Hello, You have reached 123-4567, Tender Hearts Rescue. Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:

Press 1 if you think we are veterinarians and wish for free medical advice.

Press 2 if you know we are a rescue organization but  want to save money and have us give you free, untrained medical advice anyway.

Press 3 if you make $200,000 a year but still want us to pay to spay the "stray" in your yard (house).

Press 4 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new  home right away.

Press 5 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.

Press 6 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money for your vacation.

Press 7 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old  one right away.

Press 8 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.

Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.

Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle.

Press 11 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old, unneutured, aggressive dog.

Press 12 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home today and pick up the dog you no longer want.

Press 13 if you have been feeding and caring for a "stray" for the last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it's not your dog.

Press 14 if you are calling at 6 a.m. to make sure you wake me up before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way to work.

Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.

Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog that you have had for fifteen years, because it is not our
responsibility.

Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten year old dog to be euthanized because we can't get to your house in the next hour.

Press 18 if you're going to get angry because the volunteers had the audacity to go on vacation and leave the dogs in care of a trusted volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.

Press 19 if you want one of our perfectly trained, housebroken, kid and cat friendly purebred tiny dogs that we have an abundance of.

Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor's cats.

Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don't take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.

Press 22 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to board your personal dog while you are on vacation, free of charge, of course.

Press 23 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.

Press 24 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.

Press 25 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can't spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.

Press 26 if you're lying to make one of our younger volunteers feel bad and take your personal pet off your hands.

Press 27 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because it is declawed, but are not willing to accept the responsibility that the cat's behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.

Press 28 if your two year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven't gotten around to having him neutered.

Press 29 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling because she is suddenly pregnant.

Press 30 if you have done "everything" to housebreak your dog and have had no success but you don't want to crate the dog because it is cruel.

Press 31 if you didn't listen to the message asking for an evening phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.

Press 32 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter's birthday and you forgot when she was born.

Press 33 if your dog's coat doesn't match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.

Press 34 if your new love doesn't like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next month anyway) instead of the dog.

Press 35 if you went through all these 'presses' and didn't hear enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog while the vet mercifully frees him from of the grief of missing his family.

Sarah Anderson
Canine College of California

db Lucky for Tessa that you guys got her out. Less than one year old...

Last weekend, I got a call (at the SPCA thrift shop where I volunteer) from some girl looking to get a dog, but she didn't want to have to pay a fee. What about vet bills? What about quality food? What if the dog has a serious illness?

My little Molly would surely have been a goner if her previous people knew she had cancer and hyperthyroidism and early renal failure. Heck, they were so keen to have her euthanized within the week since they were too busytheir two-year-old baby was finally showing allergies.

What is WRONG with us over-the-top folks that care about another species?

Kudos to the volunteers who turn these clowns away when they come to adopt animals.

I started out laughing wryly. Then got angry. Now I'm just sad. 

Maybe this is urban legend or something, but I have heard that the chip companies know which vets they sent what chips to, so if you can call that vet, they can look up the owner.

Here are some articles about incompatibility issues.

In my own town, I had inquired about microchipping my dogs, and I was told about the incompatibility and the fact that some shelters still do not have scanners.  And this was from my vet's office who sells the chips.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?C=32&A=1997

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/pet_owners_warned_to_check_with_local_shelters_before_buying_pet_id_microchips.html

Justme

Don't know what the scanners cost but the different technologies I guess are not compatible.

The whole chip thing is a good idea, but like I mentioned many shelters that have scanners don't scan the dogs, many times because the dog is new and frightened, and the chip isn't that easy to find. You have to be right on top of it to pick up the signal. I watched as they scanned our girl at the vet last year. It took a while. I would have thought that you could just hold the scanner over them and it would register but it doesn't. I guess many shelters don't have the money for scanners, don't know how many chip types are out there, only know of Avid.

db

One of my dogs has a tatoo in her groin area.  One of the breeders had it done before we acquired her at 2 months.  It is her original AKC number.  Her dogs compete in shutzhund, if that is the proper terminology.  But I thought those dogs had ear tattooes.  I doubt anybody would look at her groin for the tatoo and would have no idea what it is anway.  Or is that so she can't be sold to a laboratory if stolen? I dunno.