Kill shelters

[jackie]

To be honest i think it is better to euthanize, rather then to let an animal rot in a cage for months or years.

[IRescue452]

Yes, Naomi, the dog I want to adopt has already spent a year and a half in a cage at a no-kill. Granted I'll be thrilled if I can still have her in two years when I get my own place and have a stable career, but the poor pup will have spent the first three+ years of her life in a cage. Thats no life, especially when they start getting mental problems from being caged. They're lucky when the cage is big enough to walk in constant circles though, at least their muscles won't start to degrade.

[Ree'sKujo]

I have a friend who's a vet tech at our local SPCA and I've got to say he's great.If they get an aggressive dog that their considering putting down he will spend countless hours working with them even on his off hours trying to turn them around.He's had alot of success to.Many dogs have been spared because of his time and devotion.Alot of these dogs including a huge Mastiff have turned around so much that they've been adopted.He personally does follow-ups every month for 6mths to make sure they're doing well.If theres a problem and the person can't handle the dog he will foster them so he can work with them some more and they get one more chance at adoption.As for the comment that it's better to put a dog down rather then having them spend their life in a cage I totally agree,but I don't agree that they should be put down after only 4 weeks simply because of their breed,

[Ree'sKujo]

I agree about the breeding situation.There are to many dogs that need to be adopted in order to avoid being put down.That was the reason I stopped breeding.I rescued the Akita I have now from a rescue and my next Akita is coming from MidWest Akita Rescue.

[Suki Wingy]

I have seen dogs go insane in no kill shelters after a year+ of living in a cage Anti Cruelty Society is an example of a good kill-shelter, they try all they can and will keep an adoptable dog pretty long.
Orphans of the Storm is an example of a bad no-kill. Most dogs live in dog runs with little outside contact but the dog walkers, go insane, and become incredibly protective over their runs. Furry Friends is an example of a very good no-kill. They take in out of state dogs and regularly rotate the dogs from the shelter to fosters, they work a lot with fosters.
An example of a bad kill-shelter was the place my dad worked at before I was born, the woman in charge tryed to make him euthenize dogs and cats for almost no reason at all (like "he lunged at someone") or "he looks like he has worms" and even more rediculus, so he reported her and she was fired.

[Ree'sKujo]

Like I said my shelter was going to put Kujo down after 4wks. simply because he's an Akita.I guess that consitutes it as a bad shelter.

[pitc9]

The kill shelter I adopted Buddy from kept him for 3 weeks after finding him after he had been dumped off in the woods, even though he was so deathly terrified of everything and everyone that he wouldn't even look anyone in the eye. All he would do was cower in the corner of his room. He was so terrified that they couldn't put him in a cage near the other dogs because he was so afraid of the other dogs when they would bark!!
They turned a small office into his own little room. There was one man at the shelter that Buddy grew to trust. He was the only person Buddy would let leash him, or pet him.
I think that qualifies as a good kill shelter.

[king2005]

I agree, someone has to do it, saddly.

I LOVED the no-kill shelter I worked at... There was NO such thing as a dog locked up in a little cage all day every day. . The shelter made nice sized kennels inside & NICE fenced in kennels, dog houses & tie outs. The dogs were outside all day long. The small dogs & puppies ran free in the dog kennel building (which was a huge area to run about), as they were too small for the heat or cold. The cats even got to go outside kinda. They built this HUGE outdoor room. They put chairs, couches, shoes, clothing, tables in the room & put as many cats in ther that got along every other day (every cat deserved time in the outdoor room).

The dogs had many walks throughout the day & if someone wanted to cuddle one, there was a spare run, you could hangout in with that dog.