Friday, October 10, 2014

Sad Facts About Homeless Pets

By Garrett McMahan


While we hear a lot about how many dogs wind up in shelters across America, you probably would be shocked to discover that the Humane Society of the United States estimates that there are about 70 million stray cats and dogs living in our country at any given time, but only about eight million of these animals wind up in shelters.

While many people do adopt dogs from shelters every year, this is simply not enough to deal with the high demand in our shelters. Therefore, about 5,000 dogs are euthanized every day in the United States. The vast majority of these animals have not been spayed or neutered, which is one of the biggest reasons why we have such a huge problem with stray animals in the first place.

To lessen the impact on our shelters, some communities are making strict laws regarding the sterilization of dogs and cats. Los Angeles County, for example, requires that the majority of cats and dogs be neutered or spayed by the time they are four months of age. Some breeders, people with show dogs and those with guide dogs might be excepted from these rules, but for most animal owners, the law requires sterilization. More than half of the states in America also require that all animals adopted from a shelter or rescue operation be sterilized in order to be freed up for adoption.

While the recent economic downturn certainly has affected many families and made them unable to care for their pets, it's not the main reason why pets are abandoned. One of the biggest reasons why animals are abandoned or surrendered to shelters is because the animal has behavioral problems. Obviously, behavior issues are a huge inconvenience for families, but most behavior issues can be corrected easily and quickly with proper training.

Obedience training should begin almost from the moment you bring a dog home from the shelter. You might think this will take too much time, but it's much more fun to train a dog properly than it is to deal with the aftermath of them destroying your belongings, scratching at walls and doors or listening to them bark excessively. With training, you can eliminate almost all irksome behavior permanently.

Generally, it's not hard to resolve most behavior issues with just about any dog. Dogs love to please and want to make you happy, and you are sure to be happy with a well-behaved pet. The Dog's Way offers dog owners the opportunity to train their dog at home. This set of five dog training DVDs contains 12 easy-follow-lessons that help you teach your dog to behave in a variety of situations. You can teach your dog to stay beside you, to come when called, to walk lightly on a leash and to sit and stay and obey your command to leave something alone. These are just a few behavior issues that can be tackled with a few weeks of patient practice and you will end up with an amazing, beloved dog that will enhance every part of your life.




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