dog love – An Ordinary Girl On An Extraordinary Journey Through Life

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Horrifying, Tragic and just actually too much ….

Watching my feed on Facebook lately I am so saddened by the number of dogs and cats landing up in shelters or alternatively abandoned on streets or in rubbish bins or even given to beggars to sell on the roads.

We all see these posts and with sore hearts share and try as best we can to help with donations and finding these beautiful animals their own forever homes.

And then…

We decide we would like a pure bred puppy and so we only approach breeders or pet stores to find that perfect ‘pet’.

The truth is that most of these breeders are running what should be called ‘Puppy Mills’ and if the breeder is not approached for their pups, these little furry creatures are given to pet stores to sell.

Besides the images which pretty much tell their own tale. Here are a few sad facts about these places:

A puppy mill is a commercial dog-breeding facility that focuses on increasing profit with little overhead cost. The health and welfare of the animals is NOT a priority.
Female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When, after a few years, they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often KILLED.
Every year in America alone, it’s estimated that 2.11 million puppies are sold that originated from puppy mills, while 3 million are killed in shelters because they are too full and there aren’t enough adoptive homes.
In puppy mills, dogs spend most of their lives in cramped cages, with no room to play or exercise.
Often times, the water and food provided for the puppies is contaminated; crawling with bugs. And puppies are most often malnourished.
Puppies in mills are found with bleeding or swollen paws, feet falling through the wire cages, severe tooth decay, ear infections, dehydration, and lesions on their eyes, which often lead to blindness.
Most puppy mills have no veterinary care, climate control, or protection for the animals from weather (hot, cold, rain, or snow).
With limited or no regulations or enforcement, puppy mills have no clean-up control. This means that dogs can be living in urine and faeces for indefinite periods of time.
It’s common to find dogs in puppy mills with collars that have been fastened so tightly that they have become embedded in a dog’s neck and must be carefully cut out.

As a nation we are set on helping animals find a place to live – if social media is anything to go by, but how do we go about doing this in a proactive way. Not just sharing and donating but stopping the problem at its core.

Well we could always go and adopt a dog from one of the numerous shelters in our surrounding areas. These beautiful babies are just waiting to be loved and cuddled and so very often they have been abandoned by a family who are relocating or do not have enough ‘space’ for their pets ( these people are just horrible excuses for human beings). These shelters only euthanase when it is absolutely necessary so please help them make it unnecessary.

If you are intent on your pure bred Labrador or little Chihuahua then why not just Google Rescue centres for these precious pals – there are so many recused pedigrees from pups to old boys and girls waiting for you to fetch them. Just look at Cadence…

Then there are the older doggies. Having been abused by inhumane idiots their entire lives or those pooches whose owners pass away and they are left with nowhere to go after a lifetime of being loved. Surely these dogs are the ones who need our love and homes the most? To live out their last years being adored and spoilt? If this video doesn’t change your mind about helping these old fellows well…

And then the main reason behind this post and one that will hopefully initiate a change which will eventually stop this problem for good – sterilisation or neutering to stop this insane influx of stray and homeless dogs and cats. It is sadly, at this point the only option.

If you would like to help there is an organisation called the NSP (National Sterilisation Project) whose vison is to play a major role in reducing the growing population of stray animals in South Africa through an ongoing, nationwide mass sterilization program.

This organisation was started due to the massive upsurge of stray animals living in the most appalling conditions where hundreds of dogs and cats are put down each week in South Africa simply because there aren’t enough homes for them.

The NSP brings together animal welfare organizations, corporate sponsors and animal lovers in a united drive that will ultimately protect all domestic animals.

Relying on donations and corporate sponsorships, the NSP offers a financial and health solution to many people who cannot afford to sterilize their pets. They believe that no-one should be born into abject poverty, hardship and disease. The same holds true for the cats and dogs of South Africa.

Poor communities are often hard-pressed to take care of their pets and to sterilize them. Where animals run the risk of spreading diseases, such as scabies, rabies, hook worm, tape worm and toxoplasmosis and on average a bitch will produce at least 3 litters within a two-year period, which by the end of 8 years could see 10 368 unwanted puppies. The situation is worse for cats. From just 3 unsterilized females, more than 16 785 unwanted kittens can be born over a 3 year period. The NSP plays an important financial role by subsidizing sterilizations performed through its network of beneficiaries.

By supporting the NSP, you will be directly helping their incredible network of beneficiaries from around the country. Learn more about the NSP here and like their Facebook page here.

If I could I would live on a plot with hundreds of rescued dogs but circumstances now don’t permit this so by signing the below pledge and donating to the NSP I hope I start to make a small difference.

Click here to donate and help the NSP now.

Click here to sign this ASPCA anti puppy mill pledge.

And follow your heart to find a puppy or older dog who would love your forever home one who is already out there sitting in a cage or on the side of the road waiting for your arms to wrap around them and show them humans are capable of the very same unconditional love they show.

