# How can they?



## Nikitta

I don't know if this is the right forum but I just saw an article about a family that had a german shepherd who was 17 years old and they gave it up to a shelter and then another article of a family giving a gsd up that protected their family from a bear. What is the matter with people? What is their mindset? Is it that they think of their pets as pieces of furniture? They probably abandon their parents in a nursing home and forgot them too. There was a case here in town at the local Human Society where the wife made them give up their GSD and the kids begged to go visit him. The poor thing was all excited thinking he was going home and they left again. The dog died 2 weeks later. Even the people who lived across the street moved and just left their cat. A guy out at work told me about his wife rescuing a purebred dog that was laying inside a house after the family moved out but before they left they cut the babies out of her so they could sell them and left her there to die. His wife rescued the poor dog and still has her. This country needs much stiffer penalties for animal abuse. I'd like to take people who abandon animals or people that give them up because they've become to much of a bother out into the middle of no where and leave THEM.


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## Lilie

My co-worker told me this morning that he had a friend who's wife brought home a small breed puppy. They had the puppy a few days but it kept messing on their new carpet. So the man took the puppy to the pound that night. My co-worker asked how could he do that at night? The pound was closed. He said he just left the puppy by the front door. It would be fine. It'd hear the other dogs and stay there until they opened in the morning. 

When my co-worked told his wife, she insisted on going and getting the puppy. The found the puppy at the shelter and took it home. That was over 12 years ago and they lost that 'puppy' last night. It died in it's sleep.


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## wyoung2153

I am with you there!!! I nearly ripped my co worker a new one because he was talking about rehoming his 11 year old lab who was having problems holding her pee.. he said he just couldn't handle it anymore but no one wants an old dog... it INFURIATED me!

I have also had a coworker, when I worked in Germany, tell me to just leave Titan at the house when I moved back to the states and he's sure someone would take him (I was having a hard time with flights for him and my PCS).. said that's what he did with his dogs when they became a chore.. OMG I could have killed him right there. 

I do not get the mindset either because I couldn't even imagine doing something like that.. I couldn't imagine viewing Titan as a discardable item in my house.. blows my mind and infuriates me.


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## Mister C

This kind of stuff infuriates me too.

I keep telling myself "what goes around comes around".


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## Bridget

This is the exact reason that I could never do intakes at the shelter. Even though our shelter is a no-kill, I wouldn't be able to not be rude to people. We hear the DUMBEST excuses for giving up their pets or bringing back pets they have adopted. Don't even get me started...loyalty from the human race has gone right out the window.


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## Bridget

P.S. (ok you got me started) the other day a big, beautiful GSD that we adopted out to what at the time appeared to be a lovely family came back. The vet said he had "bad hips" and would have to take supplements. They didn't even bother to have him xrayed and anyhow big deal, Heidi had to have supplements since she was 5. If you ask me, just looking for a reason to dump the poor guy.


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## lalachka

what excuses do you get. 
also do you think they lie about the reasons sometimes

I want to condemn people for doing that and then I remember everything I've done and I stop


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## SuperG

*"....a family that had a german shepherd who was 17 years old and they gave it up to a shelter"


*I have met a few people who simply cannot deal with the "end"....and cannot find it in themselves to take their companion to the final goodbye. I wonder if this could possibly be the case with the 17 year old??? Probably not.

SuperG


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## Bridget

I know, I know, shouldn't cast the first stone, but man is it hard not to be judgmental sometimes!


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## astrovan2487

*modern society has no loyalty*

I couldn't agree more. It makes me sick to hear of people getting rid of their pets, especially older ones. To me a dog is a family member, your responsibility and you never give up on them. Dogs have been bred to be loyal and dependent on people so the least we can do is try and be loyal back.


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## Johnster

Our last 2 Shepherds have been rescues. We used Petfinder to find both of them. Every time I go on that site it breaks my heart to see the dogs people have abandoned. The last time there was a 13 year old GSD, who had been given up by the only family he had ever known. We almost adopted him just to give him a good home to pass his last years (months?) in. In the end we adopted Sandi, a near-blind 6 year old who had Panus, and required drops every day and who had been given up because the previous owners considered it too much trouble. I can't even go on that site anymore, and since Hannah is nearing the end now (DM has just set in), I think I'll be on this one a lot more often. I think to far too many people, dogs are tools or toys, not loving caring thinking companions. People like that are usually the ones who own PitBulls IMHO.


