I love dogs as much as the next person, but what people don't get is "quality of life" for shelter dogs and dogs living in animal control. Living in a cage, waiting for a home from year to year is not a quality of life. Dogs are not meant to live their life in cages, it will literally drive them crazy, mad, turn their personalities to the worst. I know what your thinking, "at least they're alive and being "saved"," but reality- they're not. I know a dog who is going on seven years in a cage. She is a very beautiful, sweet hound dog. She used to have buddies she could play with outside, but now she tries to kill everything. Every time a dog enters the kennel she goes mad, barking and growling ballistically, biting at the bars of her cage and body slamming herself into the door. Since she had been "rescued" she has got out four times, almost killed a cat, killed another dog, and has got into two serious dog fights. I remember when she grabbed the chihuahua, she would not let go. We pulled her ears, thumbs in the eyes, everything you could think of until we turned the blower in in her mouth to let her go. It was awful, I never seen a dog who was so sweet behave like this. Now she is not allowed out with any dog. She gets outside maybe four times a day, for 10-20 minutes each. Minimal human interaction because this is a business and there are baths ands cleaning to do. She'll get walked maybe once a year. She will probably never be adopted because of her aggressive issues towards other animals, and the fact that she's an escape artist. I would put her down, I would cry doing so, I would love her, but she deserves more than a cage but now the damage is done. This is one of many I've encountered. I wanted to adopt a 12yr old sharpei mix that lived her life in a cage since she was a puppy. Trixie was a very she girl, and didn't show anyone any affection but me. When I was living with my parents I would bring her home for weekends, she would pace and pant until I set up a crate. It was her safe place, she was more content there than anywhere else, as long as she saw me. I couldn't keep her because my chow mix tried to attack her, and when I moved out my roommate had a cat, and she was cat aggressive. She died at the clinic, in my arms as she was euthanized, from a splenic mass. How unbelievably sad that a dog would rather spend the majority of its time in a kennel than laying on a comfy bed in a warm living room. Just like solitude changes a person, being kenneled with little human interaction changes a dog. This is why they plead for volunteers at animal controls and shelters, to help play or walk these dogs to help them keep sane and have a decent quality of life before finding their forever home. Talk to anyone at animal control, shelters. I know several people who volunteer at animal control for this very reason, they can tell you how caging a dog with hundreds of other barking dogs changes it. Im not talking about kenneling your own dog at home either. For many dogs, after a year of not finding a home, euthanasia is a gift. It's unbelievably sad but it's the kindest thing you could do for them. They're in jail and they did nothing wrong, so end their suffering. Every dog deserves a home, but that's just not the reality when shelters are overwhelmed and people still breed irresponsibly.