Here are the stories of eight amazing doggies….

1. CAIRO THE SEAL DOG

Cairo the military dog was born and bred for the job. He is a Belgian Malinois, a shepherd breed that few were familiar with, until Cairo’s story became news. After Cairo trained to be a Military Working Dog at a young age, he advanced to Navy SEAL training. Cairo was the only dog to accompany Navy SEAL Team 6 as they raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Cairo was strapped to his handler as they were lowered from a helicopter, and wore special body armor while bursting into the compound. The dog is the only member of SEAL Team 6 to be publicly named.

2. DOZER THE MARATHON DOG

Dozer, a three-year-old “goldendoodle,” saw a bunch of people run by his home in Fulton, Maryland. He became so excited that he crossed his invisible fence and started running with them. Seven miles later, Dozer crossed the finish line of the Maryland Half Marathon, a fundraising event for the University of Maryland’s Greenebaum Cancer Center. The runners did not know Dozer was alone. He returned home the next day, looking so tired that his owners took him to the vet. Word got around, and they realized Dozer was the dog on the marathon’s TV coverage. Marathon organizers gave Dozer a special award. Now he has his own runner’s page and Facebook fan page -and he’s raised $21,000 for the cancer center!

3. LADA THE LOYAL BABYSITTER

Olga, a 22-year-old woman in Saratov, Russia took her dog and her baby son Vadim to a park and met up with friends. After a few drinks, Olga went home and left her baby behind! Luckily, her dog Lada was with the baby. Olga woke the next morning and realized the child was missing. She thought Vadim had been abducted, but her father went to the park and found the baby in his pram, with Lada still beside him. The rottweiler had stood guard over him all night long. Vadim was wet and hungry, but unharmed, and was placed in the care of his grandmother.

4. BELLE CALLS 911

Kevin Weaver has diabetes. He also has a specially-trained beagle named Belle who can sense when his blood sugar levels are off. She licks his nose, and then paws at him to signal that he should take a reading. In the summer of 2006, Belle put another skill to work. Weaver suffered a seizure and collapsed. Belle grabbed the man’s cell phone and bit down on the number 9, just like she had been trained. The number was programmed to dial 911, and emergency workers soon arrived. Belle was later given the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award for those who use cell phones to save lives. Belle was the first dog to ever win the award.

5. DORADO THE BRAVE GUIDE

Omar Eduardo Rivera is a blind computer technician who uses a guide dog. On September 11, 2001, Rivera was working on the 71st floor of the World Trade Center when a plane hit the building above him. His dog Dorado was under Rivera’s desk, as usual. As the building evacuation began, Rivera smelled the smoke and heard the chaos in the stairwell. He took the Labrador retriever’s leash off, so the dog could escape. Dorado ignored Rivera’s order to go ahead, and escorted his master down 70 flights of stairs. They were separated by the rush of the crowd for a few minutes, but Dorado found his way back to Rivera and continued down the stairs. They reached the ground about an hour after they began the descent, only a few minutes before the building collapsed.

6. CHASER THE DOG OF MANY WORDS

Border collies are known for their intelligence. Chaser is a border collie that belongs to a retired psychology professor. John W. Pilley read about a dog who learned to recognize 200 German nouns, and decided to see if Chaser could learn words as well. Working with the dog for around five hours a day, Chaser learned to recognize the names of a couple of new objects every day, to a current total of 1,022 nouns! Along the way, Chaser got the idea that learning words is her job, so now the 82-year-old Pilley has a hard time taking it easy, as Chaser demands her lessons! Pilley is now teaching Chaser verbs and basic grammar.

7. ROWAN THE ECHOLOCATOR

A German spitz named Rowan was born without eyes, but gets around almost as well as a sighted dog. Rowan learned to use the reverberations of his bark to determine where objects are in the great outdoors. This is a version of echolocation, in which a blind person (or dog, in this case) creates a mental map by comparing the way sound bounces back in an echo. Rowan was not taught to “see” this way, but his owners noticed how his behavior outside changed when the trees filled out with leaves. Most people who meet Rowan don’t even realize he is blind -they just wonder why he keeps his eyes shut.

8. DEXTER THE WAR HERO

Dexter’s full name is Military Working Dog Dexter CO67, but he is now retired after service in Afghanistan. Dexter served for six years, during which time he detected a garbage truck filled with explosives and saved at least a thousand military personnel and civilians. After his tour, he was scheduled to be euthanized because of hip problems and the fact that military dogs are hard to place for adoption because of their aggressiveness. His handler, Kathleen Ellison, went to work to save Dexter through the organization Military Working Dog Adoptions. Veteran Danny Scheurer, who worked with dogs during his military service, agreed to adopt Dexter and bring him home to Spring Grove, Illinois. Dexter also became the first canine member of the American Legion when he was accepted as a full member by Fox Lake American Legion Post 703.