How long are your dogs 'your's'?

[Flyinsbt]

Originally Posted by Aleron

This.



And this.

Really, there are some very sad and very judgmental posts in this thread. I remember thinking at the time how sad it was that those animals were so quickly being sent all over the country. There was absolutely no time for people to look for their pets or possibly be reunited with them. Shelters all over the country were all over the media with how they had "saved the abandoned Katrina dogs". Except most of those dogs were not abandoned shelter dogs. They were people's pets, who had been lost or separated from their families. And people were lining up to adopt them in many places. I don't think anyone realized how bad things were going to get with Katrina until it was too late. Like Sassafras said, people left thinking they'd be able to return home in a few days. Even once it was obvious thinsg were going badly, families had no place to go with their pets and people were being evacuated from their homes, forcefully if they wouldn't go willing. I just can't understand being so judgmental of people in sure a dire situation, even if you wouldn't make the choices they made (and have the resources to not have to).

My thinking exactly.

I read an article a few years ago, and I don't remember where (it might have been in Bark) about the Katrina dogs, and there was one man that stuck in my mind. An older man, whose wife had died not too long before, and the dog was all he had left. His care of the dog might not have been exactly the type that we tend to consider gold standard with ours, but he loved his dog. And it got adopted out, and I don't think the man got it back.

It made me very sad.

[JessLough]

Originally Posted by Emily

With some of the criteria being used here to determine whether or not people "deserve" to get their dogs returned, I know several loving owners and beloved pets that would never see each other again.

Including myself and Keeva... she has her reproductive tract and no microchip as of yet. I can only hope if she ever gets lost (god forbid), she ends up with someone less judgemental than many on this thread, or I'll never get her back.

Yep. Intact bitch (obviously I only have her to make money off her twice-a-year litters), has never been and will never be microchipped or tattooed, acts as though she hasn't eaten in days (and feels like it if you don't know her history), and will likely be counted as fearful because.. well... she don't care and won't pay attention to people

[Aleron]

Originally Posted by Flyinsbt

My thinking exactly.

I read an article a few years ago, and I don't remember where (it might have been in Bark) about the Katrina dogs, and there was one man that stuck in my mind. An older man, whose wife had died not too long before, and the dog was all he had left. His care of the dog might not have been exactly the type that we tend to consider gold standard with ours, but he loved his dog. And it got adopted out, and I don't think the man got it back.

It made me very sad.

That is so sad and just the sort of thing my mind kept going to when these dogs were being shipped all over the country. Some people lost everything they had in Katrina. A chance to get their pet back could have gone a long way in helping them recover. Is it ideal to have a pet when your home was destroyed in a hurricane? Probably not. But that doesn't mean people shouldn't have had the option to get their dog back. Dogs mostly care about being with their people and not so much about ideal circumstances.

I realize it would have been impossible to reunite all the dogs with their people. And in some cases the owners would have been unable to take them back. Some dogs may have survived when their owners did not. What is upsetting is that an attempt at getting pets back to their people didn't seem to be considered all that important.

[*blackrose]

I would always want my animals back, no matter the years. But, I also think if they were in a home just as good as, if not better, than what I could provide, and they were happy and well cared for...if they'd been there for a substantial amount of time (1year+) I may consider letting them stay, even though that would be horrible and awful.

Course, with my animals, I bet they'd be paying me to take them back. :P

[Laurelin]

The whole Katrina issue is just sad. It makes me tear up even thinking about it.

[LauraLeigh]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

The whole Katrina issue is just sad. It makes me tear up even thinking about it.

Me too, it wasn't really the hurricane, but the aftermath that caused such widespread devastation, and being one who works up to an hour from home, I can easily see how some were unable to get back for their pets, and others told it would be a few days tops and they were not allowed to bring them, trusted that and left food and tubs of water...

Those rescued animals shod have been kept far longer in foster or shelters before being shipped away, without records if even where they came from in many cases...

