How do we limit shelter population?

What about the next rescued dog?

What would we have done if Erin had successfully rescued that Chow today?

     We would have had our vet clinic give the dog the new arrival's checkup, we would have had the vet fix anything that was wrong (including spay surgery), we would have made a place for the dog in our lifeboat, and we would have begun trying to adopt the dog out to a good home.

     We're down to 83 dogs right now (2/2/05), and this would have bumped us back up to 84.

     I remember the movie "Lifeboat" with Tyron Power (made in the 1940s or early '50s). I was a young kid when I first saw "Lifeboat," and it didn't sit well with me when they drew straws to see who would have to vacate the boat (i.e. jump back into the ocean) in order for a "reasonable" number of people to have a better chance to survive. The thought of the theme of that movie still haunts me.

 

Pat used to say, "But what about this dog?"

     When Pat rescued Happy and brought her home in 1992 (13 years ago), we already had three former stray dogs who had been with us for years. I warned Pat, "This dog you've named Happy is not the last homeless dog we will see, and at some point in time we will ultimately have to say no to the next dog, because we will not have the resources to take care of even one more." And Pat said, "I am aware of all that, I understand all that, but what about this dog? Are we to put this dog back out on the street? Are we to take this dog to the pound to almost certainly be put to death? Can we not afford to squeeze just one more helpless, homeless dog into our home?" "But there will be more and more and more," I said, "and eventually we will have to say no." "I understand all that," Pat repeated. "But what about this dog?!"

Happy moved inside the hospital trailer last summer as the heat was making it too hard for her to breath.
She's enjoying the winter inside as well, and she'll remain a house (or hospital) dog for the rest of her life.

Happy is indeed a happy dog now, and we regret that she had to spend the past 12 years in an outside kennel.

 

     Less than a year after Pat rescued Happy, we had eight dogs in three big kennels we'd built in our back, front and side yards. Then our neighbors "suggested" we take all our dogs and find ourselves another place to live, and we soon moved to the remote rural place where we're located now, and then we had 10 and then 15 and then 20. And now we have 83. And just a few days ago we announced we could take in no more till our population is back down to 60 or 65 dogs, which population we could continue to take good care of with our current level of donations.

     So finally after 13 years since Happy first came to us, are we going to say no, not this next dog? If Pat were alive, she would simply say: "But what about this dog?"

     I can hear Pat's mandate to us all: "Keep raising more and more and more money and keep rescuing more and more and more dogs until they're all safe in good homes!"

     This whole tragedy is about money (or the lack thereof). And it's going to take a lot of money to rescue and take care of every homeless dog (and cat) until the overpopulation problem is solved via spay and neuter, which is also going to take a lot of money to achieve. Our work is cut out for us!