Dogs

I convinced a friend/coworker yesterday that he should get a dog. He's been thinking about it and talking about it for months now. Two months ago, he told me he was getting his sister's dog because she was moving to Australia. I asked him about this yesterday and she isn't moving to Australia anymore, so that plan is defunct. I reminded him that every day, Pima Animal Control Center (PACC) takes a truckload of dog bodies to the dump. PACC impounds many dogs daily. They have a good-sized facility, but for the amount of dogs they get in versus the number going out, it is not nearly sufficient room. I have heard many bad things about them, but my personal experience in getting my cat back from them was not so bad. One of my cats escaped about six months ago and he was taken to PACC, where we ended up finding him.

So, back to my friend. He had several excuses why he couldn't get a dog right now. I debunked all of them. We decided we would go sometime soon to PACC to pick out a dog together, also bringing his roommate who wasn't so sure about getting a dog. My logic was that if his roommate was involved in the process, he would be more likely to accept the dog.

Today, he texted me to tell me he got a dog. Needless to say, I was speechless. Only one day after I proved to him that he should get a dog, he goes out and brings one home! It seemed so sudden and somewhat irresponsible, but I had, after all, proven to him that he is ready for a dog. He has a huge yard, so no problems there. His house has all tile floors, another bonus.

So I went to see this new dog today. He was found in the desert by a family that already has four other dogs. They live just outside of Tucson, and so probably found all their dogs in the desert, as that is a common dumping place. His name is Diego, for now. I could see all his ribs, but he seems like he's not doing too bad now that he has a home. He's also very calm, but that is typical of malnourished dogs. I've heard many a story about a dog who is originally calm because they are so under nourished and then once they gain weight, they become a hyper, normal dog. He is feeding him a special blend of hamburger meat, Total cereal, gelatin, and a few other things mixed in. The recipe was found on a dog rescue site, so hopefully it works well.

Because there are so many dogs that needlessly die at PACC (and elsewhere), I am so opposed to backyard breeding, or any sort of breeding. There really is no need for it, as far as the dog species is concerned. There is such an overpopulation already. I've seen at least one or two articles in Tucson or Arizona newspapers about the problem of dogs being abandoned in the desert. I even saw a news special about it a few months back. A family, with kids, would find dogs very near their house because it is located so far into the desert. They found dogs in all stages, from recently dropped off to dropped off so long ago that they were just a corpse. So sad.