Welcome to your Easter Newsletter.
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This Weeks' News
Pet Owners Making Own Dog And Cat Food
CBS 3, PA -
11 hours ago
(AP) ATLANTA Some dog and cat owners
frightened by a contamination scare are forsaking the pet-food
aisle and grinding up meat in their own kitchens instead ...
Wolf Grabs Small Dog And Runs Off
WCBS-TV New
York, NY - 48 minutes ago
(AP) JUNEAU, Alaska A black wolf
snatched a small dog near a Juneau lake and ran into the woods
with it, US Forest Service rangers said. ...
Grieving Couple Commits Suicide After Dog Dies
WTKR Your
NewsChannel 3, VA - 13 hours ago
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Unable to
come to terms with the death of their pet dog, an elderly
couple in southern India committed suicide by hanging ...
Dog Mauling Bill Debated At State Capitol
CBS 42, TX -
4 hours ago
(CBS 42) AUSTIN Lawmakers are
considering a bill that would make a dog owner responsible if
their dog attacked someone. The bill would treat the dog as a
...
Dramatic Rescue Brings Dog To Safety
Today's THV, AR -
9 hours ago
Two people, a welder and an animal
rescue assistant, clung to the side of a steep cliff for what
seemed like forever while trying to rescue a stranded dog. ...
Dog stolen while owner shopping
Inside
Toronto, Canada - 8 hours ago
Police said the dog's owner tied the
leash to a bicycle rack and went shopping. When she returned,
the dog was gone. Witnesses said two teens took it. ...
Rare Snake Bites Dog
WIFR, IL -
15 hours ago
The dog's owner Chris Frye says Whoop
is recovering. Whoop spent one night hooked up to an IV and
he's now taking antibiotics and a painkiller.
Now for this
week's tips and advice
Homing A Rescue
Dog
Rescue Dogs Need Good Homes Not TV Exploitation
I’m afraid this one is going to turn into a bit
of a rant – intentionally so, as I am writing this after just
having seen a new TV program here in the UK. Its called ‘The
Underdog Show’ and it’s a set of celebrities who have each
been asked to choose a dog at a rescue centre and then to
train him for a series of tests that will be done on
subsequent programs – things like a little agility work.
The celebs are each assigned a proper dog trainer to help them
train the dogs correctly. There are also 3 judges to score the
dog/human performance each week and the public can also vote
for their favourite – so now you know where I’m going here –
this is effectively a doggie bush tucker trial each week!
The dog with the lowest score each week is then put up for
‘adoption’ on TV.
The makers of the program say that this will get all the dogs
successfully re-homed and highlight the need to consider
rescue dogs when choosing a pet.
Well, needless to say, whilst I can see their side, the fact
is that this is all about ratings – not about successfully
homing unfortunate dogs who have already had a poor start in
life. So lets start with what wrong here, because its pretty
much all the same reasons that many people don’t consider when
they want to get a dog (which is why the shelters are full in
the first place!).
1. They let the presenters choose their own dogs from the
rescue centre. You saw each celeb choose a dog based upon how
it looked or whether it seem desperate – no mention of the
suitability of the dog to their circumstances. The result is
that at least one dog is wholly unsuitable (the completely
adorable Champ – half Alsatian and half Great Dane). Champ is
16 months old, full of bounce an vigour and has never been
trained before. He would devastate most households and if
children were around would be knocking them over quite
accidentally in his enthusiasm. No mention of any of this
whilst the adoring public look on.
2. When they were filming at the centres you heard no mention
of the centre’s vetting process. Do they even have one? This
should all have been mentioned as far as I am concerned.
3. When the dogs come up for ‘adoption’ will there be any
vetting of the successful applicant – no mention of this
either. So far in my view this is a terrible way to portray a
really important process. The whole program seemed to me to
have been ill considered in this respect. Us dog lovers want
to know that they dogs are going to go to really great homes
don’t we?
4. The dogs are being trained each week by the celeb and the
trainer – but they are not living with the celeb. So after
each session that dog gets left again at the centre. If you
ask me this is a recipe for further destroying the dogs
confidence and trust and some of these dogs have already been
abandoned once.
5. At the end of the series the dogs left will have been
trained to be much more sociable and well behaved. A great
many rescues are not like this – so doesn’t this create an
expectation in the minds of people who don’t know dogs, that
they are all well trained? Won’t this lead to even more
returns or the possibility of being abandoned again?
6. Finally (since I could go on a lot more and bore you to
death I am so mad…) the proceeds of the phone calls (when the
public vote) isn’t even going to a dog charity – they are
going to children in need! Now I know that’s a worthy cause
but its the dogs who are the stars here, surely it should be a
dog charity that benefits? After all the children in need
collections don’t donate to the dogs do they?
OK, so that’s enough, but I think you get my drift. Re-homing
a resuced dog is hard enough without creating expectations
that cant be met. These dogs are ALL absolutely adorable and
would make excellent pets for anyone who wants to put some
time and effort into them, to make them so. This kind of
shameless exploitation really makes me sick because its not
balanced enough to make people aware of the associated
problems, and of their responsibilities to a dog – any dog. To
me, All publicity is NOT good publicity unless it is well
balanced.
I am very keen that we raise public awareness of how great it
is to own a rescue dog, after all I have one myself and I
adore him, but only if we also make it quite clear what the
owner can expect. My dog was a complete nightmare to start
with and I believe that if you had seen him on TV, everyone
would have wanted him (ok, so I am a bit biased…) but they
would very soon have wanted to take him back, I can tell you!
I have already produced a newsletter about selecting the
correct dog for your circumstances, and that is on the site.
If you are considering getting a new dog or you know someone
who is, then please share it with them. In the meantime I am
going to write to the producers and take them to task!
