Last Updated on June 15, 2023
The director of an animal shelter resigned her position last week after a Collie controversy called her judgment into question.
When you work in an animal shelter, you can’t have any pets that didn’t come from the shelter. That’s apparently the unwritten rule everyone seems to expect shelter employees to follow.
The director of an animal shelter in Pennsylvania found herself the target of a petition — because these days you can’t have a controversy without a petition — that demanded she be fired.
What was her offense?
Apparently, she paid $1,000 for a purebred Collie.
“If you are the director of an animal shelter you should not be buying an animal of any kind from a breeder. Shame on her,” one of those who signed the petition wrote, according to WTAE-TV.
If you’ve read my blog for a while now, you probably already know that I am a huge fan of the Rough Collie. It was the first dog I ever owned: my parents brought home a Collie puppy for my first “birthday” and the two of us grew up together. I could not have asked for a better childhood dog and that particular canine made me love that breed — and dogs in general, for that matter — to this day. As I type this, the fourth Collie I’ve owned is sprawled out on his dog bed watching me, always hoping for an occasional writing break for a quick game of fetch.
I point out what might seem like a potential “dog in the hunt” in this story but, in fairness, I must tell you that my affection for the breed has nothing to do with my opinion on the story; if the shelter director had purchased a purebred Golden Retriever, a purebred German Shepherd or even one of those fancy Labradoodles, my feelings on the matter would be the same. I just happened to hear about the story, just so you know, in a Facebook group to which I belong that is made up of Collie enthusiasts.
The uproar seems to center on two wrongheaded notions that should be discussed.
First, responsible breeders — no matter what breed they deal in — are not the enemy of animal shelters. Responsible breeders make sure their dogs and their puppies are genetically solid and take care of their dogs as precious cargo. They sell to people who they screen to make sure they will go to a good home.
They usually require contracts that specify that a dog be returned to them rather than be dumped in a shelter if the purchaser subsequently decides he or she can no longer take care of the dog.
Some contracts either stipulate that the buyer pay an additional fee if they are unwilling to sterilize the puppy or kitten as soon as it reaches the proper age. This is designed to cut down on the population of unwanted pets.
Certain breeds, as most of us know, are prone to certain medical conditions. Responsible breeders work to make sure they cross dogs to breed out, as much as they can, those health problems. In Collies, for example, there is a gene that can cause albinism and blindness; responsible Collie breeders not only know about this because they’ve taken the time to research it, they work to make sure they test their dogs to prevent crossing a male and female who both have that particular gene.
Unhealthy dogs, as I’m sure many of you know, sometimes wind up in shelters because owners just “don’t want to deal with them.”
In short, responsible breeders do everything they can to offer healthy pets that will never end up in a shelter.
It’s the irresponsible pet owners — the ones who don’t have their dogs and cats sterilized and make no effort to keep them from wandering the neighborhood mating with other unsterilized dogs and cats — who are causing the shelter problem. They’re the ones who have created an impossible dilemma that shelters can’t possibly solve: there are not enough homes for the animals already born and more are being born every day.
If it weren’t for these folks, the shelters could at least catch up with the unwanted pet population. They may well be unable to solve it completely, but if more people would do the right thing, the shelters might at least make some significant headway towards solving it.
The second wrongheaded notion is that working at a shelter somehow obligates a shelter employee to only adopt from that shelter.
“I think it’s hypocritical. She’s the director of the humane society that are promoting adoption,” another petition signer wrote.
Shelter employees and their volunteers do all they can to find homes for the animals that come to their shelters. They do and see things most people don’t even think about when it comes to helping animals in need.
When I adopted a dog from a shelter in Richmond years ago, no one asked me whether I had purchased a dog from a breeder; as it happens, I had purchased a dog from a breeder who specified that he would have to be neutered, something I would have done in any case.
But I wasn’t disqualified from adopting a dog from the shelter because I had purchased another one.
When I decided to volunteer with that same organization and even work at adoption events in which I came in contact with people potentially interested in adopting, I wasn’t asked to take any sort of pledge that I’d never again buy a dog as long as adoptable strays were available.
You know why?
Because I was there, at every adoption event I could make, to find homes for the animals that weren’t as fortunate as mine.
I was helping them accomplish their mission. That’s what mattered.
I wonder if these same detractors would insist that a woman who runs an adoption agency for children should be fired if she and her husband decide to have their own biological child. Even if the woman helped find loving homes for dozens of orphaned or abandoned children, should becoming a biological mother by having one child instead of taking in one of the agency’s available children cost her the job?
Maybe you think so.
I don’t.
In the spirit of the Bible, I’d love to hold the signers of the petition to the same scrutiny: I wonder how many of them have adopted dogs. I wonder how many have purchased dogs. If anyone on the list has never adopted or has ever purchased, maybe their signatures should be stricken.
Just a thought. I’d love to hear yours.
