"On the plains of Oklahoma, with a windshield sunset in your eyes like a watercolor painted sky, you'd think heavens doors have opened."
Fly Over States



Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Gus and Abandoned Pitbulls



A few days ago, a friend from my Samoyed Group sent me a link of a Samoyed Mix who is in a local high-kill shelter. I called them to check to see if the dog was still there and he was. I notified the local Samoyed Rescue to make sure they knew about it and they asked me if I could go see the dog to ascertain whether he was actually a Samoyed mix. Lots of times, dogs are labeled Samoyed mixes when they are actually American Eskimos or huskies or Corgis. Just kidding about the Corgis. The point is that a lot of times dogs that AREN'T Samoyeds or Samoyed mixes frequently get labeled as Samoyeds, anyway. I suspect other breeds run into the same problem. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if other breeds are mislabled even more often since Samoyeds are very distinctive looking. Gus was a stray so we don't really know his parantage.

So anyway, after court, today, I drove down the road to the next town where the shelter is. It is a very nice facility - clean, good air, very nice staff, etc.

Oh, it was hard.

I have been to animal shelters, before, and they just destroy me. I bet other people feel the same way. The dogs are generally so eager for attention. They look at you with such love in their eyes. You want to take them all home with you and you can't. And you know that a lot of them aren't going to make it.


I fell in love with this face. I wanted to bring her home with me. She was such a lover. Who could dump this baby?

And then there was this little old guy:


He looked so depressed.

This one looked like she'd given up:


Either that, or was on some pretty good drugs.

This one had only been there a day or so. He was still pretty freaked out at the canine lunatic asylum atmosphere.


He was a big scared baby:


And another. Actually, this one may have more problems that being scared.


Another friendly little pit bull:


And another one that I wish I could keep:


This little guy was a beauty. He was still a puppy, had a lovely coat and best of all, he wasn't a pitbull.


He caught my eye because he was so pretty (the picture doesn't do him justice) but he didn't show a lot of personality. Didn't matter. He was labeled a labrador retriever and before I left, a sweet young woman came in, walked right past the pits, and waltzed him out the door to a loving home.

While this little sweetie pitbull, was left behind.


Sigh. I left her behind, too.

In case you can't tell, I got pretty angry while I was walking towards the back looking for the Samoyed mix. I saw pitbull after pitbull - the sweet, darling things. A lot of people won't adopt them. But irresponsible people keep breeding them. We all know the horrible stories of babies being eaten by them and old people mauled, but most of them are sooooooo sweet. But that doesn't help the poor things when they are dumped at a high kill shelter.

I passed one and on the kennel sheet I saw where some damn fool named him "Cujo." I mean, good lord. Who is going to adopt a grown pitbull named Cujo? And why in the name of heaven didn't the shelter change the name, at least?

Grrrr.

Lots of hunting dogs. I was surprised at how many there were.

But as I made my way back into the bowels of the kennel, I heard a dog barking nonstop in a low meaty bark. A lot of Samoyeds are barkers but they often have a high pitched, yippy bark. God knows Jezebel did and so does Pearl. All the same, I looked down the way and there he was:


Look at this cutie face!


My job, primarily, was to try to decide if this was actually a Samoyed mix.

What do you think?


Gus' ears are definitely not like a Samoyed but he has the coat, the moves, the color and the curled over tail.


I think he definitely has the sammie smile:



When I first got there, he hid at the back of his kennel. I simply sat on the floor in front of his pen for nearly 45 minutes and eventually, he crept up to the front fence and leaned against it to be close.










This next whole series of photos came as a surprise to me. I stuck the camera through the bars and ended up with this nice bluish background.


It was a complete accident.






This looks like a Samoyed body, to me.


Do what you can to support your animal shelters. As a society, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.


When I got home, the shelter called to tell me that Gus was going to be put to sleep if he wasn't adopted by 3:30 on Friday. I e-mailed the local shelter. And I am completely freaked out.

7 comments:

Dawn's Daily Journal said...

Do not even get me started on people dumping animals......overflowing dog shelters.....animal abuse.....and the idiot who named his poor sweet pit bull Cujo!!! I tell ya it just makes the animal lover inside of me so far past angry I cannot see straight. We adopted both of our animals from a shelter and I am working on the hubby to adopt an older dog. I just don't get it. Animals are so awesome and only offer us unconditional love. Boggles the mind.

And Gus sure does look like a Sammy!! What a great looking dog. Please let us know if he found a forever home in time.
hugs,
dawn

Matthew Kilburn said...

Here in the UK, a friend co-ordinates a charity which rescues older dogs from fates like Gus's. See http://www.oldies.org.uk/ . I wonder if he has a little golden retriever in him, but he looks mostly Samoyed to me. The Samoyed which we had when I was in my teens was rescued from a dog shelter, and we think the shelter allowed us to have him a day before their rules allowed because his owner had reclaimed him on a previous occasion and continued to maltreat him.

Phyllis said...

Ditto to Owens Family Adventures. I've been involved with dog rescue for years and years. The stories each dog (and cat) has is usually very sad. Where I live, the mentality is breed and fight pitbulls. So many are sweet and loving dogs. I learned recently that their origins began as "nannies" to babies and children. It's their fierce loyalty that has been misguided to fight.

I've gone to shelters to pick a couple to save for a group I used to foster for. I was depressed for days and days.

Yes, we should be ashamed and disgusted. You just have to keep trying to educate people. As you can see, I can preach all day about this.

Gus looks like a Sammie mix to me. Can the group take him? I know they are all overflowing.

tisme said...

Those pics just break my heart. IF I lived closer, I would take that great looking boxer mix at the top of your pics. We have one dog, that my husband found in the middle of winter hanging out by the road. My husband works for the state department, and had stopped his truck to look at some inlets. This little dog was cowering by the area, when my husband opened the door to get in, the dog hopped in. The dog had not been mistreated, but was very cold. He took him to the vets that was very close to there, and left him for the day. They checked him out and fed him. My husband picked him up after work, and he has been part of our lives for over 9 years!
We love him.

Anonymous said...

I hope your contact is able to save Gus. I have never owned a dog, mainly because of the amount of time I am not at home, but I would love to someday. My friend has a couple pit bulls they are the sweetest babies, so gentle.

Riley said...

awww! so cute! as i pit owner this tares me apart my city just banned pits and i want to scream at them, sadly my pit one day got out of our backyard and got picked up by the city and she was going to get put down but my step dad saved her and took her to aother city about an hour away from where i live and we still get to visit her but its extremly hard for us and i always think about the innocent pits that get put down and the ASSHOLES who fight them i hate michael vick for that same reason and my other 2 dogs were so extremely sad when bernie(pit) never came home and they are so loving and it sickens me when they keep talking about pitbulls being SO vicous and i want to call them and say "look it isn't their fault and if your going to punish them then punish the damn people who taught them that crAP GRRR i hate it when pits end up on the news when ONE pit attacks someone and just because some pits attack people asume that they are all vicous and so they ban them. this pushes me beyong anger this pushes me over the edge for all those mistreated and abused pits and all the deaths of pits i have 1 thing to say RIP...

Stop Making Excuses said...

You were talking about all of the Pits at the shelter, and I have to say mine is full of Pits as well.

I think that with all of the abuse, attacks, and Pits being killed at shelters, that Pit Bull laws will really help protect them. Nothing is going to change if we keep doing the same thing.