enjoyed reading it and I will enjoy sharing it. And it probably isn't passing just through lists of responsible breeders, and heck, with this many people on the list, I doubt everyone on here qualifies for a responsible breeder. (Name omitted, did you just get '2' starving babies from a list member?) It is probably being passed around through private emails, and other lists and posted to websites. As one reader said, she gives it to her puppy buyers. I don't breed yet, I think when I do I will include it.

  True it probably won't change a whole lot. But what if it lands in the email of one person who was debating buying a puppy, and instead that one person goes to the pound and adopts a dog that was fixen to be destroyed. What if someone passes it to a coworker who has a bitch, and that co-worker changes her mind and has her bitch spayed. What if it falls in the hands of someone who is at thier wits end with thier unruly dog and remember why they got him and makes a better choice than dumping him along the highway, sure someone will take him in.

  We may be the choir, that doesnt' mean we don't need new hymns occasionally. And for all of us that have rescued a dog. Be honest, have we rescued EVERY dog that we had the opportunity to, or were there more that still needed it. If your local animal control puts down one healthy adoptable dog, than you haven't rescued every one you could.

  Maybe the narrator was already past capacity. Maybe despite that fact, they had just agreed to take in a pregnant bitch. Maybe despite being past capacity, they were at the pound to pick up a young healthy dog that had already been pulled from adoptables to go to the gas chamber. Should they have left the dog in the chamber to die and taken this one, or make the hard choice to take the most urgent and healthiest one and simply cry over the other and share her grief through these words?

  There is a point where you can not rescue one more. Speaking from experience, I know that point usually arrives MANY dogs past where it should, but you ALWAYS try to make room for one more. At some point, you can't cut back everyone else's food ration any more just so that you can take in one more. At some point you can't provide a little less vet care here and there just so you can take in one more. There comes a point where there really isn't any way to take in one more. Most people on this list will never reach that point. Professional rescue organizations frequently do have to face that point. Maybe the narrator took the dog in, or maybe they cried over not being able to make room for one more and wondered why they are taking care of 100s of other peoples dogs.

  A lot of people on this list send money to help resuces. How many could send 'one more' dollar than they did. Its only ONE MORE dollar. Someone about six months ago complained they were tired of rescue asking for money everytime they turned around for some dog that perhaps should have been put down. Yes, alot of people blasted them. I bet alot of people in private agreeded. Someone said they could use the thousands spent on one to rehab hundreds. Rescuers do make that choice more often than we know or will ever hear about. But occasionally, they can't help but try to help one more. Don't fault them when they can't.

  Not even sorry this is so long.

  Deena 8/31/2003