Is it wrong to take in a street dog and abandon it later?

Is it ok to adopt a dog for a year and then dump it upon leaving Taiwan?

  • No. Adopt it for life or not at all.
  • Yes. Why not? It’s only a dog.

0 voters

Original Title: Does anybody else think that this is patently wrong!?!?!

I am acquainted with an American who has been living and teaching English in Taiwan for the past year. Recently, his girlfriend arrived and they plan to live and work together for the next year and then return to America for graduate school. He and his girlfriend plan to adopt a puppy that was recently abandoned nearby their apartment. Sounds good so far, right? However, they do not plan or expect to take the dog back to America with them upon completion of their year in Taiwan. They told me that the plan is to try to find someone else to take the dog or more realistically dump the dog in a shelter before they depart.

I find this offensively wrong! I’m so pissed I can barely see straight. :fume: I’m of the opinion that if you adopt a dog, that you make a commitment and adopt it for life. Adopting a dog isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. If they can’t realistically adopt the dog for life and take it back to America with them, then I believe they shouldn’t do it at all. :no-no:

I, myself, never wanted a dog when I came to Taiwan, but over the past 10 years I’ve devoted part of my life to saving, and adopting 13 unwanted, dumped dogs who managed to somehow make it to my home in the countryside. I have plenty of room and I won’t turn the 14th away the day it manages to show up at my gate.

Are these two Americans acting like soulless jerks? Does living in Taiwan somehow corrupt people who should know better? Am I overreacting? Am I out of touch with reality? Please tell me what you think about this. No holds barred. If I’m the one that’s fucked up regarding this issue, tell me!

Respectfully yours,

Northcoast Surfer
(dog lover)

They want a cute puppy to love – for a little while – but don’t really give a toss whether their by-then human-acclimatized housepet is unceremoniously killed when they leave?
Dunno, man. Maybe you can give them a “puppy-warming” present of a large rock and tell them they can use it to bash the dog’s head in on their day of departure, to save the obvious hassle of calling in the dog-killers. They’re utter, utter selfish fucktards.
Tell them to foster a dog short-term or something. Surely? On the other hand, with that kind of mindset about animals, maybe better just tell 'em to forget the whole thing. They don’t sound like responsible animal owners to me. They sound like complete jagoffs.

I would say, a good example that there are idiots everywhere, no matter Asian, Caucasian, Black, Red and whatsoever…

Its always fun to have a puppy around and dump it after year… its also common to have a baby and dump it after a year :sunglasses: … ok its not the best comparison …

Or you could do a Stray Dog, and stow your revulsion and anger in a bottom drawer, under your stash of ladies undergarments stolen from washing lines, and try to educate them on their misguidedness. I’m sure they probably mean well, but you need to point out how they really won’t be helping matters. You might also point them to this site and the plethora of posts describing how easy it is to ship an animal overseas these days, and the number of people and organizations who are only too willing to help.

Yes. You’re absolutely correct. I’ve already offered to help them through the procedures for taking their dog home with them. I know the procedures quite well as I’ve already helped other friends do it before. This issue appears to be that once they leave “Fantasy Island” and return to the US for graduate school, that they won’t want the responsibility of dog ownership. That’s why I wish they wouldn’t even start. I also wanted to see what the general opinion of other Forumosans are regarding their situation, and I plan to direct them to this link after a week or so. Thanks for your input Sandman! :bow:

I know. I’ve tried and tried, but he will persist. He even has a special section for obasan granny panties and 17-litre off-cream heavily frayed brassieres. He’s a weird one to be sure.

The suggestion of a pet rock seems most approriate in this instance.
Or maybe sea monkeys?

[quote=“TheGingerMan”]The suggestion of a pet rock seems most approriate in this instance.
Or maybe sea monkeys?

[/quote]

14 BUCKS FOR SEA MONKEYS?!?!??! WTF?!?!
They used to be a buck 99!!
For 14 bucks they better fucking hatch knowing how to give a great blowjob and make scratch cheesecake, that’s all I can fucking say…

[quote=“the chief”][quote=“TheGingerMan”]The suggestion of a pet rock seems most approriate in this instance.
Or maybe sea monkeys?

[/quote]

14 BUCKS FOR SEA MONKEYS?!?!??! WTF?!?!
They used to be a buck 99!!
For 14 bucks they better fucking hatch knowing how to give a great blowjob and make scratch cheesecake, that’s all I can fucking say…[/quote]

Can those sea monkeys talk? It’d be really cool if they could.

[quote=“irishstu”][quote=“the chief”][quote=“TheGingerMan”]The suggestion of a pet rock seems most approriate in this instance.
Or maybe sea monkeys?

[/quote]

14 BUCKS FOR SEA MONKEYS?!?!??! WTF?!?!
They used to be a buck 99!!
For 14 bucks they better fucking hatch knowing how to give a great blowjob and make scratch cheesecake, that’s all I can fucking say…[/quote]

Can those sea monkeys talk? It’d be really cool if they could.[/quote]

Even if they could talk, I’d still only pay, like, 10 bucks.
Even if they knew all the words to Alice’s Restaurant.

