My visits to animal shelters come at some expense and not just in a monetary sense.  Half the time I go there, I come out with something fuzzy and cuddly, but most of the time I come out with a raw and cold feeling.  One part of me hates the shelter itself, but another part loves what they are trying to do for animals - find them a home.  Shelters aren't just for getting unwanted animals off the streets.  They are not doggie and kitty jails, at least not in a ideological sense.  Perhaps that's part of the purpose because no city wants packs of homeless dogs running the streets any more than it wants packs of homeless people there.  Maybe you've noticed, but we have both packs, the more noticeable of them the homeless people.  Let's not discuss that here, though - save it for another blog.  Let's concentrate on the animal shelter first, then perhaps take some direction from that.

I knew right off that I'd vote for Kinky Friedman when he ran for governor of Texas last year because he's an animal lover.  He's the moving force behind Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch down near Medina, Texas, and that alone was enough to get my vote.  I don't pay any attention to what politicians say about government policy per se - not these days, and particularly not here in Texas.  We wrote the book on electing dumbasses to political office, but don't be too critical of us because we're not all that way.  Kinky isn't a dumbass because most dumbasses don't love animals like he does.  He didn't get to be governor because Texas still has too many dummies voting more dummies into office for that to happen.

Before you start thinking I'm all the way down on Texas, let me point you in another direction.  Yeah, we've got some problems with politics, maybe even more than most places, but we've also got a state full of wonderful people who are very much interested in the plight of homeless animals.  And, they're trying to do something about it.  Maybe you live in a community like that, but until I moved here some seven years ago, I wasn't all that much aware of shelters.  I knew they existed, just never had been to one before.  I've always been concerned about wild animals, those still out there as part of the environment around me, but the plight of domesticated animals just didn't come to mind much with me then.  But that was then, and now is now, and now I'm a much changed man.  And going to animal shelters is where the change started to take place with me.

No, back up for a minute.  The real change started to take place with me when my teenage daughter brought home a little black puppy.  The kid had been living in Arizona with her mom (we had divorced several years before), and decided she wanted to come back to Oklahoma and live with me.  Hot damn, I thought.  My 16 year old daughter is coming to live with me - in an apartment, with a new puppy.  And I've got a new girlfriend, and things were looking good there.  Hot diggity dog!  But . . . the kid came . . . and went (several times) . . . and the pooch stayed.  I moved to a house with the teenage daughter and new dog, and life sort of settled down for a while.  A couple of years later when the daughter was 19, she married, and the dog stayed with me.  The next year I married again, and the dog went with me to yet another new house . . . shared with a woman not used to pets in the house.

That dog's name was Pooder, short for cockerpooder, which was her breeding - half cocker, about half poodle.  My daughter said she was supposed to be part terrier, but I couldn't see it..  She turned out looking something like a miniature Irish setter, with big ears.  We just called her Poo, and she was the most loveable critter I've ever been around.  To say that Poo stole my heart would be an understatement.  For 12 years we seldom went anywhere without her, and she came close to being the perfect dog.  But . . . she finally got old and died, and her passing nearly did me in.  I knew she wouldn't let me out easy when the time came for her to go, and she didn't - died in my arms with me bawling like a newborn calf.  And I didn't feel a bit sissy about feeling that way.

Losing animals hurts, especially when it's a good dog buddy like that, and a lot of time went by before I could bring myself to get another pet.  Then I went down to Austin to visit my son, and his girlfriend's parents had lost their dog and had them out checking animal shelters, and I went along.  That's where I met Greta, the cow dog that has now taken over my house.  Yeah, found her sitting behind bars on cold concrete - thin and cowed down like she'd been abused or something, and with eyes nobody could resist.  I knew right off that she was an Australian cowdog, what some people call a Queensland heeler.  I went straight to the offices at the shelter and filled out the papers, and a few days later, I took Greta home with me.  Boy, was she a sight - just spayed and with a bad cough.  The local vet treated her for Kennel cough and severe anemia.  She weighed 26 pounds then, weighs 45 pounds now . . . and is healthy, when she's not hurting herself from beeing too rowdy. 

A year after we got Greta, we were in another town shopping and stopped off at the SPCA there.  That's where we found Sophie, and my wife fell in love with her right off.  Sophie is my big bucks baby because she came with lots of problems.  We finally got her straightened out, and she's healthy now - boy, is she ever healthy!  And after several months of standoffishness, the two dogs made friends.  I start my mornings now by being dog-pounced by the girls about daylight - time to go out.  And my days are filled with doing things involving the two dogs because wherever I go, they go . . . and that's fine with me.  Another trip to a shelter in Corpus Christi netted a sweet little cat named Belle, but she stayed in Corpus with my daughter.  If you check out this site, you'll see plenty of pictures of them.

Now, back to shelters and the real story here.  I went back to the shelter where we got Greta about a year ago, and that's where my wife met Bob Harvey.  He was there giving away copies of his new book, Catalyst: Me and You Too.  I didn't meet the guy because I'd gone inside the shelter to look at dogs, thinking there might be something there I needed to rescue.  I always see dogs I'd love to have because I'm one of those guys willing to take on a challenge.  If a dog isn't looking good to make the cut, I get interested because finding the perfect pet isn't a goal with me.  Making the cut is important to an animal in most city run shelters where they're held only 72 hours before being put away - in other words euthanized.  They get put through testing to see if they're possible candidates to be adopted, but if not, the animal is disposed of.  That's one of the things about shelters that really bugs me . . . the killing thing.

Don't get me wrong because I know some animals must be put down because they're just not adoptable and are a danger to other animals and even people.  Some are too sick to save, and I'm not opposed to euthanasia as a practice.  I'm concerned about it as a solution to mistakes humans make with animals, however, and we damn sure make our share of mistakes.  Dog breeders are often irresponsible, and owners are irresponsible about getting their animals fixed, and in the end, the animal pays with it's life for those mistakes.  And the people at shelters who put them to sleep are just doing what's best for everyone concerned . . . most of the time.  My deal is to help save dogs and cats and other pets that can be saved, that can be kept for adoption with some extra effort.  Did I say effort?  Yeah, that's the word . . . and not just on the part of the shelter.  It takes concerned people like Bob Harvey to make it work.

So, yes, I'm making a big pitch here for Bob Harvey and his goal of trying to create more no kill shelters, to make more pets available for adoption, and to make people aware of the damage done by irresponsible breeders and pet owners.  Check him out at petpassionate.com.  It just takes a few minutes.  I spent an afternoon with him recently, mostly discussing book writing and animals and stuff like that.  He's got something good going, I think, and I for one will support it as much as possible.  I don't know Kinky Friedman, not personally, but you can check him out via the internet.  I visit his rescue ranch's website from time to time.  And you can check out all sorts of animal shelters by going to their individual websites, but the best thing to do is just stop off at one and look around. 

I've got a friend back in West Virginia who can't go to animal shelters because he says they make him crazy, that he can't stand to see animals kept in cages that way.  And I tell him not to let the starkness of the shelter scare or intimidate him because the alternative for the animal is a lot worse.  People at shelters may make some mistakes with animals, but they're trying to do good things for them.  Money is always a problem for them, and due to financial constraints, they can only do so much.  So if you read this buddy, get off your ass and go to a shelter.  Get yourself another dog, and that's the best place to find one.  

Now . . . want to talk about shelters for people and what we need to do about that?

C.Duhon, 9/08/07