Why Is Chipping So Important?

Pets become lost for many reasons, some of them preventable, others unavoidable mishaps. Compare losing a pet to losing a child–you need turn your eyes away for only seconds and they can be gone. You can be the world’s best pet parent, and it can still happen. We’re all human. The lawn care guy leaves your gate open, the cat darts out the door when you answer to sign for a Fedex, the dog jumps out the window of your car when he sees a cat on the sidewalk, etc.

And, of course, there’s always the unfortunate possibility of your pet being stolen. Thieves can easily figure out your routine, when you’re not home, and they can climb your fence, grab little Fluffy and be gone in a New York minute. Without Fluffy having a chip, most likely you’ll never get her back. Chipping tells the finders you are the rightful owner and eliminates any claims someone else may be trying to make for your pet.

Posting on social media is a huge help, for sure, but that depends on people actually reading the posts, and then those specific people being in the right place at the right time to find the lost pet. With chipping, the owner’s contact information is secured right on the pet at all times. Chipping is hands-down the best way to recover a lost or stolen pet.

What Does A Chip Do And How Do I Get My Pet Chipped?

A chip is a nearly microscopic little disk, if you will, that is inserted with a needle, as if giving the pet a shot. Typically, chips are implanted between the shoulder blades, where it will remain permanently. The injection is nearly painless for most pets. The chip is programmed with a serial number that is registered to you and contains your name, address, and phone. Some chip manufacturers also provide a website where you can opt to set up a profile for your pet with photos and certain identifying information to make identification even more exact. You can get your pet chipped at your vet or most pet stores. The cost is generally $35 to $45. Most rescue organizations include micro-chipping in the adoption process if you adopt the pet from them.

If your pet shows up at a shelter, the folks there have a scanner gun that they will scan over your pet. If the pet is chipped, the scanner gun will capture the information, and they can call you immediately. If someone finds your pet and wants to help get her back home safely rather than drop her off at a shelter, the finder can go to any PetSmart, Petco, veterinarian, etc., and ask them to scan the pet for a chip. There is no charge for simply scanning. Once the rescuer has your contact information, they can let you know that Fluffy is safe and sound and can get her back home to you. Chipping is critical to your pet’s wellbeing and keeping your family whole. There is no better substitute.

Being Chipped Can Mean Life Or Death To Your Pet.

Chipping also protects your pet from being killed should she end up in a shelter. Shelters screen incoming strays for chips. If your pet is chipped, then all is well, because first thing they will do is call you and you can go get her safely back home. But be aware–shelters typically deal with overcrowding, so they don’t invest lots of time trying to identify lost or stray pets. Sadly, kill rates for shelters across the nation are still very very high. If your pet is not chipped and ends up in a shelter, she is in extreme danger. They may put her to death in a matter of hours and you’ll never even know. You may still be driving your neighborhood, posting flyers, searching hopefully and calling for her, not knowing she’s no longer alive. Avoid such a terrible heartbreak–chip your beloved pet. Cats and dogs both. If you love her, chip her.

While We’re On The Subject Of Shelter Kill Rates …

Awareness is growing nationwide about the epidemic of high shelter kill rates, especially for cats. Barely 1 in every 10 cats gets out of a shelter alive–there is no excuse for this. While many shelters are finally abandoning old set ways of using euthanasia to “control” what they identify as “pet over-population,” we still have a very long way to go to stop the terrible killings. If you have an interest in learning more or volunteering to help in this overdue animal welfare revolution, get this book–Redemption by Nathan Winograd. It’s truly eye-opening. When you finish the book, pass it on, keep it going. It’s on our generation to get the word out and get the wheels in motion.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008.  Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post If You Love Her, Chip Her. appeared first on BareFootPets.

BareFootPets supports and embraces Nathan Winograd’s moral position on sheltering in the U.S. We are always happy to pass on some of his posts, such as this one below, casting a spotlight on the heartbreaking failures of our nation’s shelter system to serve and actually protect the animals in its care. We highly recommend following Nathan’s blog articles on the subject. Click on any link within the post below to go to his site and sign up.

When it comes to dog behavior, you can’t believe everything you hear or see

Not long ago, Oswald, my dog, was playing with two other dogs. It was loud, mouthy, physical, and pure joy. But to the uninitiated, it looked and sounded rough. In fact, an employee at the facility we were visiting ran over to see if everything was ok because they had a report that one dog was “attacking” another dog and that a “pit bull” was involved. It was not only all play, but the dogs involved were Oswald, a Boston Terrier mix, and two Jack Russell Terriers. The experience underscores how easily people misidentify dog behavior and, consequently, how thoroughly shelters fail dogs when they are surrendered (ostensibly) for “aggression” or “behavior.” ¹

Too many shelters immediately kill dogs when surrendered for “aggression” or other “behavior problems.” They label them “unadoptable” based on the claims of the person surrendering them without a thorough, independent investigation. These facilities may falsely claim they are either No Kill or making progress toward No Kill. But shelters that do this are not No Kill. And more broadly, they are thoroughly failing dogs.

