Pets are responsibilities, not accessories

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

On Monday, 10 people returned or surrendered animals to the Orange

County Humane Society. They just dropped them off and said, “Sorry,

I’m moving”; or “Sorry, he didn’t sit when I told him to”; or “Sorry,

I don’t feel like taking care of my pet anymore”; or, the No. 1

excuse on Monday, “I’m sorry, I’m going on vacation and boarding fees

are too high.”

Person after person came in and surrendered his or her pet, not

wanting to pay for boarding during a vacation, said Courtney Dorney,

manager of the shelter.

Ten animals, and that was just on Monday. Since January, 512

animals have been surrendered, Dorney said.

“The biggest excuse we see is people are moving,” said Shannon

Mead, a volunteer at the shelter on Newland Street. “And a lot of

people are moving to new homes with big yards -- I just don’t get

it.”

The most outrageous excuse she has heard: The animal “doesn’t

match my carpet.”

That is just deplorable to me.

Adopting or buying a pet is accepting responsibility for another

life. An animal is not an accessory. It is not a responsibility that

can or should be shrugged off when it is no longer convenient.

And I realize its not always convenient. I know it is near

impossible to find a place to live in Southern California if you have

a dog. My terrier schnauzer mix and I have had a very tough time

finding a place to call home since we moved out here. But I took her

in nearly six years ago, and that’s that. There’s no returning a

life.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am a devoted, perhaps

slightly over the top, dog owner -- she sleeps on the bed, she’s

allowed on the couch, she has insurance (although that’s more for my

benefit) and has received more regular and frequent doctor visits in

her six years than I have in my whole life.

And she is without a doubt a mama’s girl. But to me, that is just

living up to my responsibility to give her the best, most comfortable

life I can.

She eats dog food, and I don’t buy her outfits or throw her

birthday parties. I’m not suggesting that dog owners treat their pets

as humans. But, in many ways, it is a responsibility similar to

having a child -- they are dependent and need care and love.

Abandonment is a betrayal of that responsibility.

They hear all kinds of excuses at the shelter, Mead said. Some

return dogs for shedding, saying they want a dog that doesn’t shed,

or doesn’t chew.

“I have a girlfriend who returned a dog because it went to the

bathroom in her house once,” Mead said.

Those are problems that are solved by training a pet, which is

another portion of your responsibility.

Each time the movie “101 Dalmatians,” or some version of it, is

released, people go out in droves and buy and adopt the speckled

pups.

A high percentage of those pets are abandoned within months when

the novelty wears off and they realize those pups are work and that

breed needs a lot of attention. It’s a cute movie that causes cruelty

each time its released.

And that is what returning a pet is, cruel and irresponsible.