Ok, I'm the guilty party.
Three weeks ago I had a conversation with one of my daughter's neighbors concerning 7 puppies in his yard. His dog had them about 6 weeks earlier and he knew he couldn't keep them. I told him about the rescue/shelter I work with. He said that if his son hadn't promised any of them to friends, he wanted them to go to the shelter.
Dad is working out of town and isn't at the house at all, even on week ends. The son, who is 16, doesn't live there; no one does. They don't have a phone. I had no way to contact them. After trying to catch someone who was supposed to feeding Mom & pups for more than two weeks, I took the puppies to the shelter. It took five days for anyone to realize they were gone.
When I took the puppies, they had a big container of water that was green and slimy. They were crawling around in it to get to me for food. Momma was no longer interested in feeding them and there wasn't any food available. Momma was running free in the neighborhood. I started taking food to the mom every night.
Six days later Momma followed me home. I took her to the shelter and got her spayed. She is doing OK the day after surgery.
This family has had 7 dogs in about two years. They have met some pretty sad fates; two have hung themselves when they jumped the fence while tied up, one got hit by a car, two (miniature poodle and dachshund) were tied outside for three days in bitter cold on New Years, and two just disappeared. The mother and kids moved out in January so basically, there isn't anyone to take care of a dog. None of their dogs ever get shots and they don't think dogs need training.
They have proven that they don't know how to care for a dog so I don't intend returning the momma.
Would you?
Mary
Bookmarks