The Pound Pictures.

[Mum2mutts]

I admire you for being able to work in a place like that- that is SO sad, my heart goes out to those poor animals, I could NEVER work in a kill shelter, i couldn't handle it, but it is wonderful that there are compassionate people that can, it must make such a difference to those animals.
I cry at every post to do with animals whose time is up- I wish i could take them all. Whenever there are discussions on what breeds people would want, I have my favourites, but when the time comes, I always go for a shelter dog, (always ends up being a mixed breed too)

Thanks for sharing (even though I cried) maybe it will help even just one make it to a forever home

 

[PlottMom]

I admire you for being able to work in a place like that- that is SO sad, my heart goes out to those poor animals, I could NEVER work in a kill shelter, i couldn't handle it, but it is wonderful that there are compassionate people that can, it must make such a difference to those animals.

i agree! i worked for a year in a very LOW kill shelter (only animals who were severely ill or going to rip someone's arm off) and even that was a nightmare at times... i can't even imagine

 

[Sweet72947]

I hear that a lot, but I also spend a *lot* of time on coonhound forums where people search for MONTHS looking for lost hounds, many of which are probably turned into shelters at some point... I've also heard from more than one hunter who have gone down to a shelter, wanted a dog, didn't really care if it hunted or not but was willing to give it a chance and just let it have a good home (because shockingly enough a lot of us just like hounds ) and were treated like criminals. Last point, and my fav, a lot of people have gotten into/learned to hunt BECAUSE of the dog they rescued from a shelter ! Some people give up on pups too early, some people just don't know how to train... I definitely think there's a lot more dogs in shelters that would hunt if given the chance. If nothing else, there *are* some hunters willing to just give them a good home, regardless...

You know what the other problem is? There is this rumor that goes around about hunters that shoot their dog if it won't hunt, or set it free in the woods if it won't hunt. I don't know where it came from, but it was told to me when I started in rescue, and I'm sure its told to others too. I certainly never believed that ALL hunters are this way, (or even that many of them are this way, since many hunters have a great respect for life). With everything there is good and bad, but some people only focus on the bad.

 

[PlottMom]

You know what the other problem is? There is this rumor that goes around about hunters that shoot their dog if it won't hunt, or set it free in the woods if it won't hunt. I don't know where it came from, but it was told to me when I started in rescue, and I'm sure its told to others too. I certainly never believed that ALL hunters are this way, (or even that many of them are this way, since many hunters have a great respect for life). With everything there is good and bad, but some people only focus on the bad.

Ohhh I know - and I won't tell you it doesn't happen. Although the "setting free in the woods" is actually the less common of the two, as most don't believe in leaving the dog to fend for iteself :/ I was thinking about this post last night while out hunting, and thanking my lucky stars all my hunting buddies are totally retarded for their dogs, whether they hunt well or not unfortunately both sides (rescue and shelter) are so VERY distrustful of each other - it really needs to change, because so many more coonies could be saved if we'd all just work *together*! I've heard the horror stories from being in rescue (some of which I rescue) and horror stories from people desperately trying to get their dogs back. It's a tough situation all around...

 

[SmexyPibble]

I think some of them really never even had a chance, like the pit bull who was used for fighting and was electrocuted. Why would they do that, anyway? Just to torture the dog?

I can't imagine that dog ever being able to trust people again.

Good for you for trying to help and adopting Sadie.

Either she lost too many fights or she couldn't produce enough healthy puppies anymore. Usually when females get older they are used as breeding dogs. She is strapped to something often times called a "rape stand" or a "rape pole" so they can't attack the male, and she produces puppies for the rest of their life, and when she cannot produce enough healthy puppies anymore, or if the puppies she produces are not good fighting dogs, she will be killed (or, if she's lucky, dumped) by either being shot or in a more brutal way - such as being electrocuted. In Gerome's case, they attempted to electrocute her and then dumped her on a highway, and we then picked her up.

A lot of fighting rings are very brutal. This video is extremely graphic, but it will help you understand more what Gerome went through and the fighter's sick reasoning for it, etc.
Off The Chain: Pit Bull Documentary

this makes me cry how could you handle such sadness every day? I'm glad you were there to give the poor dogs some happy moments in their last days.

I got my Maggie from the shelter and she was afraid... very skittish. I think she would have been euthed if I didn't get her. And she's turned into the best dog in the world. She's perfect.

That's awesome that you adopted Maggie! It always makes me smile when I hear somebody's dog is adopted. I'm glad you gave her a chance. That's what they all need; but unfortunetly it's not provided for most of them. Nobody wanted to adopt Sadie because she was so terrified of everybody. She would lay in the very back corner of her kennel and whimper. But, I'd walk her every day and eventually she started to wag her tail when I passed by, and that melted my heart. How could I let a dog that ONLY trusted me die? I'm not that heartless.