People misinterpret behavior

Numerous studies have found that,

The ability of owners to correctly identify canine behavior is poor, despite most dog owners rating their understanding of dog behavior highly. Therefore, relinquishment is likely to at least partially reflect the owner’s perception that a behavior is a problem, due to unmet expectations or a disparity between owner lifestyle and the needs of the dog, rather than simply canine behavioral disorders.

For example, “Barking and growling are not isomorphic [synonymous] with ‘aggression,’” writes the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Application and Research. Nor are mouthiness and other behaviors typically labeled as “resource guarding” behavior, “jealousy,” or “aggression.” Often, the dog is just seeking information: 

When dogs ask questions of and gain information… in active interactions, tactile exchanges are frequent and complex, often involving mouthing, an activity that humans both misunderstand and actively discourage. 

Dogs are asking questions to understand their environment in the only way their biology allows — through a complex series of barking, growling, tail wagging, posturing, and mouthing. And because we don’t understand those complex interactions, we often falsely conclude they are acting “aggressively.” 

In addition, there are cases of people falsely claiming the dog has behavior problems to alleviate guilt for surrendering their dog; disgruntled neighbors and estranged spouses who surrender dogs out of spite, and bites that turn out to be provoked or an accident. As such, shelter staff must view public accounts of “behavior” with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Shelter staff misinterprets behavior

They must also weigh in-shelter evaluations similarly. When shelter staff evaluate dogs, they must consider that dogs are under duress in shelters and often act in ways dissimilar to their behavior outside of the shelter. This evaluation must also account for the fact that these dogs have experienced recent trauma (including separation from their families). The process must also rule out a medical origin for the perceived behavior. Finally, it must explore all possible solutions and alternative placements.

One analysis of two of the most popular temperament tests for aggression used in shelters found that their predictive ability was no better than a coin toss. Add shelter staff who don’t care about killing dogs, are explicitly hired to kill dogs, and actively look for reasons to kill dogs, and many dogs don’t stand a chance.

By contrast, shelters that do not use temperament testing as a “pass/fail” proposition demonstrate that 90% of dogs who failed a temperament test and were sent to a trained foster home for further evaluation and behavior modification were rehabilitated and safely adopted. This included dogs with barrier reactivity, fear-based aggression, resource guarding, kennel stress, prey drive, and bite history. Some dogs also had secondary issues, including extremely high energy, possible dog aggression, dog selectivity, fear of men, undersocialization, separation anxiety, and reactivity. In the end, the percentage of dogs who are a threat to public safety is incredibly low, amounting to less than ½ of 1% of all shelter intakes. As such, even when some form of “aggression” is involved, it can almost always be rehabilitated. 

Making shelters fair to dogs

So how can shelters protect dogs and people? How can shelter staff feel confident they are doing everything possible for every single animal every single time?

In addition to group housing, dog-dog play, toys, walks, human socialization, visual access outside their kennels, the ability to smell and touch people, and music with soft human voices, The No Kill Advocacy Center, my organization, has developed an “Animal Evaluation Matrix” that includes behavior protocols, with forms and checklists to increase accountability and improve performance. These protocols were created in collaboration with some of the most successful shelter directors in the country — directors running municipal and animal control-contracted shelters with 99% placement rates for dogs.

For example, after the Matrix was implemented in one municipal shelter that takes in 6,000 dogs a year, behavior killing dropped sevenfold to less than 1%. At the same time, despite an increase in the placement rate of 42%, a 21% increase in human residents, and a growth in the overall number of dogs in the community, serious dog bites declined communitywide by 89%. The Matrix works! 

Anything less, including killing a dog based solely on reported history, is a gross betrayal. It is inconsistent with a mission of animal protection. And it cannot be justified under a (false) mantle of public safety.

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Fn¹ The report of “aggression” involving a “pit bull” also shows why relying on press and public accounts of dog bites is grossly unfair, especially to “pit bulls.” Breed identification of pit bull-type dogs by shelter staff and veterinarians have been shown to be unreliable. In particular, 50% of dogs labeled as pit bulls lacked DNA breed signatures of breeds commonly classified as pit bulls. Other studies found misidentification by “experts” at even higher rates. If the so-called “experts” are so often wrong, relying on lay people’s breed descriptions is thoroughly arbitrary. But even when they do get it right, the breed of a dog indicates how they look, not how they behave. Dogs targeted for breed-discriminatory laws are not more likely to bite, do not bite harder, and breed-discriminatory laws do not result in fewer dog bites or bite-related hospitalization rates. In addition to killing dogs who have done nothing wrong, enforcement is expensive with no measurable impact on public safety.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post Failing Dogs appeared first on BareFootPets.

