Monday, August 10, 2009

A Letter to the Asshole Who Abandoned My Dog

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This is a letter to the asshole who abandoned my dog at the dump when she was 4 weeks old.

I have been writing this letter in my head for a few months now and I've considered writing it from a few different vantage points:
  1. You're an Evil Monster
  2. You're Too Dumb to Bother With
  3. I'm Trying to Be More Zen So I Love You Anyway
All these let you off the hook more than I would like, so I'm going to go with this:

You're a grown up, you most certainly DID know better and karma's a bitch (I AM trying to get a bit more zen).

This is my dog Kayloo*:


She is about 10 months old now. She is gentle and loving, she farts like a trucker and she likes nothing more than to chill out on her cushion knowing that the rest of her pack is a few steps away.

A bit on how Kayloo's life started out:

She was born. 3 or 4 weeks later the human (or one of the humans) associated with her life picked her up, took her to the dump and left her to fend for herself. In October. In Canada. She was there for a few days until someone found her and brought her to the vet clinic. This is what she looked like.

I am trying to be level-headed and keep myself from saying things like WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ASSHOLE LEAVES A PUPPY AT A DUMP!!! Seriously, what BRAND of asshole to you have to drink to go and pull something so incredibly horrible?

Level-headed, level-headed...

EVERYONE within a 100 kilometer radius would have had a better idea on what to do with a puppy than you did. I have taken the liberty of coming up with a (much shortened) list. You could have:
  • given her to a 3 year old child. Even a kid would have known what to do;
  • put her in a box and randomly choose any doorstep, any doorstep at all and they would have been less asshole-ic than you;
  • I dunno, maybe you could have dropped her at any one of the 50 vet clinics we have in the area?
You could have even done any one of these incognito since clearly you did not have the BALLS** to own up to the fact that you didn't want to take care of YOUR RESPONSIBILITY in the first place (and YEAH, she WAS your responsibility. Maybe if you were a little more conscientious about your dog and you got her fixed this wouldn't have happened in the first place. Oh, but I guess that would mess with your side job BREEDING AND SELLING dogs that you pass off as PURE BREEDS. Heaven forbid you should have to deal with a mutt).

Ever hear of a guy named Gandhi? He said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." GANDHI IS NOT IMPRESSED.

To give an indication of what we are dealing with here, the American Humane Association estimates that 9.6 million animals are "destroyed" in the US EVERY YEAR (The Humane Society of the US estimates 3-4 million). That is the cumulative effort of thousands of careless individuals such as yourself. Do you know what "destroyed" means? It means killed. Based on these numbers, thousands of dogs that aren't even a year old and are PERFECTLY HEALTHY could die every day because YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE.

That's right. Every single dog that is euthanized in the ENTIRE WORLD is now your fault. That's what happens when you do stupid shit.

To summarize:

You're a grown up
It makes me sad to think of how horrible your parents, grandparents and/or teachers must have been to teach you that something so deplorable was an ok thing to do... Whoa, hang on! This isn't your kindergarten teacher's fault! This is YOUR fault. If you're old enough to get in your van and DECIDE to head over to the dump, you're old enough to make a better choice.

You knew better
Don't even think of trying to blame this on rap music or video games.

Karma's a bitch
The next time you stub your toe, or have a bad dream or open up your Ikea box and realize that you are missing a CRUCIAL bolt, but you are already half way through building it so you have to take it all apart (which is impossible) and drive 2 hours back to Ikea to get the bolt and then 2 hours back home only to realize that you've put one of the panels on backwards... remember this: You deserve it.

You deserve it.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Kayloo just came into the room looking for Mickey because she likes to do everything that he does. She is doing her best to swallow a Kong whole and every now and then she drops the Kong on his head to keep him interested in the game.

Dogs don't care what happened a year ago... let's be realistic, dogs don't care what happened 20 minutes ago. So, she's ok. But I really do believe what Gandhi said about the relationship between a nation and its animals. And we can do better. We WILL do better.

I would like to finish off this post with one last message to my Boneheaded Puppy Abandoner:

Na, na, na, na, naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! All of your future Ikea projects are going to look stupid and you are probably going to get slivers and stub your toes while you're at it!!!

I didn't say the message was a mature one.


