npd_BLOGPIECE-46National Puppy Day and the Ones Left Behind

On Thursday morning, I woke to scroll my Twitter to get my daily news and gossip scoops. Thumb flick after thumb flick I found pictures of puppies and dogs in an endless chain with love-filled blurbs and trails of emoticon hearts and kisses. Turns out 'National Puppy Day' were the words on everyone's lips. March 23rd is National Puppy Day, started to promote the adoption of puppies and dogs all over the world (http:--www.nationalpuppyday.com-). I have a dog too, she is only a couple years old, is part Kelpie and has more beans than a coffee shop. Her name is Chilli and I love her dearly, but this isn't about her. After minutes of funny videos and cute images I peered through my curtains to a grey and stormy sky. Something was missing among the endless puppy love.


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In every major city across Australia there are caged cells, inside of them, there are homeless and lonely dogs who on this day, have been left out of the celebration.


Image It was an obvious packed house as a medley of barking and howling echoed across the parking lot. One of the most prominent animal rescue services in Australia, the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), had received over fourty-six and a half thousand dogs during the 2014-2015 financial period. This made up over a third of the total received animals including cats, smaller animals, livestock and wildlife. Canberra alone received over one-thousand three hundred of those.


Image Jess, an animal behaviour trainer at the ACT's RSPCA took me to meet a new addition to the group, Leyla. She was a five week old Cattle Dog with a stumpy tail and she had more life than the video of a goat back-flipping off other goats (Goat video for reference... it's worth it: https:--www.youtube.com-watch?v=AWvefaN8USk)


Image She was left at the shelter with three other siblings only a few days ago when an unwanted litter befell the owners who had not desexed their dogs. Leyla rolled herself around in my lap and leapt toward the lens of my camera imprinting her wet nose against it. As she trotted the pen, Jess said part of the problem with the surge in dogs at the shelter lies with owners.


"People either don't have the money to desex their animals, or they don't care" she said.


This notion identified a cycle in which without cooperation from current and future owners, a continuous wave pattern emerges. The wave demonstrates: non-desexed animals procreate, the owners don't want or can't provide for that litter, give them to organisations like RSPCA or local pounds, new owners adopt the puppies from these litters partly because they are an easy transition into the family- at least until they pass the puppy stage where they sometimes do return to shelters again.


"We had around fourty-eight puppies last month and now we have four," she said.


The wave recedes but it comes again and repeats, bringing more puppies in and dispersing them to new owners.


"Everyone wants a puppy, and it's the other dogs we get left with, that's what they need to put more focus on- getting the older dogs homes".


I walked the line of cages, their faces blank with ignorance that I was there. I was just another person, another passerby. A wetness dropped down my cheek as I swathed my camera inside my coat. The rain would not interfere. I stopped at each cage, knelt down and spoke to them, trying to engage. I gave them my time, my attention, my compassion. The two young Cattle Dog pups, Leyla and Clara could not stop bouncing off the walls. But of the others... some would glance over and some not bother.


ImageImageI moved along and took pictures then stopped when a bright green shirt with a human inside of it was in one of the cages. A volunteer of the RSPCA sat across the bottom of the kennel with a dog standing over her legs.


Image "Her name is Loretta," she said as she scratched and stroked her companion.


She was placid, very quiet, a perfect cuddler and mesmerising in a caramel fur coat. The volunteers aren't only a cuddle for the animals, they play with them, walk them, garden their food, provide veterinary assistance and more. Jess had mentioned that volunteers were the ones with the true relationships with the animals. As I watched her scratch the back of Loretta's ears, a gentleness dawned across her face. An image of true heart, of genuine care.


ImageI looked to the dog at the head of the line, Hamlet. He laid slumped on the ground in the shape of a log with a white collar of fur around his neck. When I arrived I had thought he were the grumpy old man of the bunch with his unsociable manner and rough appearance; the stereotypical 'problem dog' that no one wants. I had looked past him, ignored him, forgot him- but I had come to learn a surprising truth.



Image "There are some older dogs that have stress issues now and can be a bit socially odd. That's why our volunteers try to spend as much time with them as they can."


"I try to spend at least an hour to an hour and a half with-" she was interrupted by an explosion of barks and scratching of metal. The dogs had whirled into a frenzy at a pigeon teetering upon the top of the wire fence. Hamlet lead the coo with a bark that caused me to stare deep into his throat wondering how such a roar could emerge. The next cage held a little white and brown girl who sprung up and dragged her claws down the wire. Up and down. Up and down. At the far end they all joined in the uprise, all but Loretta and her volunteer who sat aptly in calm and quiet. After a few moments the pigeon flew off and silence restored.


Image It was as if the match had caught aflame again, all of those dogs in the line had proved their spirit was still within them; a sight I feel I would not have otherwise seen today. They returned to their positions as they were when I arrived; the fires dwindled out again. A real sense of incarceration pervaded the air. Confined to a concrete cell, where their chance of entering the outer world lied in the fleeting moments a volunteer visits. Spending their nights curled up into the self-made grooves of doggy beds and not in the lap of a loving owner. Seeing their days out watching people pass, forgetting to wag their tail or twinkle their eye as the hope that once brought them to their feet, over time, had faded. The importance of a loving home and family was more prevalent than ever.


Image "The RSPCA is really lucky though," she said and continued to tell me of other animal shelter services that euthanise the animals after a certain amount of time. "We don't have that here, we don't euthanise them. We rehome, transfer them to other foster services or get them temporary homes while the vacancy here is exhausted". She told me of another Canberra rescue shelter that holds a two-week period to rehome their animals before euthanising them. "They don't have much time," she said.


This ended our conversation with heavy hearts. The reality is, there are dogs being put to sleep as a result of society's ignorance to proper care. As Jess said, the causes lie with the owners. Owners need to take proper responsibility and have their animals desexed. Future owners need to be open-minded to seasoned dogs up for adoption and not blinded by the likability of a puppy. People need to help the adoption of all dogs through utilising days like National Puppy Day to bring awareness and make the point that adoption is critical for potentially saving the lives of thousands of dogs across Australia, where just last year almost seven-thousand were put down.


National Puppy Day began as a day to support adoption of dogs across the world, so instead of showing you a photo of my beloved girl, I will show you a group of dogs without homes, without families and without the constant love that they need. These are the animals that should be talked about. These are the faces in need of support and someone to love them. So for the ones left behind... Happy National Adopt-A-Dog Day.
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