Deep Thoughts

Sorry, another Dog Rant coming up.

I recently joined a breed specific rescue group (I walk dogs boarded at the Vet clinic on Saturday mornings). One of the email posts we recently got was about 6 dogs (of a specific breed) at a shelter and "they need our help right now because they are at a kill shelter!" and I think to myself "what makes these ones more important?"

I also have heard stories of the Katrina Disaster and the breed specific rescue groups were basically told "sure, you can have these 5 whatevers, but you have to take these 3 other mutts" and a bunch of the groups thought this was unfair. And again I ask myself "what makes one breed any better than another?"

I have heard stories from the foster families of the rescue group who have had to pass off certain dogs because they didn't get along with everyone in the family (whether it's children or other dogs or the husband or whatever). And I just think "wow, this family could have spent their time fostering a different dog of a different breed with better results, but instead of saving the little mutt on doggie death row who is a really good dog and gets along with everyone he meets, they instead had to waste their time fostering a dog that ended up starting fights with the other dogs in the house and ultimately had to be put down because of wounds (from said fights). Yeah, this breed specific thing makes perfect sense."

Of course, at the same time, every time a breed specific rescue group comes and picks up a dog from a shelter, that obviously opens a kennel for a different dog, so they do help, but still, I think we need more dog rescue groups...especially groups that don't care about which breed, and just care about the personality.