One day about 2 years ago, my wife and I were in a pet shop buying fish food. While we were there, a teenager brought in 2 puppies (Jack Russell/Poodle cross) and tried to sell them to the pet shop. One looked a little more like a poodle, with curlier fur, but the other looked really like a Jack Russell is supposed to. The shop owner was hesitant to take the puppies. I happened to have $50 in my pocket, and after consulting with my wife I offered the girl the $50 for the puppy. To our surprise and great joy she accepted. We had been wanting to get a dog for a long time. My wife especiallly because she hadn't had a dog since she was a very young toddler on her parents' farm. It all happened so fast and we found ourselves driving home with our new puppy.
The girl had told us the puppy around 8 weeks old and was eating solid food so we shouldn't worry about how to feed it. This was the reason we took the puppy, because it was weaned. So after visiting my wife's mom and showing off our new bundle of joy, we drove to Petcetera (a large pet supply store here) to buy food and other essentials for the dog. While there, we happened to meet a woman who was a breeder with 30 years experience. She told us the puppy was actually only about 4 weeks old and still had its milk teeth. She told us it was by no means ready for solid food and we'd have to feed it things like pablum, goat's milk (she recommended that in particular) every 2 hours around the clock for the next 2 to 3 weeks! We were shocked and alarmed. We were in no way prepared to take on such a rigorous responsibility, partly because I was in the middle of a big job and was working many 18 hour days trying to complete it on time.
But we had already fallen in love with the puppy, which we named Pippin, so we bought the goat's milk and pablum determined to proceed. I was beat by my hectic work schedule. That first night we had Pippin, the poor puppy of course was frightened and wound up crying all night. We had him in a box beside the bed with a soft blanket and a hot water bottle and a clock. Fatigue got the better of me and I felt at my wit's end. I just wanted to get some sleep. I hadn't had any sleep for over 24 hours at that point. I'm ashamed to say that I lost my temper and screamed at the puppy. My wife was, to say the least, not impressed by my behavior. She has much, much more patience with animals than I do. Just ask our cats. She had me lift the box up on the bed so she could try to calm Pippin. She held him close and Pippin seemed to calm a little but wouldn't go to sleep. So none of us got any sleep that night.
I was in a panic by now because I had my job to complete and I was overtired and just couldn't see how we were going to care for this puppy and get my work done at the same time. This was not the way it was supposed to go. There was nobody we could turn to for help, so I decided that when the SPCA opened I would go there with Pippin and see if they would take care of him for a couple of weeks while I finished my work or if they knew of anyone who could help us. After all, they call themselves the "Humane" Society. They told us that they couldn't do anything unless we surrendered Pippin over to them. I asked them if we could have Pippin back and they said I would have first chance to adopt her when she was ready for adoption. I phoned my wife who tearfully agreed that that was our only recourse at the time. It was the shelter's assurance that we would pretty much certainly get Pippin back that settled the issue in our minds.
We phoned the shelter nearly every day from then on, asking about Pippin. We even went there to see her. They did not hesitate at all to let us see her and were very reassuring that she was doing well. This went on for a month. I got my job finished and out of the way. One day we called asking about Pippin again and they said she was finally ready for adoption. They said our case was being considered.
To make a long story short, they deemed us ineligible to adopt Pippin on the basis that we surrendered her in the first place. We felt as thought we had been kicked in the stomach! We felt cheated, because we only surrendered her in the first place because they told us that was the only way they could help us! And then they turned around and used it against us! We tried everything, reasoning and pleading with them but to no avail. We were devastated. I was so furious at this point that I contacted the local newspaper and told our story. They published it shortly thereafter but it made no difference. And the shelter staff refused comment other than to say they were not a "babysitting service." So much for being a "humane" society.
The girl had told us the puppy around 8 weeks old and was eating solid food so we shouldn't worry about how to feed it. This was the reason we took the puppy, because it was weaned. So after visiting my wife's mom and showing off our new bundle of joy, we drove to Petcetera (a large pet supply store here) to buy food and other essentials for the dog. While there, we happened to meet a woman who was a breeder with 30 years experience. She told us the puppy was actually only about 4 weeks old and still had its milk teeth. She told us it was by no means ready for solid food and we'd have to feed it things like pablum, goat's milk (she recommended that in particular) every 2 hours around the clock for the next 2 to 3 weeks! We were shocked and alarmed. We were in no way prepared to take on such a rigorous responsibility, partly because I was in the middle of a big job and was working many 18 hour days trying to complete it on time.
But we had already fallen in love with the puppy, which we named Pippin, so we bought the goat's milk and pablum determined to proceed. I was beat by my hectic work schedule. That first night we had Pippin, the poor puppy of course was frightened and wound up crying all night. We had him in a box beside the bed with a soft blanket and a hot water bottle and a clock. Fatigue got the better of me and I felt at my wit's end. I just wanted to get some sleep. I hadn't had any sleep for over 24 hours at that point. I'm ashamed to say that I lost my temper and screamed at the puppy. My wife was, to say the least, not impressed by my behavior. She has much, much more patience with animals than I do. Just ask our cats. She had me lift the box up on the bed so she could try to calm Pippin. She held him close and Pippin seemed to calm a little but wouldn't go to sleep. So none of us got any sleep that night.
I was in a panic by now because I had my job to complete and I was overtired and just couldn't see how we were going to care for this puppy and get my work done at the same time. This was not the way it was supposed to go. There was nobody we could turn to for help, so I decided that when the SPCA opened I would go there with Pippin and see if they would take care of him for a couple of weeks while I finished my work or if they knew of anyone who could help us. After all, they call themselves the "Humane" Society. They told us that they couldn't do anything unless we surrendered Pippin over to them. I asked them if we could have Pippin back and they said I would have first chance to adopt her when she was ready for adoption. I phoned my wife who tearfully agreed that that was our only recourse at the time. It was the shelter's assurance that we would pretty much certainly get Pippin back that settled the issue in our minds.
We phoned the shelter nearly every day from then on, asking about Pippin. We even went there to see her. They did not hesitate at all to let us see her and were very reassuring that she was doing well. This went on for a month. I got my job finished and out of the way. One day we called asking about Pippin again and they said she was finally ready for adoption. They said our case was being considered.
To make a long story short, they deemed us ineligible to adopt Pippin on the basis that we surrendered her in the first place. We felt as thought we had been kicked in the stomach! We felt cheated, because we only surrendered her in the first place because they told us that was the only way they could help us! And then they turned around and used it against us! We tried everything, reasoning and pleading with them but to no avail. We were devastated. I was so furious at this point that I contacted the local newspaper and told our story. They published it shortly thereafter but it made no difference. And the shelter staff refused comment other than to say they were not a "babysitting service." So much for being a "humane" society.