Lets just pray a very valuable lesson was learned from it..

[Shai]

I honestly don't know what I would do. It would depend so much on the particular circumstance. In most cases I would be fighting to have my dog back and I would definitely do what I could to look for his/her natural lifespan in hopes of at the very least finding out what happened. But I don't know I mean...if 10 years had passed and my dog was now a senior living with people s/he adored and was cared for well...I would go and see him/her if at all possible and probably cry for days all over again but I don't know if I could uproot the dog at that point...it would probably depend on how the interaction went...whether I was remembered or not.

But under most circumstances yeah I would be fighting to have my dog back if fighting was necessary. Even knowing how much it would hurt the new adopters.

And if the situation was reversed and someone had proof the dog I had adopted was theirs and cared for reasonably well and loved, I like to think I would do the right thing and give the dog back unless it was markedly in the dog's best interest to stay.

I hope I never need to decide either case.

[Saeleofu]

I say chip/tattoo/tags/collar/permanent ID because how else can I know for sure that THIS is the dog you are looking for? Many, many breeds have dogs that all look similar. No markings, generic head and body...how can you tell that dog is THAT dog, especially if the dog has grown/aged/greyed/etc?

many other dogs were not spayed/neutered and had other untreated medical conditions. (I know the spay/neuter thing is an iffy topic here, but 'casual' pet owners should probably not have intact dogs. They're not responsible enough, in my opinion.)

So, how do you tell the difference between an intact dog owned by a "casual" pet owner and one you feel is "responsible enough" for an intact dog when all you have in front of you is the intact dog? Also, being intact is NOT an untreated medical condition by ANY stretch And further, about those untreated medical conditions...if the dog has been lost for days, weeks, months...how the hell were they supposed to treat said medical conditions? They very well could have been treating them prior to the dog getting lost, or the condition could have developed WHILE the dog was lost.

[Fran101]

and nobody who has never been through a disaster like hurricane katrina should really be talking about what you would have done differently. It's really easy to say things like that when you haven't been through it.
I would really suggest taking a moment to step back and realize that you don't know what these people went through or what they did or did not do to save their pets.

To say that they don't deserve their animals.. is deplorable. Completely.

What if it was between your life/your kids life or leaving your dogs? Police men telling you to leave your home at gun point? Being without food or freshwater? What if (like katrina) you didn't know it was going to get so bad, do you pack up and leave every time the weather reports say thunderstorm? What if you were lied to and told you would be back in two days? What if the area was drenched with violence,crime, little food, little freshwater, no communication.. you needed to get out.

I feel for all the victims of Katrina.. and accept that I HAVE NO IDEA what they went through or what I would/would have done in that situation.

I would go find my dog with every power I had.. but to say that I would have deserved to lose him/should leave him with new owners because in a case of national disaster I did what I could to save my life and get out safe.. is wrong.

[JessLough]

Originally Posted by Fran101

and nobody who has never been through a disaster like hurricane katrina should really be talking about what you would have done differently. It's really easy to say things like that when you haven't been through it.
I would really suggest taking a moment to step back and realize that you don't know what these people went through or what they did or did not do to save their pets.

To say that they don't deserve their animals.. is deplorable. Completely.

What if it was between your life/your kids life or leaving your dogs? Police men telling you to leave your home at gun point? Being without food or freshwater? What if (like katrina) you didn't know it was going to get so bad, do you pack up and leave every time the weather reports say thunderstorm? What if you were lied to and told you would be back in two days? What if the area was drenched with violence,crime, little food, little freshwater, no communication.. you needed to get out.

I feel for all the victims of Katrina.. and accept that I HAVE NO IDEA what they went through or what I would/would have done in that situation.

I would go find my dog with every power I had.. but to say that I would have deserved to lose him/should leave him with new owners because in a case of national disaster I did what I could to save my life and get out safe.. is wrong.