* Kudos to John on his fabulous photographic skills!
** I use "balls" here in the male or female "balls" sense. This is an equal opportunity rant. I would be happy to crush the male or female who did this.

Follow up: I have received a lot of feedback about this post. First of all, thank you for your passion and for sharing your stories. If you haven't already checked out the comments section, I would highly recommend it. For better or worse I have learned about "burn piles," dogs left on the side of the road and in dumpsters, and caring for dogs discarded after fights and experiments. I have been shocked more than a few times today, and I've been googling like mad! Thank you for educating me and for engaging in this discussion. I look forward to many more chats to come!

I've started Kayloo & Friends to collect your stories. I hope you'll check it out and join our pack!

If you liked this post and you would like to share it, that would be super! Thank you so much!

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17 comments:

  1. So your dog was left at the dump, eh? You think that's a bad thing?

    I don't.

    I've got two words for you: burn pile.

    The burn pile is the place where a puppy mill burns the puppies that they cannot sell, and the older dogs that serve no useful purpose any longer. The puppies on the burn pile are frequently burned alive to dispose of them.

    I share your rage, but when compared to the burn pile, I believe the dump is much more humane, since they don't have to endure the pain of the fire, nor the anguish at having their lives extinguished because some S.O.B. couldn't care for them well enough that the public would want to buy them.

    I agree that there are many more obvious choices of how to surrender an unwanted dog, but in the absence of common sense, the dump will suffice -- especially if somebody looks for dumped dogs there on a regular basis.

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  2. kayloo is so lucky to have found a home with you and mickey!

    our dog bitta and her 6 sisters was 'disposed' of in a similar manner, immediately after birth having no contact or milk from her momma. the newborn litter was left on the street, starving, mangey, and flea ridden - days from dying.

    luckily a nearby neighbour found them and brought them to a local shelter (k911 in alabama), who nursed them back to health. and the wonderful people at dog bless rescue (victoria, bc) brought the litter into BC to be fostered and adopted. the adoption rate for mystery blend puppies are so low in the states, they had a much better chance of being adopted here. and surely enough, all 7 puppies now have good homes :)

    our dog still has a few of behaviourial issues, from the trauma early in her life - but nothing serious, and we certainly wouldn't trade her for any other dog. hoping our love and patience will nurture her into a happy, healthy dog. i think it's working ^_^

    i have but one wish that all people will learn to respect all the creatures (and plants as well) we share the planet with, and understand the symbiotic relationship between each species. animals need NOT to be forced to reproduce to satisfy our greed. and burn piles does not need to exist for convenient disposal of unwanted animals.

    i am so grateful for those who have helped homeless animals all the volunteers, foster homes, and finally happy forever homes for these animals. and thank you for sharing your story and opinion. i think people need to hear more happy stories, like the ones with kayloo and bitta, and know that adopting from shelters can be as rewarding, if not more, than taking a dog from a breeder or pet shop.

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  3. What a well written entry....I have passed it along.

    You are right to be angry, I can't believe someone would just leave a puppy ANYWHERE to die.

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  4. I enjoyed reading this, and also glad that Kayloo is lucky to have a happy home now. My dog was also abandoned, though all I know of her life is that she was found and brought to the shelter.

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  5. I totally felt every word of your letter. Sometimes you just can't explain a person's stupidity. It makes me sad to hear that someone was so thoughtless. I honestly don't know what drives some people to do such dumb things. I do know that your dog is very lucky to have you and John. Excellent Post!

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  6. Kayloo looks extremely happy! I can't believe there are people who can sleep at night after abandoning a pet like that.

    Great blog, great entry! Kudos to you and your pups. :-)

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  7. Anonymous - Oh god... I consider myself pretty aware, but I was not aware of that aspect of puppy mills. I wish I could un-read that.

    Shauna - You're a fabulous writer and dog-mom :)

    ~VAdvocate on Twitter

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  8. Very well written post.
    This past Spring we adopted two dogs that were scheduled for the burn pile. We found them through an Animal Rescue Org. These were two dogs left at a pound just because owners did not want them. A 3-4 yr old male Yorkie and a 2 year old female minature poodle mix.
    The female was left at the pound pregnant.
    When the pups were weaned the owner came back and took the pups, but left the mother.
    There are many sick people out there that should not be allowed near animals, that includes all those working in puppy mills.