I hear that a lot, but I also spend a *lot* of time on coonhound forums where people search for MONTHS looking for lost hounds, many of which are probably turned into shelters at some point... I've also heard from more than one hunter who have gone down to a shelter, wanted a dog, didn't really care if it hunted or not but was willing to give it a chance and just let it have a good home (because shockingly enough a lot of us just like hounds ) and were treated like criminals. Last point, and my fav, a lot of people have gotten into/learned to hunt BECAUSE of the dog they rescued from a shelter ! Some people give up on pups too early, some people just don't know how to train... I definitely think there's a lot more dogs in shelters that would hunt if given the chance. If nothing else, there *are* some hunters willing to just give them a good home, regardless...

Honestly, I think she would have been good at hunting if she had the right training. She was still a pup, and a goofy, happy, loving one at that. I don't know much about hunting, though, so maybe she was too goofy to hunt. She sure did love to run, though. And one of her favorite things to do was run full speed at a tree and then attempt to climb it.

I admire you for being able to work in a place like that- that is SO sad, my heart goes out to those poor animals, I could NEVER work in a kill shelter, i couldn't handle it, but it is wonderful that there are compassionate people that can, it must make such a difference to those animals.
I cry at every post to do with animals whose time is up- I wish i could take them all. Whenever there are discussions on what breeds people would want, I have my favourites, but when the time comes, I always go for a shelter dog, (always ends up being a mixed breed too)

Thanks for sharing (even though I cried) maybe it will help even just one make it to a forever home

i agree! i worked for a year in a very LOW kill shelter (only animals who were severely ill or going to rip someone's arm off) and even that was a nightmare at times... i can't even imagine

Personally, I could never work at a no kill shelter! Since I moved from Illinois back to Washington, I have been looking for a shelter to work or volunteer at and I visited three or four no-kill shelters. My reasoning for it is that it doesn't seem like those dogs need much help, or at least they've gotten helped very much so getting it into a no-kill shelter! Those are the lucky dogs. I want to help the dogs as much as possible, and a kill shelter allowed me to do so because without the training or socialization I gave them, they would have even more of a chance of being euthanized. It was terribly said, and I cried everyday, especially when I knew it'd be a dog's last day there, or if it was getting close to their last day, it really hurt and I'd sit in the grass with the dog and cry and give them tons of love and treats. It's terrible because their GONE now and they wouldn't be if they had been given the chance they deserved in the first place. It's NOT their fault they're there, it's NOT their fault they die, they're absolutly not prisoners, although they certainly are treated like it.

 

[PlottMom]

Honestly, I think she would have been good at hunting if she had the right training. She was still a pup, and a goofy, happy, loving one at that. I don't know much about hunting, though, so maybe she was too goofy to hunt. She sure did love to run, though. And one of her favorite things to do was run full speed at a tree and then attempt to climb it.




Personally, I could never work at a no kill shelter! Since I moved from Illinois back to Washington, I have been looking for a shelter to work or volunteer at and I visited three or four no-kill shelters. My reasoning for it is that it doesn't seem like those dogs need much help, or at least they've gotten helped very much so getting it into a no-kill shelter! Those are the lucky dogs. I want to help the dogs as much as possible, and a kill shelter allowed me to do so because without the training or socialization I gave them, they would have even more of a chance of being euthanized. It was terribly said, and I cried everyday, especially when I knew it'd be a dog's last day there, or if it was getting close to their last day, it really hurt and I'd sit in the grass with the dog and cry and give them tons of love and treats. It's terrible because their GONE now and they wouldn't be if they had been given the chance they deserved in the first place. It's NOT their fault they're there, it's NOT their fault they die, they're absolutly not prisoners, although they certainly are treated like it.

re: the coonhound - it was *very* possible she was either a) young and abandoned because they couldn't sell all the puppies (grr ) or b) young, goofy, and the owner had no patience. I've seen a lot of people give up on pups that either should have been laid up for a few extra months and taken hunting once their brains were back, or burnt out from being taken five nights a week as pups. My friends recently got back a dog this happened to - he was burnt out by about 15 months, and the guy didn't want him anymore. They bought him back, laid him up for a month, and now he's a coon-treeing MACHINE at a bit over 2 years.

and your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure I could work at a kill shelter and not bring home too many dogs, is my problem... I don't think I'm emotionally tough enough to go home crying every day. I think I could tolerate it if I didn't live 2.5 hrs from my boyfriend... and if he shared my love of *all* dogs, not *some* dogs

 

[Sweet72947]

I volunteer for a no-kill shelter, and I worked in a kill shelter for a month and a half (I ended up leaving because I found a job with better pay, and my supervisor didn't like me). Having worked in both, I can tell you that they have completely different atmospheres. At the no-kill shelter, people are happy, hopeful for the dogs, and the dogs are a lot happier. At the kill shelter, the people that work there are just, resigned to the Way It Is, they don't try to do anything but endure. With the dogs, there is this sense of desperation, probably because they almost NEVER got out of their runs unless somebody took them out to look at them, or they were being taken to the Room.

