Shocked at number of rescue pugs out there....

[Mopsomaniac]

Hi everyone

I hope I don't start an uproar out there because I don't mean to. I'm just so shocked and suprised that everywhere on this forum people have rescue dogs. I am so happy that people open their homes and hearts to dogs from shelters - that's fantastik. What I'm curious about, is how there can be so many dogs in shelters!!

I live in Denmark, which is a country that still believes in only spaying or neutering dogs for medical reasons - it's changing gradually but most dogs you meet are still "whole" dogs ;) if you get my drift. So one would think that the problem would be worse here...

When I decided to get a dog, I checked out the shelters. They had cats galore, but each shelter (we have 6 in the whole of DK) had maybe one or two dogs, some none. The dogs waiting for homes all have serious behavior problems - the others are adopted within days. Dogs rarely change hands here and if they do, owners usually find a new forever home for their pet. Could it be the price of a dog here? Dogs run from about $1.000 USD for a "mut" to over $10.000 USD for the fanciest of breeds. Pugs run at about $2.500 USD. The shelters have a list of approved homes that wait for a dog - if any purebred comes in, it is only there for hours, they told me.

There are no stray dogs in DK - I've never seen one in 25 years! If a dog is lose, there is an owner nearby.

I'm just curious as to where all the rescues come from....

Again - glad people here at the Village take them into there hearts and homes.

[tall grass pugs]

We are a disposable economy. If it displeases us, we dump it. Pugs have a high vet maintenance and many are dumped for the cost of upkeep. Old people pass on or are shunted into homes, and the grown children dump the blind senior dog on a busy road to be found or die. The recent sick economy has upped the number of dogs in shelters as people down size the house and dispose of grandma's antiques and the children's dog, but it has always been bad.

[Mopsomaniac]

It's sounds terrible for dogs. I'm glad though that there are great people out there too that take them into there homes.

I would have prefered a rescue dog, but there weren't any to be had. After thinking about it, I am happy that there aren't many dog here needing to be rescued.

[tall grass pugs]

It's worse after Christmas when the Christmas puppy presents are dumped. Worse yet, if the dumped dog is large and black, there is no hope for it. Go to Craigslist and pick any American city, scroll down to pets and read the excuses. The most popular one popping up is pregnancy in humans not dog, and allergies.

[Mopsomaniac]

People should think before getting a new family member. It breaks my heart to think about it...

[Wally & Crew]

I cannot believe that dogs are so costly where you are. But I would imagine that does play a big part in why folks are more reluctant to own pets and also give up their pets. Where you live is owning a pet as popular as it is here? I wouldn't think so.
I really do agree that the economy is playing a big role in the surge in unwanted pets here.
10 years ago, I watched our local pounds for many months for a small housedog. I asked to be put on a call list and was told it would be very unlikely that I would ever be called. Big dogs were plenty but most seemed mutts with the occasional purebred dog that seemed out of place.
The past several months watching those same local pounds (on the web every day) it amazes me the dogs that come in and never get claimed. I think there has been 6 nice looking pugs in one pound in the past several months, one of which we brought home. The same pound is always stocked with multiple other breeds. Lots of shi-tzus, chi pups, beagles, JRT, poms, a few boston terriers even, ect, it really has amazed me. These were once the small breeds that were "bought" and seemed infrequent in pounds, but they now seem just as frequent as the pitbull crosses and mutts.
For whatever it is worth, the pound folks told me that many times folks come in and see their dog, but dont' claim them as they don't want to pay the fees and registration costs and they think the dog will find a home and they can always get another.

[Stazz]

It's a horrible problem in Dubai with the massive amount of expats that live here, and some have had to leave in a hurry after being made redundant etc, but there is no excuse what so ever to dump or abandon a dog. So often you hear of dogs being found in the back yard of homes of expats who have fled. Its disgusting that a human can do that to an animal. Soooo many dogs up fro adoption in Dubai, not as many pure breeds as their are mixed breeds, but that doesnt change the problem.

[Mopsomaniac]

Dogs are very popular here despite their price, but then everything is expensive in Denmark ;)

I've often wondered how pugs kan manage in such hot places as Dubai. Do they go out only at night and in the early morning? As for them being abandoned in that way, there's just no excuse for it. I really have a hard time imagining what people think sometimes....unfortunately.

[Wally & Crew]

what really gets to me are the people that dump their dogs in the country and drive off.
At least in the city they have a chance of being found and maybe rehomed... a chance.
But out where we live, we have folks that drive out on the county roads and realease their pets and drive off. The pets try their best to follow.
The part that makes me most angry is these people actually think they are "turning their dog loose to a life in the wild". What they don't realize... the dogs and cats quickly become dinner to all the predators we have out here, get run over on the road trying to chase a vehicle, get shot by a local rancher for trying to kill their livestock, or the worst of all die a horrible death of starvation and thirst. We have seen it end in all those ways. Sometimes there was a happy ending when a dog was convinced to come to somebody. But most the time it ends in an ugly way. Taking your dog and having it put to sleep would be more responsible than abandoning them. But folks are looking for the easy out.

[Mopsomaniac]

Hearing all the horror stories makes me so happy we don't see that here - whatever the reason. First off, there isn't really any "wildnerness" in DK anymore, but why people don't abandon dogs at all here (ot not that I'm aware of) must be a cultural thing....