Thursday, June 4, 2009

I'm A Sucker For Sad Puppy Eyes

I definitely have an animal theme going on this week. I have always wanted to volunteer at an animal shelter but I never seem to live near one. Since I recently discovered the pet section on craig's list, I have seen a lot of pleas for dog and cat food from pet rescue places. There is a whole group of people who go rescue the animals on the county animal shelters' kill list. They find foster homes for the ones that need extra time to get over an infection or need more socialization and training. So I asked the craig's list posters if there was a shelter in my area of town. Nope, there isn't but there are people willing to pick up donated supplies.

Today after work I went in to the grocery store to see how much dog food costs. Yikes. It's a lot. I ended up buying $50 worth of puppy and kitten food for the food drive that is going on this month. I won't be able to do that every month but now that I know how much the stuff costs I can look out for good sales and coupons. Some of the kitten chow was on clearance and the generic food was on sale so I think I did pretty good. Next time I'm at Big Lots I'll take a closer look at their selection. I figure I can afford a bag or two a month, then I'll save it up and call one of the volunteers to pick it up. Maybe I'll even deliver it myself on a Saturday and walk some dogs. That would be fun when it isn't 105 degrees outside.

10 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

That is a nice way to get involved and help out.

Every once in a while Walmart will put those big bags of dog food that you barely lift much less fit in a cart out in the aisle at marked down prices. $50 will buy a lot of that stuff.

Daizy said...

Ya, I am sure there are better deals than the grocery store. I asked the lady what kind of food they want and she said anything except Old Roy from Walmart. I wonder, do the dogs refuse to eat it?

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

I don't know. My dog doesn't like the Old Roy dog food, but she does like the Old Roy dog biscuits.

rinter said...

anyway you can help out. I'm really enjoying my weekly volunteering at pet shelter. It was a relief from dreaded job. Actually over the years I've enjoyed volunteering over working. Nothing bad oddly ever happens to me when I volunteer and I've done that for 15yrs now! Times like this I wish I was a millionaire so I can volunteer all over the place!

Daizy said...

rinter, I totally agree. One of the reasons I want to semi-retire early is so I can volunteer. And becoming a professional philanthropist wouldn't be bad either!

KoBold said...

I think pets, especially dogs are way overhyped.
Many-many dogs serve as substitutes for having children and/or friends.
It does not help either, that the pet industry (breeders, food manufacturers, etc.) has vast resources to coerce people into a sick and distorted position re. animals.
People first!
Give natural selection a chance!

(Before anyone starts flaming: I do like animals. hat i don't like is losing proportions.)

Daizy said...

KoBold, I think dogs are under-used. They can be great police dogs, drug dogs, search and rescue dogs, explosive dogs, cadaver dogs, agriculture inspection dogs, seeing eye dogs, assistance dogs, therapeutic dogs, cow dogs, cancer sniffing dogs etc, etc.... Many have lost their jobs and now they are just neglected yard dogs or accessories (aka miniature purse dogs). Such a waste.

Daizy said...

Now I have that old Cow Dog Song from Sesame Street of the 70's stuck in my head.

'I'm a dog, I'm a workin' dog, I'm a hard workin' dog. I'm not a show dog...I'm a cowwwwww dog!'

hehehe, I get a little silly on Fridays. :)

KoBold said...

I wrote about pet dogs. Work dogs are OK.
It breaks my heart to see dogs bred (and quite apt) for shepherding or hunting idling as show(off) dogs.
Such a waste of talent.

Daizy said...

KoBold, how does your animal control system work? Here it is illegal for a dog to be loose so any loose dog is taken by animal control or turned in by a person who finds it. If it is not sick or injured then it is held for as long as they have room for it and they attempt to find it a home. Do you have more pure breds or mutts? We have a big problem with pitt bulls. Too many people breed them illegally. Last year the police broke up a large pitt bull breeding and fighting ring. All of the dogs except the puppies were put down. The police also found an illegal small dog breeder. Over 800! small dogs, mostly chihuahuas and 40 birds living in filth. It's things like that which strain the resources of the county animal shelter and make them kill healthy dogs because they run out of room. That's where the other rescue groups come in to try to give dogs more time to find new owners. Now foreclosures are causing a high pet turn-in rate because people have to move to small apartments which don't allow pets. It annoys me when people don't have time for a dog so they just let it run free to harrass other people and their pets (I really mean me and my cat!). I don't have a dog, I shouldn't have to pick up my neighbor's dog's poop! when I lived in town my neighbor had two dogs that barked in the back yard all day and night. They were supposed to keep eachother company.