For those who think the economy is only affecting them, think again. Our four-legged friends are also having a rough time.
The Pet Examiner reports that people are losing their pets because they can’t properly care for them. In addition to losing their pets, many people are also being fined because their pets are not being properly cared for, or are being abandoned.
In Texas, a woman was recently fined a hefty $3,520 when she was found living in her car with 22 dogs.
In Las Vegas, a woman was fined $20,000 after dozens of animals were confiscated from her filthy home. She had been evicted due to foreclosure.
The reason dogs are such good pets and fit so well into human society is that they are social animals by nature. Their greatest psychological need is to be part of a group. Whether it’s a family or just you and puppy, or a boisterous household full of children and pets, in order to be happy your new puppy must feel secure about her place in the group.
Sometimes you get publicity from people and places you would never expect. I received an email in from Adopt-A-Pet in Redondo Beach, CA. They wanted to know if they could use one of my photos for a YouTube video they were putting together.
One pet photo turned into several. In fact, the still photo before and after the video has played, is my Boss, and the first dog to be shown after the Obama press conference is my Annie. Other Mill Creek Animal Rescue dogs in the video are Otter, Brandy and Uno.
I took part in a pet transport Saturday. It was the first one I have participated in, not because I haven’t wanted to before, but because either the legs near my location were filled, or I was already booked on the day of the transport.
For those of you who don’t know what a pet transport is, there is a whole network of rescue folks across the country who arrange for transportation to get animals from one place to another — many times across multiple states. That was the case on Saturday.
You get all kinds of phone calls when you’re in animal rescue. When I first started out, I naively thought that most calls would be from people looking for a pet to adopt. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
The most calls start something like “There’s this stray dog…” and end with a plea for help. Sometimes I can help, sometimes my kennels and cages are full and I can’t take in any more.
Sometimes there are calls asking if I’ve seen someone’s lost pet. Unfortunately, I rarely have. Now, if I could somehow get those callers together…