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  9. On behalf of all abandoned animals everywhere, BRAVO!

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  10. I've often thought of writing a similar letter. My baby girl Mya was found wondering the streets after someone had abandoned her. She's an older dog and the vet says she's had more than a few litters. I'm assuming she was dumped after she was unable to produce puppies. It kills me to think of her treated badly because I've never known a sweeter dog.

    I'm so happy for Kayloo to spend her life in a loving home. Its stories like this that will touch the hearts of people out there and make them reconsider their choice for a pet store / back yard breeder and hopefully look to adoption instead.

    Best wishes to you and your pack!
    Jamie

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  11. I am glad you grabbed the puppy. I too witnessed two fellas starve their 3 dogs, the female had a litter, and they would not let the her nurse them, and the two males ended up eating the litter except for one. I saw the fur in the dog poop. I phoned the SPCA and because we were living in a rural area, they would not come out. I went to their home and picked up the last puppy, she could not stand at that point. It was close to the end for her, took her home, and fed her some roast beef which I believe was the first real food she had ever had. Our family shared 14 years with her and she sadly, passed away this past April. No regrets about grabbing her. She did have some problems upstairs due to starvation, but that just made her more special to us. I am still angry at those guys, but I did end up with a gift. And she got roast beef on every birthday. Thank you to all those people who rescue these poor animals, and yes, the karmac wheel does come around and boots these people in the ass, and I do hope they realize why. But, if they treat animals this way, they are sure to treat people this way and are too ignorant to figure out why bad shit happens to them.

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  12. I just wanted to write to again say thank you so much for sharing your stories. Your posts here, your emails and messages- so many of them are truly heartbreaking, but I am reassured by the hope and the love in all of your messages.

    Thank you for being a part of the conversation. Thank you for loving your pets. Thank you for staying positive, capitalizing on your strengths and making your corner of the world a much better place.

    Oh, and thank you for putting up with my liberal use of the words "asshole" and "balls." ;)

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  13. I had to read this and I did laugh but not without respect to the situation.Its a rare cusser who can string a series of insults together with such precise accuracy of an arrow. I had the same release of rage at the vets office in a full waiting room, as I spoke to Daisy's owner over the phone. The ID chip provided a phone number. This particularg Asshole was letting a 11 month old great dane run in the remote alaskan woods with hunters, bears, traps, and stupid people. Karma- its there- Daisy is fully responsible for www.alaskadognews.com. Im spending my saturday working to get it done to print on Tues. Daisy started it all and makes me want to get up in the morning. We were supposed to be together. This was supposed to happen. And I hope whatever I do makes up for the stupid, ignorant, irresponsible way I handled animals when I was young. All we can do is train on person at a time. I eventually had to thank Daisy's owener for letting me have her. She is a joy. Sadly dogs and puppies are taken to dumps and shot in alaska all the time. all the time....check out the village dog news in AkDN.

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  14. I understand your frustration at whomever abandoned your dog as a puppy. I found a starving pitbull back in April, and have been blogging his story here: http://adoptblackjack.blogspot.com

    If he had been taken to the shelter, a black pitbull would have been labeled unadoptable and killed. His owner must have felt very desperate to leave him alone in a wilderness area. If I hadn't picked him up, the park ranger told me that he would have been killed by coyotes.

    "Blackie" is now forever home with me, and he's an absolute sweetie! I just wanted to share another dog story with a happy ending.

    Thanks for saving a dog!

    Peace.

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  15. I'd tip mai hat to yoo if I wore dem!

    ♥ Loki

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  16. Animals have karma too. Perhaps it was her karma to be abandoned, rescued just in time and find you as her human.

    An animals love is a wonderful thing. Not prejudice, not racist, not homophobic. Just plain love, unconditional and true.

    Yes, the person who abandoned the little pup will have bad karma, that is certain, but what worse karma than never knowing the unconditional love of an animal?

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  17. You made me sad and angry, and you made me laugh.

    I often wonder what kind of a person abandoned my beautiful girl, Kita, and her litter of mutt puppies. She is the sweetest, kindest soul I've ever met, and not a day goes by when I don't think about how lucky we were to have found each other.

    Wonderful post, and thanks for sharing it on Dooce!

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