Did you know that roughly two million dogs and cats are killed in the United States animal shelters every year? But 30 million Americans add a new animal to their home every year. There is definitely a pet overpopulation problem, but the more dire issue here is the deliberate breeding of puppies. The ASPCA estimates there could be as many as 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. Puppy mills are not pretty, dogs are kept in horrible conditions. Their soft paws and bodies damaged from wire cages, with little shelter from the elements. Their cages are stacked on top of each other with urine and feces falling on the ones below. Bred over and over until no longer useful and then sold at auction or killed. This is so heartbreaking to me. And what many don’t realize that the cute puppy they see in the pet store actually came from one of those neglected and abused mothers.
We found our little heart breaker five years ago. He came from South Carolina from an adoption agency that also transports to other states. The only thing we knew about him was that they thought he was about 10 years old. We’d never had a beagle and we really didn’t know what to expect but when we saw his sweet picture on Petfinder, we felt compelled to save him. Did we NEED another dog? No. We already had three! But what’s one more? They’re like potato chips in my opinion, you can’t just have one! After about a week of back and forth emails, we finally met the transporter in a McDonald’s parking lot about 10 minutes from our house. We excitedly got out of our car to greet him and his personal chauffeur and bent to scratch his little head. Oh my gosh, he was so much smaller than I expected and just as adorable. This poor little guy was in serious need of a bath, with dandruff along his back and a funk only a pet lover could ignore. He was about 10 lbs. underweight with ribs poking out and his nails were in dire need of a trim. He was also missing quite a few teeth. He had one beautiful chocolate brown eye and one missing eye with funky purple stitches in it. We weren’t sure what happened to it but I believe it had an infection. We also didn’t know his history, but the one thing we were absolutely sure of was that we were going to give him the best life possible in his remaining years. He deserved it after all that he’d been through. For all we knew he could have been a test animal! Beagles are often used in testing facilities because of their sweet nature. Truly a horrific thought!
It was obvious to us Popeye was never properly house trained, and would potty in the house when we didn’t let him out often enough. We kept him in a crate at night and were woken up each morning to the howl that can only come from a beagle. His tail never stopped wagging. He was so happy, quite literally all of the time. He got along very well with all of our other animals and had the sweetest disposition. His sniffer got him in a pickle soon after we brought him home. What we didn’t realize was how strong their scent tracking capability is! He would put his little nose to the ground, point his tail and howl when caught scent of something he liked. One time, he was outside in the yard one minute, and gone the next. We spent all day and night looking for him, tromping through the forest, calling his name and basically freaking out. It was fairly cold, windy and rainy that day and I kept picturing him somewhere out in the woods freezing to death. Needless to say we didn’t sleep well that night. But the next morning we got a call from a couple about 10 minutes north of us who had him! Hallelujah! He apparently wandered all the way to the highway, and was picked up and taken to their home where he slept in a very posh and comfy room on pillows along with their dogs. We picked him up immediately, thanked the lovely samaritans profusely and brought him home never to be outside without a leash again.
We had four amazing years with Popeye. But his good eye grew cloudy and he started walking in circles for hours. He slept most of the rest of the day away and was now wearing doggie diapers at night. We knew his time with us was limited, and when he started showing signs of illness we had to make the gut wrenching decision to send him over the rainbow bridge. He had a brain lesion, was totally deaf, completely blind and had almost no quality of life anymore. We lovingly lay down with him at the vet while we said our goodbyes, and let him go peacefully. It was a very difficult day and I still choke up when I think about it. But he taught us so many things, including absolute resiliency, compassion, and most of all about unconditional love. He will forever be in our hearts as the most loving and beautifully imperfect dog in the world.
If you’re thinking about acquiring a new pet, please think twice about buying one. Don’t buy while others die. Shelter pets are so grateful for a second chance at life and seniors make superior companions. Many are already house trained, out of the chewing stage and have great manners. Also if you do your research you can find the pure bred buddy you have been dreaming about. Help put those inhumane breeders out of business by finding your furry friend at the shelter.
