Dress Them Up then Toss Them Out

It probably didn't do any good, and it may even have hurt me, but on Saturday afternoon I had to speak out against stupidity.

You see, that afternoon on my way home I had stopped by a pet shop to pick up dog food. Unfortunately, my choices of where to buy grub for my ravenous beast are pretty much limited to one "conveniently located" shop called Gu Gu Ji, in Neihu (Taipei City). This shop, part of a chain store outfit, drove their competition out of business by putting "purebred" puppies and kittens in their front window for sale.

The cuteness of the animals brought people into the shop, making the competitor -- which was already at a disadvantage by being in a basement location -- less attractive because they were not a front for an animal breeder.

As I waited to pay for my purchases I heard a man, in the company of his two daughters (seemed to be ages 4 and 7), tell the shop owner that he wanted to purchase a puppy for his children to play with. The breeder then very enthusiastically began helping him select a fluffy puppy from the four different furballs that were in the window.

I couldn't help myself. I interrupted the boss in his sales pitch, and told the man that the Taipei Animal Shelter was less than one kilometer away, and before he spends no less than US$600 on a dog, he owed it to himself to visit the shelter and see the "free" dogs (including puppies). The store owner acknowledged my comment that the shelter was filling up with "throwaway dogs," including those bought at shops such as his, but the dogs he sells are never discarded.

He then ushered the customer into a back room for a more private discussion. With the recent economic downturn the Taipei Animal Shelter, like all shelters around the island, has been filling up with even more dogs than usual. A larger number of abandoned dogs are expensively purchased purebreeds.

On my last visit to the shelter a couple of months ago I found more beagles and huskies, as well as a golden retriever. Of course, there were plenty of local mixed-breed dogs, many of them friendly and wanting good homes. (News item: Taiwanese Dogs Abandoned as Owners Cut Costs.) (News item: Financial Squeeze Exacerbates Taiwan's Stray Dog Problem.)

My own dog was a "throwaway" purebred, a Tibetan Terrier. Her original owners were apparently quite abusive, keeping her in a cage that was so small she was unable to stand up, no less walk around. And from the way she cringes at a raised voice or raised hand, and from her near-total silence, she was obviously beaten as well. It wasn't until she was dying of heartworm that the abusive owners turned her over into the care of a neighborhood couple who had been witnessing the abuse for six years and pleading with the owner to give them the dog.

They nursed her back to health over the course of one year, and then put her up for adoption. That's when my landlord came along and took her in so we could provide her at least a few good years of health, care and love before she dies. Now she's suffering from a heart condition that makes it unlikely she'll live out the year, but at least I am satisfied that we have let her experience love.

So you can imagine my irritation at the store owner selling puppies to a man who is obviously so completely unaware of the challenges that come with pet ownership. And to add fuel to the fire, this morning's Taipei Times newspaper ran an article about the ongoing crisis of abandoned dogs, which I'm offering below. At least these new cases of abandonment display some degree of concern by those who dump their dogs: they are grooming the animals before setting them loose.

I've seen these well-groomed "street dogs" and wondered, given their good looks, whether these were abandoned animals, lost pets, or housepets set free to do their thing before strolling home. That doubt has led me to hesitate before taking the animal to my local vet who has connections with adoption programs such as the Taichung Universal Animal Protection Association (from whose website the dog photo used here was taken).

Taichung City Pet Owners Abandoning Groomed Dogs

By Meggie Lu, Staff Reporter

Taipei Times Newspaper

Monday, Apr 06, 2009, Page 2

An animal rescue organization in Taichung City said yesterday it had recently discovered a new phenomenon where freshly cleaned and trimmed dogs are abandoned on city streets. “We suspect that because of the economic depression, people are disposing of their dogs, but want to ‘pretty the dogs up’ before dumping them to improve their chances of being adopted by new owners,” Animal Rescue Team Taiwan (ARTT) volunteer Antony Ni (倪京台) said yesterday.

In the Taichung area alone last week, Ni said his organization had rescued three such dogs. However, the phenomenon is only part of a greater problem for abandoned dogs, Ni said. “The number of all stray dogs [groomed or not] has doubled in the past few months. We now pick up 30 to 40 dogs a month just in Taichung,” he said.

More and more purebreds, such as beagles and huskies, are being spotted roaming the streets, he said, adding that most dogs abandoned are at least five years old. Though owners may wish to feel better about dumping their animals on the street by making them look more attractive, Ni said most house pets have a slim chance of surviving on their own on city streets.

Even though they are nicely trimmed and smell of shampoo, all of the three recent rescued dogs suffer from one or more ailments, ranging from malnutrition to skin or blood diseases, and are currently being treated at an ARTT-affiliated animal hospital, Ni said.