I am a dog, not a thing

I am a dog. I am a living, breathing animal. I feel pain, joy, love, fear and pleasure.

I am not a thing. If I am hit - I will bruise, I will bleed, I will break. I will feel pain. I am not a thing.

I am a dog. I enjoy playtime, walk time, but more than anything, I enjoy time with my pack - my family - my people. I want nothing more than to be by the side of my human. I want to sleep where you sleep and walk where you walk. I am a dog and I feel love...I crave companionship.......

More at link

http://www.examiner.com/dogs-in-national/i-am-a-dog-not-a-thing

I work with rescue groups and I cannot stress it enough - unless you are planning to actually enter your dog into competitions and show it - you are wasting your money purchasing a dog. Not to mention contributing to a huge problem of unwanted pets in this country with millions being put down each year.

Thank you so much for sharing this. It was very poignant and definitely made me tear up.

I only have one thing that I would have added, which is: don't leave dogs in hot cars in the sun! This is on my mind because some idiot customer did this at work today (it's happened several times in the past week, actually, but today was the worst). I don't know the exact temperature, but I'm guessing it was 80 or over. This poor dog was in a van, in the hot sun, with one window down just a couple of inches. It was heartbreaking to hear the poor thing distress-barking.

(One co-worker tried to find the owners, and couldn't. Another customer called the cops, but the retail manager managed to find the owners and get the dog out of the car. The manager called the cops off, but I'm really hoping the threat of them showing up taught these people a lesson.)

I don't know if you can see this or not.. or if it'S just for "friends" but it's a video of a dog being dumped by it's family Heartbreaking!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150309636878916&oid=449290665180&comments

I belong to a local "buy, sell or trade" group on fb, and the number of dogs and cats to be given away breaks my heart.
I just had a harsh (understatement) exchange of words with someone who's been posting for the last couple days looking for her boyfriend's "stupid, waste of money" puppy who ran away. Her latest comment was "I'm gonna shoot that d*mn dog if he comes home, lol". She finally deleted it after several people complained (another understatement). I guess she thought adding "lol" at the end made it funny.

I am always donating to this site:

http://www.noahs-arks.net/RESCUE/Noahs_Arks_Main_Page.html

They take the helpless and hopeless cases. They take the bait dogs and the pit bulls that shelters want to kill. These stories are some of the worse abuse cases Ive heard of. They not only treat them, but they rehabilitate these animails and offer reconstructive surgery. They even have transported a couple of dogs from Los Angelese to their location in NC. They are truly angels!

Thank you for posting. I foster cats through an animal rescue and the need for more fosters, more space, more money, more compassion is just overwhelming. I will never understand how people can be cruel to animals. One of the cats I am fostering now was just thrown out onto the New York City streets when she went into heat. She is only 9 months old, never been outside before and was scared to death, desperately trying to get inside anywhere she could and she is SUCH a sweet girl. She just wants love, some attention, safety - just like us human animals.

One of our foster doggies is at the vet right now. He just got neutered and is still wearing his cone. He has some sort of cold with a bad runny nose and eyes. He just tested heartworm positive and his urine was dark this morning (hence the vet visit) and it's a bladder infection. They're also testing for liver or auto-immune problems based on his urine tests.

This is an absolutely beautiful blonde spaniel. He's a real sweetheart. I have no idea what his back story is, other than neglect.

Anyway, this is just to ditto what was said above. I have no idea how anyone can abuse an animal. Or abandon an animal. Or get a pet only to chain it up in the backyard.

reportertype said:

One of our foster doggies is at the vet right now. He just got neutered and is still wearing his cone. He has some sort of cold with a bad runny nose and eyes. He just tested heartworm positive and his urine was dark this morning (hence the vet visit) and it's a bladder infection. They're also testing for liver or auto-immune problems based on his urine tests.

This is an absolutely beautiful blonde spaniel. He's a real sweetheart. I have no idea what his back story is, other than neglect.

Anyway, this is just to ditto what was said above. I have no idea how anyone can abuse an animal. Or abandon an animal. Or get a pet only to chain it up in the backyard.

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Aw, it is so awesome you foster dogs! We can't foster dogs as we live in a NYC apt with no yard, not enough space, etc , so we foster cats. It is so rewarding and such a great feeling to see them ultimately go to a great home eventhough I always get so attached to them and I cry my eyes out every time but recieving pics and updates from the new owners makes it all worth it.

My eldest cat, who I have had for 12 yrs now, was throw out of a moving car window when he was six months old. The impact broke his leg in three places. I found him on the sidewalk, took him to the vet, he had surgery, a steel pin in his leg, couldn't walk for 6 wks, etc, and 12 yrs later I simply cannot imagine my live without him. What happened to him was awful and I cannot imagine what kind of people would do such a horrible, mean thing to a kitten but in the end it was the best thing that happened to him - it feels like destiny. He has a mommy who loves him to death. We are just best buds and have such a special, personal relationship. He has slept with me, stretched out along my side with his head resting on my shoulder pretty much everynight for the last 12 yrs and as corny as it sounds, waking up to his sweet face and his purrs every morning makes every day worth getting out of bed for. He is a Cat, he is Family, he has feelings which he expresses, he knows, feels and expresses Love and he knows where he belongs - with me.

My neighbors across the street called themselves rescuers, but they kept the dogs outside, tied to a tree with a 3 ft chain that weighted about 20lbs. The dogs only weighted about 25 lbs. The dogs stayed out in the rain, snow, cold, hot and were thrown hot dogs for food. I'm not sure how often, they were feed. So I would go over and feed them dry food. The owners did provide water daily and had a plastic doggie house. When it rained the doggie house would get soaked inside, so I put it up on 2x4. I covered it with plastic in the winter and put blankets inside. Finally I had enough, I called animal control. Animal control came out and warned them if they didn't get them proper space and shelter they would ticket them. They got one dog a decent cage. The second dog got nothing, so animal control was ready to take the dog and I knew because it was a mix pit it would be destroyed, so I took it. He is now two years old and doing well. He's still a little confused what he's supposed to bark at. Since he was use to barking at everything. He use to have dreams bugs were crawling on him but has out grown that. The neighbors eventually moved, but I know they will continue to collect dogs and not properly feed or shelter them. I don't know where they are at but I hope they have a neighbor like me.

Gaia,

If I weren't horribly allergic to cats, I know I'd have a couple of those, too!

Legal,

What you did was awesome! We need more people like you.

thank you for posting this. i am "cat person" (despite my name) and i think a lot of this applies to cats as well. i can't believe how many cats are just dumped by former owners. one such cat is currently snuggled up on my pillow next to me right now