Pets Alive gets hundreds of rescue requests every month. From owner surrenders, to other shelters, to mass mailings, to just about any method of social media available – we get asked to help save the lives of animals. We do help whenever we can and we do read everything that comes our way and try to do something to help the person or people that are trying to save a life. It has gotten so unwieldily though that we spend hours wading through emails, so much that we have had to ask people to not add us to cross posting, as it bogs us down and we can often get over 60-70 emails on the exact same animal! Many people get majorly offended when we ask them to take us off all of these cross posted emails, but the only way we can be effective is if we can have policies and procedures in place for people to reach out to us and ask for help with a specific animal, which we can then review. Cross postings just are not an effective way to get the word out or for us to review and handle a request.
We also get all of the CACC mailings with the pictures of the dogs and cats that are scheduled to die the next morning and we look at those and help pull those animals whenever we can.
That is how I came across one of the saddest looking dogs I had ever seen. His name was Jojo.
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Anyone that follows Pets Alive knows that we accept in a lot of animals from transports. We take dogs in from many other locations, all across the United States. So I am sure that when you hear me say that transports are not the answer, it may be a surprise to you.
With rescue work you have really busy days – like helping to unload 100 dogs from a mass rescue, document them, get them settled, fed, warm, up on pet finder, into your database, vetted and cared for – and then there are other days when you can sit in your office all day paying bills or answering the phone and emails.
In this “business” we see it all the time. Really well meaning people that get in over their heads. I’m not speaking of hoarders. Most psychologists feel hoarding is more of a mental disease than a controllable impulse.
Annie first came to us when we got a call from our friends at Mount Vernon NJ Animal Control.
I was wading through the hundreds of surrender requests we get each week. Almost none of them were dogs with no issues. Most of them had some sort of major aggression issue, or behavior issue, or were court ordered dangerous dogs, or had severe separation anxiety. Sigh. It is emotionally exhausting some days to read through them and I want to ask them all “why didn’t you address this behavior when it first started”? Why do so many people let it get to THIS point before looking to abandon the dog, when a little ounce of prevention could have been worth a hundred pounds of me taking their dog?
At Pets Alive my job is mainly decision making. I probably make hundreds of decisions a day. Some are easy. Some are tough. But I think if you put it all in a nutshell that is my primary function as the executive director here. Make decisions. Yes, some are bound to be wrong and believe me, there isn’t anyone that can beat me up over those more than I can, so …save it. If I screwed up, then I’m already caning myself far worse than anyone else ever could. I understand that I’m human and that I’m not going to be right every time. I’m going to make mistakes like everyone else. I do accept that. When I do mess up, I try to make sure I understand why and not ever make that same mistake again. Not much more I can do than that.
I know. I know.
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