Especially not the pets locked away on death row in high-kill shelters, with the clock quickly ticking, and not the rescuers trying to figure out how to save them. You must adopt a mind-set to act quickly and figure out details later, such as possible behavior issues, medical issues, etc. Sadly, high-kill “shelters” still operate all over the country; so, as a rule, you don’t have time to think about rescuing a pet, like I thought I did with Ramona (see earlier post “It Should Not Have Ended This Way”).

You need to act first and figure it all out later–learn to power rescue.

A Rose by Any Other Name?

Don’t be fooled about “shelters.”  Too many of them are anything but.  “Shelter” is too often code for “killing machine.”  People need to be aware that way too many shelters in our country are still high-kill and operate under old, close-minded protocols, using euthanasia as their first choice to manage animal population.  They extinguish precious animals’ lives, and justify the murders by blaming fake reasons, such as lack of kennel space, lack of people willing to adopt, the animal has behavioral issues, the animal is fearful, etc.  Of course an animal is fearful — look where he is!!  The chaos, the smell of death in the hallways, fear of all the strange people and other caged animals around him.  But take him out and away from those halls of hell and watch him blossom.  Sadly, “shelters” still exist that won’t be bothered to give animals in their supposed care such a chance.  In these cases, the shelters aren’t shelters at all–they’re killing machines.

Whose Job Is It, Anyway?

Another thing “shelters” do is put the responsibility and blame on us, the public, whether the animals live or die.  They assign animals an arbitrary 72 hours to live, then pretty much just sit back and wait.  If no one steps up to adopt or rescue him within the 72 hours, the “shelter” feels justified in killing the poor animal–as if they had no choice, they were forced, it’s not their fault. The beautiful mama lab in this photo, ironically named Hope, and her newborn pups–every last precious one of them–were murdered by the shelter.  Instead of protecting them and finding homes for them, in the way that “sheltering” means, the “shelter” decided it was easier and more cost-effective to just get rid of them.  Even though rescue organizations were standing by, offering and begging for the lives of this innocent family, the “shelter” took the shameful way out, and killed them, all of them, one by one.

Certainly not all shelters are this cold and ugly, but sadly too many still are.  Truth is, it should be squarely on the shelters to advocate for the animals–it’s their job–to set up new programs that pro-actively prepare the shelter animals behaviorally and health-wise so they have the best possible chance at finding caring, responsible new homes; and to create public and media outreach programs that make more people aware of the pets needing homes, and encourage those folks to foster and/or adopt. Nathan Winograd, founder of No Kill Advocacy, has a regular blog that addresses the failure of shelters nationwide to show compassion toward the animals they have charge over.  Nathan created the No-Kill design that truly saves the lives of shelter animals, not kills them behind closed doors.  Visit these links to learn more.  I’ve spoken about Nathan and the No Kill Advocacy in previous posts.  Their efforts have resulted in profound improvements nationwide in sheltering.  Because of them, “a no-kill nation is within our reach.”

Learn To Power Rescue.

To anyone who considers getting involved in pet rescue, know this: You Must Be Prepared To Go All-In. There is no halfway. Prepare yourself to act quickly so that situations like poor Ramona and Hope don’t happen should you hesitate. Prepare yourself to be flexible because you typically will not know the behavioral or medical history of most pets you will rescue, so you’ll be dealing on a daily basis with many unknowns.  Learn ahead of time what you can to be best prepared to handle tough situations.  You’re going to need every bit of emotional, mental, and physical strength you can draw upon.

Above all, prepare your heart.  Rescue is an extreme labor of love that will change you from the inside out.  Once you commit to saving and protecting these vulnerable lives from those who would hurt them, and experience the power in this simple act of love, you will never be the same.  And, while it will hurt like hell, that’s a good thing.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post Learning To Power Rescue. appeared first on BareFootPets.

Eyes Wide Open.

I try to be certain that the charities I support are credible and forthright about their mission to advocate for and protect vulnerable animals.  So I pay close attention when evidence like that below is revealed.  The information below is dreadfully troubling and hurts my heart.  At the same time, however, I’m grateful to be aware now so that I can do something about it.  I have donated for years and years to PETA, but find myself now at a crossroads.  Having read Nathan’s post (and others) a number of times to be sure I’m capturing the big picture, it’s obvious the evidence is condemning — a serious indictment against PETA for all the goodness that it professes but fails to show for the innocent animals in its care.

Feet To The Flame.

My point for this post is not only to enlighten, but also to remind you all that there are sadly still wolves in sheep’s clothing in the animal rescue world; and, even more sadly, it appears PETA and ASPCA (read Nathan’s book Friendly Fire)  are two of those wolves.  For this reason, doubtful I can in good conscience support PETA  or ASPCA any longer, or at least until honest accountability and corrective action are taken by PETA and ASPCA.  There are many other animal welfare organizations truly worthy of my support, and I will re-direct my humble donations to them.  As I said above, this is a personal decision I make for myself — my intent is not to coerce the reader, but rather to simply share facts and inform so that you can analyze it for yourself.

I leave this here for you to read, process, and make your own earnest decision.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post PETA Did What To Maya !?! appeared first on BareFootPets.