National coverage, related to folks losing their homes

Things were looking rally ugly for me and mine last year – my husband had lost his job and mine was eliminated from the shelter where I was working, both within a few weeks time. I was making worse case scenario plans for the just in case…

Rio would not be an easy foster and really can’t be re-homed. He needs his companion dog Moon with him to continue to resemble a sane dog; so that means those two must stay together and with us. Our two orange boys (red tabby dudes) are easy going but I don’t know anyone in town looking for fosters. I settled on old friends up in eastern Oregon who simply adore one of our cats and would be willing to take on two in the bargain.

Looking into rentals that would welcome two over 40 pounds dogs, at something vaguely similar to reasonable rents was shocking. There were few and far between.

This unpleasant exercise made the crisis starkly real to me.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-29-pets-foreclosure_N.htm

“STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — The house was ravaged — its floors ripped, walls busted and lights smashed by owners who trashed their home before a bank foreclosed on it. Hidden in the wreckage was an abandoned member of the family: a malnourished, starving pit bull.”

“The San Joaquin Animal Shelter in Stockton is fielding more desperate calls from animal owners about to be evicted. Many call as a last resort after being turned down by various rescue groups with no room for more animals.

"They're usually breaking down on the phone," said Kathy Potter, a shelter dispatcher. "I'm quite direct with them that there's a 50-50 chance the animals might be put down."

Still, shelter operators say, half a chance is better than none.

"They may be euthanized at a shelter," said Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States. "But they'll be fed and have water and have a humane euthanization, as opposed to spending the last days of their lives eating carpet or wallboard."

http://www.catchannel.com/News/foreclosure-pets-program-selects-first-10-shelters.aspx?cm_sp=InternalClicks-_-RelatedArticles-_-news/foreclosure-pets-program-selects-first-10-shelters

“The first 10 shelters have been selected to receive grants, pending verification of their nonprofit status, Peterson said. The money will help create or expand programs such as cat and dog food banks or a veterinary fund to help people who can’t afford medical care for their pets.”

"What kind of dog is she/he"?

We often get asked this question.

With Rio it is pretty clear. He is mostly, or completely, Australian Cattle Dog (Red Heeler, ACD, etc) of working stock. With our River Girl it was more guesswork: Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix? She looked a lot like an English Shepherd but I don't know what one would have been doing wandering Madera County. Mostly we said, "fluffy herding dog mix" or "Madera Dog". Moon is mostly guesswork: Border/Aussie/Brittany something'er other?

What goes into the mix matters, not just as to what the end package looks like but as to what the behavior tendency is likely to lean towards. Temperament is part biology, part socialization, part training and part the environment around the being at the time of the assessment.

Still, it is important to identify the breed of the dog as closely as one can to help with the placement of a shelter dog.

In some cases miss-identification might get a dog of "questionable background" but a great temperament a good home that might have walked right by if they had a better idea of what breed mix the dog was.

In other cases though it can lose a home for a dog, break a family's hearts and turn community members off on shelters. As in the cases of those cute little Labrador mixes, that grow up to be Pitbull mixes and their owners are forced to part with them or their lease (I am strongly against outlawing breeds of pets but it does happen. Apartments that will allow large dogs are hard to find let along those that will take any breed of large dog).

Here is one man's interesting quest to find out just what kind of dog he had adopted.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-ace-package,0,1865035.special

"Black dog, white dog, brown dog, yellow dog, big dog, small dog, purebred, mixed breed, it just doesn't make all that much difference.

As long as you're a good dog."

The economic squeeze continues here in Oregon.

People are trying to stretch paychecks further, as costs continue to grow at an alarming rate.

Some are facing worse situations, looking for ways to make unemployment checks cover the expenses that barely stand still long enough to be counted.

Gas prices are huge, power costs ballooning, other utilities are going up, http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/121142312179830.xml&coll=7 , food prices are pushing families to find other ways of stocking their kitchens http://news.opb.org/article/2185-nw-food-banks-fill-gap-prices-rise/ .

The extra few dollars needed here, and few more there, add up quickly when they are coming from all sides. The pressure makes folks make some hard decisions.

“Unable to afford proper pet food, they share their own, robbing themselves of nutrition.”

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1211505912164930.xml&coll=7&thispage=1

There is some help coming to the pet-owners, organizations coming together to help keep the pets fed through this rough time. This is community support, finding a local answer to these problems, with the help of non-profits to administer. We must strive to take care of our own as best we can, lend a hand (or a dollar) as we can.

“The food bank seeks donations of unopened, unexpired cat or kitten food. The food will be made available to cat owners in financial need living in any Oregon county.”

http://www.koin.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=d9295616-5eba-4f8b-91ed-5a349121f3ef

I hope other communities are finding ways to lend support as well.