My trip to the shelter

Okay, I couldn't do it -- go to a shelter with soooo many more dogs than I expected, and only take one. I wanted to take many of them - but some were not ready yet - they were still being held for the required six days in case their owner turned up for them. Other people sometimes were also interested in those dogs, and had put their name down on a waiting list to be informed when the dog was allowed to leave. So I was relieved that there were some names on the lists of the dogs I was interested in. Except for two of the dogs I couldn't leave behind - neither one had any names on their list, and both were living on borrowed time. One dog had been there since 4/2 and was supposed to have been euthanized last week, but was given a temporary reprieve. The other one had been there since 4/14, and since it was a pit mix, had very little hope of getting rescued or adopted. I took both of them home. My sneaky plan to let the expert foster mom do all the work while I took the ready-to-be-adopted dog went out the door - I will keep these two young dogs at my house and deal with any sickness or problems while I get them ready for adoption. They will need vaccinations, and rabies shots, and deworming, and spayed and micro-chipped before they will be ready for adoption. So if everything goes perfectly, they may be ready in three weeks. Already one of the dogs has kennel cough, and the other one may have it as well - so hopefully that will clear up quickly. It was hard to leave the other dogs behind. There is one in particular that I love, and he isn't ready to go yet, but he does have names on his list, so I really hope that one of those people who's interested in him will adopt him and give him a good home. So many other dogs there don't have a chance. They euthanize most dogs after six days because they have to make room for all the new dogs coming in. Sometimes people dump their dogs because they just don't want them anymore. Other times they let their dog run loose, then don't want to go to the shelter and pay the fines to pick the dog up so they leave them there. One person had two dogs at the shelter - she came and picked up one of the dogs and left the other behind. He is a pit bull mix and will be euthanized. I was amazed at how many dogs were there at the shelter, and really sad to hear that it was a low number then, because we went on Monday and they'd just euthanized many dogs on Friday. I don't blame these shelters for having to euthanize dogs - but I blame all the owners who are not responsible - who don't care for their animals, and don't spay or neuter their pets. It causes so much unnecessary suffering.