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## KayDub

There was a dog at the end of my road at the intersection. I saw it sitting there one day and of course wondered about it but thought maybe it was from one of the homes nearby and was just hanging around there as unsafe as it was anyways. The next day I seen it again and someone had put out a pile of food. On the third day when I left for work I decided to take some food as well and put out to him. I thought okay if he's still there when I come in I'm taking him home and I'll just ask around about an owner. Sure enough he wasn't there that evening. I think someone else took him in. He was a very pretty butterscotch and white looking collie mix.


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## Castlemaid

A co-worker had a Lab that never got any attention. It was still pretty young, around 1 year old. The dog was only allowed out in the yard, or the basement. Of course, he got destructive, unruly, hyper, barky. Of course, all this was the dog's fault. So she gave it to her father who lived on a ranch in Alberta. She told me later that the dog lived outside, and to keep him from running off, her dad tied a car tire to his collar, so he had to drag the thing everywhere he went. It was suppossed to discourage ranging too far from home. 

Well, the dog went missing for a few days (not that anyone cared, apparently), and when he showed up, his face was covered in porcupine quills. Looked like he had been quilled a few days back, as they were quite deep and infection was setting in. The dog was euthanized. 

She was telling me all this while laughing - I failed to get the humour in it.


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## Nigel

Our neighbors directly behind us have a springer spaniel and some kind of lab mix, both are left outside 24/7 with about zero human interaction. The spaniel use to bark insanely anytime we'd come and go thru our back gate, but he's gotta be well into his senior years now, he's been more quiet lately. The lab used to escape, sweet dog, now they have a huge chain tethering him to the patio post. Last time he escaped, he came up to me and I was about to return him home and decided nope, enjoy yourself dude, have a good run, they eventually caught up to him, too bad.


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## AngelaA6

Our next door neighbor has a collie mix and she's outside 24/7. She's fed well and seems okay...but she doesn't get any human interaction. About once a day I go to check on my garden and say hi and she squishes herself against the fence for some pets. It just boggles my mind as to why they would rescue a dog to just leave her outside even when it's snowing. She's a sweetheart but she gets out of her fenced yard at least once a week and I have to go put her back so she doesn't get ran over.


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## Hineni7

Why do people get dogs only to chain them, ignore them, or neglect to such horrid States!?! Beyond me.... Angers me!!


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## RocketDog

When humans can kill their own children, such as the recent Scotty McMillan case, it is no wonder that this happens to animals. 

The planet needs either a giant vaporizing beam or a huge amount of bleach poured into the genepool.


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## Loneforce

I always have a police/fire scanner going in my room. around here, it is happening more and more. People take their unwanted animal and tie it to a utility pole, or a guardrail on the side of the highway and just leave them. I really dislike people sometimes  I just can not believe people can be that way. The real world sucks...


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## Natural Beauty Farm

Found a goat tied to a tele pole with a sign saying good eating FREE. He mowed my grass for 15 years. Found two beautiful GSD tied to trees in a backyard that someone moved from, neighbors called because they did not have food or water for a week. Female was my best friend for 19 years. Just yesterday I was visiting someone at an apartment and the neighbor had finches on the porch, temp is 22 tonight and finches are in my living room because she got bored with them when they stopped having little ones. I could go on, have 14 GSD in my rescue right now that all have crazy stories. Like the little puppy that grew into her chain collar and the people could not understand why she was breathing hard all the time.


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## Hineni7

Your female Shepherd lived for 29yrs!? Wow! Awesome! Good for you for rescuing those that are less fortunate... It is amazing the love and devotion these wonderful creatures give despite the horrible things that have happened to them..


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## Hineni7

Stupid typo, meant 19yrs... (have to do all my entries off the phone, typos galore, lol)


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## JJSMargo

Well, I will say that with conviction. I'm terrible, rarely nice, judgmental, and yes I will say what is on my mind even if it hurts your feelings. I really don't care, but you will get a reality check. This is disgusting leaving an old dog scared and alone, just because he is old. This dog has been with you through all your trials and tribulations, regardless of the kind of 2 legged creature you was-could be a total trash, right?, and this is the payback?! "Can't tolerate the End", wake up Space Cadet, all things come to an end, including you and hopefully instead of a nice warm bed, you get to experience your end in a shelter somewhere in the country.


