By Candy Wisnieski
The huge demand for dogs and the Internet impact shelters and rescues as well as the purebred puppy market. There is a ton of hype around about the huge number of excess animals in shelters. Actually, there are no solid census figures and the Animal Rights Activist Community is quite creative in making this stuff up. Here in the Northeast particularly, people tend to take good care of their pets so there is actually a scarcity of good family dogs of the right age and size and of stable temperament as strays for shelters and rescues, compared with other parts of the country. There is nothing wrong with a mix from a shelter, but there are a couple of pitfalls to watch out for. To supply the demand there are a couple of major strategies to be aware of: the naming of mixes for the purpose of curb appeal and imported dogs.
Naming: There are essentially two types of shelters: city/town shelters and private shelters. Many of the dogs in municipal shelters are mixed breeds of uncertain parentage. To give these dogs curb appeal, the shelters list them as combinations of various purebreds that sound attractive to pet shoppers. Some of these misnomers are almost criminal in that they hide aggressive components which potential adopters should know about. The most common curb appeal name-of-convenience is “lab mixes” which are often black Pit Bull, German Shepherd or Rottweiler mixes. True Collie mixes are, in reality, extremely rare especially in densely populated areas, and a real Collie mix does not have the characteristic “Lassie” white markings. Often, shelter dogs that are called Collie mixes are Akita mixes. Many shelter dogs are listed on the online shelter resource, PETFINDERS.COM. If you have a question about a mix, send me the URL and I’ll have a look at the photo and tell you if the naming is accurate or if there might be some hidden risk.
Importing: The other major strategy used by shelters to fulfill the demand for family dogs is the importing of dogs from other parts of the US, particularly the South, or from offshore places such as Puerto Rico, often by private shelters. Many of these dogs are young puppies. These shelters often bill themselves as no-kill shelters, which they can afford to do because they are highly selective about what they accept. Here in metro NYC, the most well known of these shelters is The North Shore Animal League on Long Island and the Mt. Pleasant shelter here in NJ is similar. The first thing to know about the young puppies from shelters such as North Shore is that they are not all legitimate strays. They are purposely produced for this market and the shelter is essentially an animal dealer. Sentiment here is used as a marketing tool to attract the pet shopping public. There is absolutely nothing wrong with adopting a shelter puppy from any place, but cut through the save-the-puppy hype and look at the puppy rationally on its own merits. Shelters such as North Shore use Petfinders.com with photos of very cute puppies, but with a disclaimer that the pictured puppy may not still be available. This is the same marketing strategy the car dealers use in their advertising to get the customer in the door— a bait and switch, as it were.
The second and most important thing to be aware of is that these shelters have been experimenting with a practice called infantile neutering where puppies and kittens are fixed at just a few weeks of age. I have seen numerous cases of urinary incontinence from this practice and the practice can influence how a puppy grows. If you are thinking of a puppy from a shelter like this, consult with your own vet about infantile neutering first; negotiate an alternate neutering schedule with the shelter; and never give a second look to a puppy who pees on the floor, especially in excitement. This is true, by the way, of any puppy or adult dog from any source by the way—just don’t go there.
Petfinders.com (http://www.petfinder.com/) has given the pet shopper direct online access to available dogs without visiting a shelter. Dogs of all ages, sizes, and varieties are listed there with photos and contact information for a mixture of shelters, private individuals and different types of rescues. The name-of-convenience game detailed above is played on Petfinders with great creativity. In numerous visits to the site, I have never found more than 1 or 2 in each group of 25 dogs listed as Collie Mixes actually had any Collie at all. Many of the organizations listed are hardworking legitimate shelters and rescues, but there are camouflaged animal dealers mixed in. With “adoption” fees running to $300. and more, it is profitable to start a backyard rescue.
As with purebred websites, it is very easy to make claims on site such as Petfinders that are difficult or impossible to substantiate. Claims and/or hype range from sad stories, heroic stories to abuse stories and the information about the dogs may not be accurate. Unless a puppy, a dog’s age as well as the breeds in the mix is often not what is claimed. It is not uncommon for a dog to be quite a bit older than what is claimed. The Bischon Frise, for example, is a breed that lives a very long time and, therefore, has a long old age. Old Bischons and Bischon mixes are often abandoned because of age issues, and because they are white, the old age does not show as easily as in a dog of another color.
Eventually the online shopper will meet the prospective dog(s) in person. At that point the dog needs to be evaluated on merit without undue influence of the claims—whatever they are. Snappiness or aggressiveness with people or other dogs, extreme shyness or fearfulness, peeing on the floor in excitement or general housebreaking issues, and separation anxiety are all problems that are very difficult if not impossible for pet owners to solve regardless of the dog’s history or the person’s good intentions. Choose something happy and outgoing and friendly which is a manageable size for your family for the best possible dog owning experience.
Hurricane Katrina added a whole new dimension to the shelter situation in 2005. Literally thousands of animals were rescued along the Gulf Coast, far in excess of the area’s limited resources. These animals have been dispersed all over the country for adoption now that the chance of ever getting them back to their original owners has faded. If you are thinking about adopting a Katrina Refugee, don’t take the kids shopping with you. Have your own thorough vet check done before ever taking a dog home where the family will bond with it. Heartworm has long been endemic in the Deep South along with other serious diseases, and the animals were exposed to some very nasty stuff as a result of the hurricanes.
