SHERRY DAVIS: Reduce the number of dogs destroyed each year
BY SHERRY DAVIS, Contributing columnist
The original idea for writing this dog advice column was based on one distinct goal: to prevent dogs from being surrendered to animal shelters for common behavior problems.
Helping people to understand why their dogs behave as they do, and their responsibilities as dog owners, has been effective in saving many dogs from being condemned to a lifetime of isolation in backyards, imminent re-homing, or worse.
The owners I consult and work with truly do care about animals.
They vaccinate their dogs, spay and neuter them, and don't allow their dogs to become a neighborhood nuisance.
They license, leash and pick up after their dogs.
Most of them volunteer and/or contribute to shelters and animal-welfare organizations,
They will stop, without fail, to rescue a stray or lost dog and attempt to find its owner.
And, at least 50 percent of the dogs I train are rescues or shelter adoptions.
After reading Stacey Augustson's angry and frustrated Aug. 16 letter to the editor, "Let's all do our part to dismantle Kern's Animal Cruelty Hall of Shame," I reflected on the fact that while I agree with much, if not all, of what she said, the chances of "shaming" people into treating animals more humanely is unlikely.
As for the people who beat, starve and hog-tie dogs, they are sociopaths who don't possess emotions like guilt, empathy or shame.
And do we really believe that sentencing them to clean kennels will "make them think twice before committing future crimes?"
That the experience will dissuade them from becoming repeat offenders?
Me? Not so much.
I also believe that we would continue to have a pet overpopulation problem even if Bakersfield were to provide low or no-cost spay and neutering.
Why?
Because there is a large part of the dog-owning population here in Bakersfield that has no intention of altering its pets. (And I'm not talking about the small demographic of dog show people here who must keep their dogs intact in order to compete and/or perpetuate a bloodline.)
I am speaking of the "breeders" who are cranking out puppies, litter after litter, because they have found that it is a very lucrative way to supplement their incomes.
They follow the trends in popular or fad breeds, invest in a couple of "starter" dogs, and charge obscene prices for the puppies they produce.
Once they have sold a few litters and grow out a couple of the pups to breeding age, they are ready to double their profits.
If they breed two or more females twice a year, well, you do the math.
They do not care about health clearances, maintaining the integrity of the breed or what happens to a dog after it is sold.
They call themselves breeders, but they are just small-scale puppy mills, and they might be living right next door to you.
We keep saying adopt, volunteer and contribute more to take care of and house these thousands and thousands of dogs; we even transport truckloads of them out of town to other cities, but the numbers don't go down.
A week ago I went through the dog ads in the classified section.
Only one ad had a breeder's permit listed.
So are we to believe that the other hundreds of puppies advertised for sale are all city litters which are not required to obtain permits?
The Animal Control Commission is to be commended for spending countless hours hammering out a breeding license plan.
But with a lack of manpower to enforce it, it becomes ineffective to curtail the breeding of puppies for profit.
Until there are more animal control officers hired, trained, compiling the records, and out on the streets going door to door, we are not going to make a dent in this problem.
We need leaders in our local government who are not only willing to admit that this is a problem that has been swept under the rug long enough, but also tell us what they're going to do about it.
Of course, it will cost money to hire and train more people.
But would you rather see money spent to stop the mass production of puppies for profit and enforcement of licensing and leashing regulations, or continue to send your dog-loving dollars into the money pit with the thousands of dogs on death row?
In order to reduce the number of dogs destroyed each year in our shelters, we must first "cut off the head of the snake."
-- Sherry Davis is a dog trainer/owner of CSI 4 K9s. E-mail her at doglady@ bakersfield.com. These are her opinions and not necessarily those of The Californian.
Most CommentedMost Popular
We need an outside agency to investigate the attempted rescue of logger Bill Bennett, who died Sept. 23, 2011 in the mountains south of Tehachapi after being hit by a falling tree.
Rinna Johnson, 35, majored in liberal studies in college, got a master's degree in education and is about to receive her teaching credential. She's not exactly your stereotypical food stamp recipient.
In an attempt to address Kern County's alarmingly high rates of sexually transmitted disease and teen births, a new health initiative will let local teenagers order condoms online and receive the free shipment in the mail.
Petra Villanueva lives in Arvin and just like a good deal of its residents, she speaks mostly Spanish. A stay-at-home mom, Villanueva has become a well-known figure at school board meetings where board members cringe when she gets up to speak on issues important to the community.
UPDATED, 8:51 p.m.: Here are team scores after Day 1: Clovis 184.5 Bakersfield 152.5 Lemoore 100 Madera 96.5 Buchanan 93.5 Clovis West 91 Frontier 86 Madera South 80.5 Porterville 72 Sanger 66 Foothill 65.5 Edison 60.5 Central 51.5 Centennial 51 Bullard, Clovis East 50 And, finally, tomorrow morning's semifinal matchups: 106: (1) Miguel Martinez, Madera, vs. (5) Julian Gaytan, Clovis; (2) Adrian Camposano, Central, vs. (3) Matt Gamble, Monache 113: (1) Mason Pengilly, Porterville, vs. (5) Seth Hood, Monache; (2) Jonas Gaytan, Clovis, vs. (6) Jason Delacruz, Buchanan 120: (1) Daniel Gaytan, Clovis, vs. (5) Matthew Ontiveros, Central; (2) Brandon Rodriguez, Clovis West, vs. (6) Oscar Marin, Bakersfield 126: (1) Vicente Hernandez, Clovis, vs. (4) Izaiah Ozuna, Frontier; (2) Michael Knoblauch, Clovis West, vs. (3) Bryce Martin, Bakersfield 132: (1) Patrick Phaysamone, Clovis East, vs. (4) Martin Sandoval, Porterville; (2) Micah Cruz, Bakersfield, vs. (3) Matt Gay, Clovis 138: (1) Natrelle Demison, Bakersfield, vs. (4) Jason Ladd, Clovis; (3) Racelis Cardenas, Buchanan, vs. (7) Jose Hernandez, Madera South 145: (1) Maxx Ramirez, Bakersfield, vs. (4) Tyler Hartsfield, Liberty; (2) Oscar Corona, Foothill, vs. (3) Osamuyimen Osunde, Lemoore 152: (1) Isiah Martinez, Lemoore, vs. (4) Colby Thompson, Clovis; (2) Coleman Hammond, Bakersfield, vs. (3) Kyle Perreault, Clovis East 160: (1) Adrian Salas, Clovis, vs. Sebastian Suikowsky, Hoover; (6) A.J.
Rinna Johnson, 35, majored in liberal studies in college, got a master's degree in education and is about to receive her teaching credential.
UPDATED, 3:58 p.m.: The rest of the medal-round results, including a fourth meeting in 11 days between Frontier's John Popek and Centennial's Carson Crawford, this one with third place at heavyweight on the line.
Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets has acquired East Hills Mall from the lender that foreclosed on it late last year, according to county property records.