At the no-kill shelter, I enjoy helping adopters choose a dog, and telling them about the personalities of different dogs. At the kill shelter I wasn't ALLOWED to tell people about the dogs except whatever was written by the previous owners (if the animal was an owner surrender). I actually got scolded for talking to a nice couple about a sheltie mix they were looking at. I guess its about liability and all that - although they do make people sign this form when they adopt that says that the shelter makes no guarantees as to the health/temperament of the animal.

At Prince William County Animal Shelter (the other shelter near me, much higher intake than the one I worked at) they don't even know what dogs they have most of the time. If you go up to them and ask about say, the red husky in the last cage, they won't know what dog you are talking about. You have to get the number off the shelter tag on the dog's collar and give it to them, then they look up the dog in their file and tell you whatever info is in there about them. They don't WANT to get to know animals that they might just end up euthanizing anyway. An employee at the shelter even told me herself they just want them GONE so they don't have to kill them. Good thing that shelter works heavily with rescue!

Working in a kill shelter can be extremely difficult. I saw a lot of crap, and I was only there a month! I can handle it just fine, but I can see how people would get burnt out after a while. From the horribly abused pit bull who was taken in a cruelty case that STILL walked up to me wagging his tail and friendly (and euthanized because he was "old" and a pit bull), to the (extremely friendly and sweet) cat left in his own urine and feces in a crate overnight by somebody, held for two weeks in that condition, and then euthanized after the stray hold period, the kitten so covered in fleas he dripped blood when he walked, the 17 yr old cocker spaniel allowed to roam the streets, picked up by AC and then abandoned by his owner to be PTS at the shelter, it really can be one of the hardest places to go to work every day.

 

[InLimbo87]

What a set of pictures and stories! You are doing a great thing for these dogs (I know I couldn't do it!).

 

[Renee750il]

Bre, you've got the heart of a Fila, grrrl.

 

[SmexyPibble]

Sweet72947, of course it's hard. It's extremely hard. From the pit bull who was fought, bred, and then electrocuted to the dog burnt nearly to death, to the dog beaten so bad she cowered in the corner of the cage, to the spaz of a Lab/Pit who died of parvo in his kennel - But it's not their fault they're at a kill shelter, and they still deserve love and help. I loved helping people pick out their dogs, telling them about every dog, matching them up with the dog right for them, etc. and the other people who worked there didn't tell me to stop. I didn't care how much I got paid. I didn't care who there liked me or hated me. I did it for the dogs, to make them happy for their last few days, or give them the chance they deserve. I'm an extremely hopeful person. I always have hope even in the worst of times. I taught myself to be that way, and it helped at the shelter, although disappointment often comes with hope. I loved the dogs there. Only four other people worked there - usually it was only me and another woman there, and a few volunteers. A lot of times, I was the only one there. Quite a few times, I extended the dog's stays to give them another chance, hooked them up with rescues, even took a few home and found them homes myself, found fosters personally, found people personally to adopt, and sent a few dogs home with people to "test them at home before paying the adoption fee" - which is something usually shelters don't allow, but I did it because it gave the dogs a WAY higher chance of being adopted. It all helps. The conditions were terrible, but the dogs are still there, and everything done for them counts in their eyes.

 

[Sweet72947]

I didn't care how much I got paid.

I sort of had to care about my pay, since I have bills to pay, and I couldn't pay them on $6.50/hr at 15 hrs a week. I have a lot of respect for people who work in kill shelters and are still able to care about the animals. Its bad in our shelters around here, most of the workers don't care, and the ones that do end up leaving rather quickly because they can't take it. Most of the shelters around here do work with rescue though, thankfully.

I forgot to mention that part of the reason my supervisor didn't like me was because I was too slow with my duties in her eyes. The reason I was a little slow was because I would stop to pet the animals and such. I wasn't SUPPOSED to give the animals any attention. I was just supposed to go in, clean, and go up to the front desk to learn it, and then go home. I wasn't supposed to go pet that abused pit bull I mentioned either - he was in the Quarantine Area which was off-limits to me, but I went in anyway and gave him a milkbone, I suppose his last meal. My supervisor also played favorites with the animals, like keeping around an extremely unsocialized young cat that would suddenly claw the crap out of you while euthanizing perfectly lovely black cats for space (some cats never made it to the adoption floor after their stray hold was up). My supervisor had (and still has) the keys to the place, was the one who opened it in the morning, and closed it at night. There was no way for me to go there when she wasn't there.

