Today was a pretty sad day. Early this afternoon, Ellen brought her two Shelties to us to relinquish them to rescue. Ellen didn’t do this enthusiastically, not even willingly. Ellen is the victim of a vengeful neighbor who couldn’t create legal problems for Ellen over what really bothered the neighbor, so she called the police because Ellen had four dogs instead of the "legal" maximum of two. (I’m thinking somebody lost a lot of karma and is going to come back as a cockroach…upon which I will step so they can come back again as a cockroach!)
Ellen was heartbroken, but she had done everything possible to take full responsibility for her two wonderful boys. Marley (as in Bob!) and Stewie (Steward Little) are littermates, six years old, whom Ellen has had since they were very small puppies. They are incredibly well behaved, very sweet, and will be so nice to have here. Marley is very intuitive, but is a bit of a worrier, while Stewie is a real cuddler (with the worst underbite I’ve ever seen in a Sheltie). Ellen went so far as to take the boys in to be groomed and have dentals done before she brought them over, and she brought with them crates, dog beds, food, medications, paperwork and records, leashes, and everything else.
And she cried.
It is heartbreaking to lose one’s kids, and these Shelties are her kids just as much as her 12 year old son. Damn it, it’s simply not fair. The ordinances that limit a person to owning only two (or three or four or ten!) dogs are stupid and could be someday determined to be unconstitutional. After all, would we sit still for a law that said that a family is only allowed to own three bicycles, or to only have four quarts of milk in the fridge? How about being allowed to have only two children (cf China’s one-child policy)? Then why the hell is it OK to limit somebody to two dogs?
Of course, the people who really cause the problems that lead to such ordinances don’t care. They’ll shuttle dogs around, giving them away and getting new ones with great regularity, let them run loose in the streets, poop on other peoples’ yards, bark all night, etc. But a responsible dog owner suffers if some neighbor decides to punish him or her for some imagined problem.
We, the collective we, have got to start taking positive action against the animal rights crowd who are so enthusiastic about legislation that limits the number of dogs, cats, whatever we can have, educate our city council folks and our legislators, and fight at every turn against unfair laws that limit our ability to own and live with our precious pets.
Whew. Glad I got that off my chest! Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog…
These two boys are really lovely. We want to place them together, as they’ve been together since birth. If we think they will do OK separated, then we may have to go that way — it’s not always possible to find good adoptive homes able to take two at the same time. We’ll post photos soon. Promise!
I have been a bit distracted lately. Not that I don't have any pictures, but my brain is having a hard time picking! So some friends from rescue groups are sending pix of their favorite guys.
My first is a volunteer who was helping out friends for the holiday.
SUPPORT RESCUES! Best friends from the best places!