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## Bridget

Another problem I have is with people who give a dog with serious medical problems to a shelter.


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## JJSMargo

A disgrace to human race!!! However, look at how people treat each other. Too old too sick-Nursing Home, developmentally disabled child-state home for developmentally disabled, education of children-school's responsibility, don't want to work-there are "no jobs that fit my high level", so sitting on parents' backs is a good alternative, etc...There is no concept of personal responsibility, emotional content, care everything that makes a normal person. Everything is convenience and "I don't want to be bothered" philosophy. Shame, really!!!


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## WateryTart

Bridget said:


> Another problem I have is with people who give a dog with serious medical problems to a shelter.


I don't like this either. It's just making it into their problem, and it isn't like they're rolling in money.

If you cannot care for your good friend, I think it is actually more honorable to usher them out of life yourself than it is to give them up right at the end. I've had a vet discuss euthanasia as an option for a cat if we couldn't afford the surgery he needed; they put it out there as an option if it wasn't possible to pay for treatment. (He got the surgery.)

The only time I'd reserve judgment is if there are extenuating financial circumstances that mean they really can't pay for either the treatment or the euthanasia. There but for the grace of God...and I can't even imagine how hard that would be.


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## Pax8

I'm really glad I moved stores for exactly this reason. The last one had a shelter branch in the store and owners were still supposed to take animals to the main shelter for intake, but we still had a lot trying to drop off pets in the store. A couple of small dogs were just straight up abandoned in the aisles. Had several people come to me as the dog trainer asking where they could drop off their dog for the shelter to take. And it was almost always something ridiculous like it shed too much, it was too hyper when they didn't walk it, it barked too much when they left it in the backyard. I had to hold my tongue for a really long time.

There was one couple I actually called animal control about. They had a very old small breed dog (a dachsund mix or something) that they didn't want to keep anymore but they didn't want to pay a fee to have it euthanized. So they were actively looking for a large dog aggressive dog to KILL the smaller dog so they would have a new dog and wouldn't have to pay the final fee for the small dog. I had to leave after talking to them because I was physically sickened.


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## SusiQ

I hope there's a special place in **** for anyone who would knowingly harm, recklessly abandon or abuse an innocent animal.


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## LaRen616

SusiQ said:


> I hope there's a special place in **** for anyone who would knowingly harm, recklessly abandon or abuse an innocent animal.


I agree with that 100%!

Also people that get animals and ignore their medical conditions or leave them outside and don't interact with them or physically and mentally abuse their dogs, they disgust me, don't get animals if you don't plan on getting them Vet care, spending time with them or loving them.

I could never abandon an animal that dedicated 17 years of it's life to me. That is heartless, that animal deserves all your love and a peaceful, stress-free, caring home until it passes.

Unbelieveable.


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## holland

Castlemaid said:


> A co-worker had a Lab that never got any attention. It was still pretty young, around 1 year old. The dog was only allowed out in the yard, or the basement. Of course, he got destructive, unruly, hyper, barky. Of course, all this was the dog's fault. So she gave it to her father who lived on a ranch in Alberta. She told me later that the dog lived outside, and to keep him from running off, her dad tied a car tire to his collar, so he had to drag the thing everywhere he went. It was suppossed to discourage ranging too far from home.
> 
> Well, the dog went missing for a few days (not that anyone cared, apparently), and when he showed up, his face was covered in porcupine quills. Looked like he had been quilled a few days back, as they were quite deep and infection was setting in. The dog was euthanized.
> 
> She was telling me all this while laughing - I failed to get the humour in it.


That is horrific...while I try not to be judgemental I guess I am


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## huntergreen

wonder if a 10.00 script of antibiotics would have fixed the labs pee problem.


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## SuperNova7

That is sick. Just sick. How could somebody rehome a dog they've had for 17 years!? That just makes me so mad. And somebody else's dog saves their life and what do the do to thank it? They get rid of it. Imagine what the poor dogs thought.