If money was no object, I would have stayed. I can handle working in that environment just fine, as long as I don't have to euthanize anything myself (that's the one thing that's kept me from applying for the ACO position that is open occassionally - in VA you get "Euthanasia Certified" and you are responsible for euthanising the animals you bring in if necessary.)

 

[SmexyPibble]

I sort of had to care about my pay, since I have bills to pay, and I couldn't pay them on $6.50/hr at 15 hrs a week. I have a lot of respect for people who work in kill shelters and are still able to care about the animals. Its bad in our shelters around here, most of the workers don't care, and the ones that do end up leaving rather quickly because they can't take it. Most of the shelters around here do work with rescue though, thankfully.

I forgot to mention that part of the reason my supervisor didn't like me was because I was too slow with my duties in her eyes. The reason I was a little slow was because I would stop to pet the animals and such. I wasn't SUPPOSED to give the animals any attention. I was just supposed to go in, clean, and go up to the front desk to learn it, and then go home. I wasn't supposed to go pet that abused pit bull I mentioned either - he was in the Quarantine Area which was off-limits to me, but I went in anyway and gave him a milkbone, I suppose his last meal. My supervisor also played favorites with the animals, like keeping around an extremely unsocialized young cat that would suddenly claw the crap out of you while euthanizing perfectly lovely black cats for space (some cats never made it to the adoption floor after their stray hold was up). My supervisor had (and still has) the keys to the place, was the one who opened it in the morning, and closed it at night. There was no way for me to go there when she wasn't there.

If money was no object, I would have stayed. I can handle working in that environment just fine, as long as I don't have to euthanize anything myself (that's the one thing that's kept me from applying for the ACO position that is open occassionally - in VA you get "Euthanasia Certified" and you are responsible for euthanising the animals you bring in if necessary.)

I know how you feel about petting dogs in the Quarantine area. I did it too. They put signs on the dogs cages, here's a picture:

They had it on EVERY pit bull cage, as well as Prince the Dalmatian's cage, Cheif the Dalmatian's cage, and a few other dogs' cages. I was warned about it the moment I joined their "crew", they also warned me the moment I came in that I might not want to touch the pit bulls. But guess what? The FIRST dog I walked had one of those signs on his cage, and he was also a pit bull, and he was the friendliest, goofiest dog I have ever met.

I guess they didn't care how quickly I did the duties since I was there all day, and got them done within the day's time. In addition, the supervisor was never there - it was just me and another young woman every day I can remember - except for one or two days another woman was there, and maybe one or two volunteers came every other week. I spent most of my time with the dogs, and sometimes with the cats. I would be sure to clean the litterboxes every other day though, so they weren't too uncomfortable. The sad part about the cats was that they also had a whole garage full of cats (all in little crates or cages) that never got a chance to be looked at my potential adopters, and were often euthanized just because there wasn't enough room and they were just left in a cage for too long with absolutly no chance.

I could never handle euthanizing the animals. I get too close to them. It's hard enough knowing they were euthanized, but watching them go everyday - absolutly not.

 

[Sweet72947]

Yeah the shelter I worked at used to euthanize all pit bulls just for being pit bulls, but that policy has since been changed, happily.

The cleaning stuff I had to get done in the morning before the shelter opened for adopters. I usually got the cat rooms, so every day I had to go in and clean all the cat cages. There was a male orange tabby in the back room I named "Satan's Kitty" because he would act all sweet, and the second you touched him he would turn into a maniac. And the kittens - shudder - they would have diarrhea, play in it, and get it ALL OVER their cages, ceilings, walls, door, everything! Kittens are the dirtiest creatures on the face of the Earth! Lol

 

[Paige]

This is so sad.

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

I can't see the pictures

They show up as little question marks lol

 

[SmexyPibble]

Sweet72947, the Redbone I posted pictures of would poop and then step in it and slide all over it and jump on her cage and all over me. YUCK! In response to the maniac cat, there was a Doberman that came in (a beautiful blue boy with cropped ears) and he would go insane barking, jumping, howling, snarling, growling if you passed his cage, but the second you opened his cage, he'd wiggle all over and lick you all over. Silly boy, I never did figure out exactly WHAT he was doing! I really didn't work with the cats much, I was always with the dogs - but one man brought in two Miniature Pinschers and a cat, and they were all starved. I was furious. Poor animals. One of the MinPins died later from starvation (and the shelter fed Ol' Roy - so it didn't put any weight on him, and when I tried to feed him something else that I bought he'd vomit or have very bad diarreah. He was also very aggresive). The other dog, the red one, ended up putting on weight and getting adopted, though. The poor cat was in terrible condition, and very hungry. Having food, even in such little, stinky conditions was heaven to him. He was a sweetie pie.