Working with the animal shelter we are constantly BEGGING people not to "dump" their dogs. Here is just one reason:

Two weeks ago on my way to Athens, I saw a yellow lab puppy, about five months old, in the middle of Highway 31 trying to get the dried, rotten remains of some "road kill." I turned around in time to see him dodge traffic and race, with the remains, to the side of the road where three more puppies sat. I parked and tried to get them, but they ran, terrified, down the highway. I talked to the nearest neighbor who said that five or six dogs had been "dumped" several days before, and that when the puppies tried to "get in his house," he had run them off. The dogs were hanging around his pond for water, but had been yelled at and shot at until they were a "little timid." I made arrangements to get the shelter trap, and another volunteer, to get the puppies. Before we could get back to the location, one of the dogs had been killed, lying in the middle of the highway near the remains that had served as food a few hours earlier.

Unfortunately, the rains set in and we could not put out the trap for a week, not wanting an animal to be in the trap during the rain storms. Saturday, we returned to set the trap and saw that another puppy had been killed, only a few hours before we got there. We placed the trap, checked it several times, and finally got a call from the neighbor that we had a dog in our trap. We raced to get it. Upon our arrival we were shocked to see one puppy in the trap and another lying outside the trap, refusing to leave his companion. We approached slowly, but within minutes the puppy was begging for attention and anxious to play, and to eat. We loaded both and headed to the shelter in Athens with two adorable Retriever-German Sheppard mix puppies. We were absolutely delighted with our success, but saddened that we had not been fast enough to save two from horrific deaths, and all from two weeks of hunger, fear, and misery. If there were more puppies, as the neighbor claimed, they had disappeared.

All of the suffering of the puppies, the gas, time and effort of shelter workers, could have been avoided if the owners had acted responsibly and had their dogs spayed or neutered, if they did not want puppies. Once they had the puppies, there was NO EXCUSE in the world for them to "dump" those wonderful animals to be shot, run over and starved, before two of the six were rescued. If anyone thinks "dumped dogs" (and cats) can make it just fine on their own -- they are DEAD WRONG, but the animals are just DEAD!

Many thanks to the family who watched the trap and the volunteers who helped get the puppies.

If anyone is interested in adopting these lucky dogs, please call the Animal Shelter in Athens, 903-677-7387.

Brenda House