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## Arlene/Archer

Oh OP, I'll give you a laugh. Many years ago, pre Archer, my husband and I decided to move from Ireland to Spain. Now at the time we had our old dog Opus, a basset hound, and three cats. People used to ask us ALL THE TIME 'what are you going to do with the animals when you go?' Like it never occurred to them that they were family and naturally would be coming with us, oh and coming back 5 years later. We thought that was really weird. And when Opus went blind at 14 some people thought we'd automatically get him euthanised(!) like, WHY would being blind bother an old basset? He spent most of his days, when not eating cheese, snoring in a patch of sunlight, or going for his walks around the block on, sniffing quite happily at his own pace - once he could feel the tension on his brace he was fine.
People, people are odd sometimes.


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## newlie

This kind of stuff enrages me. I would just as soon cut off my right arm as to have given up either one of my dogs. I know occasionally there are justifiable reasons, but even then, you do it the right way, not discard them like trash.

When my first dog, a yellow lab, was about 14, we had to have him put down. He was very old, and it was painful for him to move and he kept falling, etc. It broke my heart. I arranged for a vet to come to the house so he wouldn't be scared and he died in my arms. That's been over two years ago and I am crying right now thinking about it.

And I get impatient with people who say they can't deal with the end, either with animals or human beings. I have heard people say "Oh, I don't go to hospitals or nursing homes, I can't visit so and so, it's just too hard, I can't deal with it." And you know what my answer is? "You need to grow up! Do you think anybody likes it? Do you think it's easy for anybody? You do it because it's the right thing, not the easy thing."

Sorry about the rant, just infuriates me.


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## Ruger Monster

Some people infuriate me. 

I was volunteering to do some data entry for our large shelter, and a lot of it was intake info. One of them was giving up a cat named Pickles (loved the name), reason was "about to have a baby." To me, does that mean you're going to give up the first baby if you have a 2nd?? 

I cant imagine ever giving up any of my animals. It was hard enough when my ex & I split to leave one of our 3 cats (he wanted to keep him, and we adopted him together - my ex actually picked him out). Its been over 3 years and I still miss him (the kitty!). The only reason I keep my ex on my FB is so that I can get updates on the cat, who just had to have his eyes removed due to inflammation - he'd been blind about a year now.


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## GypsyGhost

I don't understand how anyone could give up a family member, either. Our Roxy was returned to the shelter TWICE before we adopted her. I guess one of the families that took her had children, and when they realized that the children couldn't walk her by themselves, they brought her back. Like you couldn't have realized that a child couldn't walk a 65 lb. pit bull with no leash training BEFORE you took her home?

The family that lives next door to us used to have a lab. Well, when they started having kids, the walks went out the window. Then, the lab swallowed a pacifier and needed to have surgery to remove it. After that, they kept him in the basement all the time because they couldn't be bothered to keep the toys off the floor and couldn't keep an eye on him so he wouldn't swallow something else. About a year later, they had another kid and decided to get rid of the lab. To their credit (ugh, I hate that I'm defending them here), they found a nice family with another dog and lots of land that wanted him. At least he has a better life now. They now have three kids and I have to hear them talk about how they will most likely get another dog "when their kids are older." Makes my blood boil!


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## Nikitta

Some people don't deserve pets.


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## GypsyGhost

Nikitta said:


> Some people don't deserve pets.


My thoughts exactly.


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## Augustine

Sometimes I wish there were people that WOULD give up their pets. 

My aunt and cousins owned two lovely Golden Retrievers (mother and son). They fed them most of the time, occasionally filled their water bowls and sometimes ran outside with them. But beyond that, they never really gave a hoot about them.

Bella, the mother, was starting to grow old at that point. She had these weird sores on her knees/joints which my cousin repeatedly pointed out to my Aunt. But do you think she ever took them to the vet? Nope. This was a rich, almost upper-class family living in a huge, fancy house, not a single financial care in the world.. yet all they did was waste their money on useless material items. Never bought anything nice for their pets, never bought decent food, toys, grooming products, or took them to the vet.

They treated their other animals the same way as well. My female cousin, Ashley, had rats. I later found out one had been sick and eventually died, and when I asked why the heck nobody took the poor thing to the vet, you know what my Aunt said? "Why would I waste money on a vet? If it dies, I'll just get another one."

Some people are the very definition of vile.


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