The Boston terriers my sister has been taking care of went to new foster homes this week, because she could only take care of them for a little over a week (she had initially agreed to take them temporarily because they were in need of emergency foster homes).
Both dogs were fixed on Wednesday, and at that point, Daria went to her new foster home to recover from surgery. Bart stayed with my sister until yesterday when he went to his new foster home. We took him to Luv4K9's adoption event at Petsmart to do the tradeoff, and it was kind of a rough goodbye. This was my sister's first foster experience, and saying goodbye was difficult and teary. One of the Luv4K9s volunteers tried to comfort her by reminding her that if she hadn't stepped in and helped those little dogs, they might still be stuck in sub-standard conditions, which only made my sister feel more emotional. Then, a customer at Petsmart took "pity" on her tears, and offered to help her "buy" Bart...
Now, this was where I started to get rather frustrated. Because I know that this woman believed she had good intentions, but she was showing evidence of the whole systemic problem with pet-overpopulation. She kept saying "How much is the dog? I'll pay for half of it for you." This was a lovely and generous idea if we were talking about a piece of furniture or a painting, but Bart is a living creature who requires an ongoing financial commitment. If my sister, a 20 year old college student living on her own for the first time, can't afford $200 to adopt a dog, what happens when the dog needs to go to the vet? The woman simply didn't seem to comprehend this. She felt pained by seeing my sister cry, and thought the solution was "buy her a dog to make her happy right now" rather than considering "what is best for the dog?"
And that is so often the way people get dogs, thinking "this will make me happy" and projecting those same feelings onto the dog, rather than thinking honestly "what would be best for this animal, who has needs that are different from mine?"
To her credit, my sister made the right decision, a difficult one, despite strong social pressure from an older lady, and despite her own desire to take care of sweet, affectionate little Bart. She said goodbye and exchanged numbers with the new foster mom so they can stay in touch.
So many people get dogs without being ready for the full commitment, without taking into account how many areas of one's life this decision can affect. This is exactly why there are so many abandoned and unloved dogs. I mean, seriously, it is so unbelievably common. One (i.e. me) can become quickly jaded by the commonness of stories like "we found this dog abandoned, tied up outside the pet store" or "this dog was pulled out of an un-ventilated shed along with 40 other dogs that all needed vet care." Seriously? Yes, seriously. Every day. Some people seem to think "they're animals! Can't they take care of themselves?" No, they can't. Because this particular type of animal has been bred and designed by humans to need us. So... they need us.
Sometimes being a responsible animal lover just sucks.
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