A pet who is undetectable when mixed with Coca Cola is always a welcome addition to any household.

Ha, that’s funny, that’s what I used to say about you when you lived here…

Ha, that’s funny, that’s what I used to say about you when you lived here…[/quote]

And everyone else said ‘Huh?’

Gee, I don’t remember the " DO NOT RESIST" line from the ads when I was a kid. How I coveted those little shrimp. :unamused:
I have an image of these people holding the gift rock over their companion for a year, jumpin’ up and down, yelling, “Kill, kill. I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth… I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.” Unless of course, it was a seein’ eye dog.
Most people I try to get to adopt say they can’t take on the responsibility as they are going back to school (or traveling or whatever), but I do run across a small percentage that give the same line as the OP heard. These are often the ones who buy at night markets (or pick up their own stray) for a temporary companion. (They never get dogs from rescue centers or people like the OP because none of us would let such types adopt a dog. )

I guess trying to educate them is key. I am an example of successful education. A number of years ago, I was bitten twice within 6 months by strays and was certainly not at all keen on strays. That was about the time Animals Taiwan was getting started and I thought, “What are these people doing? There should just be a mass cull of all strays.” Fortunately, I never got a podium for my views, and was slowly educated (mainly by following the rescue and recovery of Lazarus here). I talked to them (AT) briefly a few times at their adoption events. By the time Stray Dog was posting dog profiles on forumosa from Central America, I was fully converted.

I’d be interested in compiling a list of good, convincing arguments (here) for people such as the OP is dealing with. Avoiding attacks tends to get better results. People don’t like to be on the defensive. They want to feel good, not bad. So using the facts (bad feeling), but showing them how they can be a part of the solution (good feeling). Some people have excellent persuasive skills. I’d like to learn from you.

I respect people who adopt animals and i also respect the people who know their lifestyles or are not ready to adopt any animal and so refrain from doing so. An animal is for life not for convience or fun.

However, saying this, sandman did have a good idea. You could direct these people to animalstaiwan and give them the idea of fostering one of animalstaiwan’s dogs for the period of them being in taiwan. THey could help with trying to find that particular dog a home and at least everyone will know that once they are going to go back to the US that the dog will still have somewhere to go (back to AT). AT is often looking for foster homes so that we can free up space to take on more rescues and also so the dog can get used to living in a home and be more adoptable in the end.

I have no idea why anyone would take in a dog or cat knowing that that in the end they are going to either dump the dog or hand it over to a shelter which will kill it within 10 days. How do they feel that this is helping an animal.
This animal who was living on the street and who was learning to fend for itself then gets taken into a comfortable home for a period of time and gets used to the good life and then dumped not knowing how to defend itself or find food or just killed.

the world is made up of many kinds of people the best we can hope for is that they understand what they are doing and try to think of a better solution.

Ugh… I hate people like this. They don’t see the impact that their lack of foresight has on a life just because it’s not a human life. You could show them the PETA video showing life inside Taiwanese dog pounds, or maybe convince them to take the dog back home before giving it to a shelter.

These dogs give us everything; their love, their eternal devotion, their companionship, their dependency. How can anyone not be willing to see the desolation that abandonment produces?
:2cents:

[quote=“UKbikerchic”]

I have no idea why anyone would take in a dog or cat knowing that that in the end they are going to either dump the dog or hand it over to a shelter which will kill it within 10 days.[/quote]

I’d say the ideal for people like that is to try to find them a home more so then to send em off to be killed. They have this idea in their minds that they will find a home for their “beloved” pet. Many of them start looking to re-home the animal about three weeks before they leave the island. Then, a week prior to their departures they end up posting adds in which they threaten to dump the animal or send em to a kill shelter. Did you really think you would find a home for a full-grown mutt in three weeks? :s

And worse is the people who will tell you everything you want to hear when adopting, and comes time to leave, they forgotten all about it… :s

Excellent post by Kage. Education is the key, indeed, but it REALLY gets to you after a while. It seems like for every person you help see the reality, three more people who are equally “challenged” show up. Not to mention that 3/4 of the people who think like this will never change their minds regardless what you try to tell them. We’ve had a few posters defend the “superiority” and “importance” of “humans” vs “animals” on this board alone.

I got annoyed to the point where we posted public notices about this and the article is also on our website. Here’s what I think about this: bark-taiwan.org/en/about-bar … -you-part2

marboulette

I know. I’ve tried and tried, but he will persist. He even has a special section for obasan granny panties and 17-litre off-cream heavily frayed brassieres. He’s a weird one to be sure.[/quote]

:fume: That’s MY undies drawer you’ve just told the world about! :raspberry:

Anyway, I love Sandy’s idea to get them to foster. They’d likely make perfect fosters for a couple of pets this year and learn a LOT in the process. Then when they’re back in the real world and done with school, they will then be able to make more mature and responsible decisions about adopting future pets.

This is sad but also very realistic of what happens in Taiwan. I know of a bunch of foreigners who just give their cats to friends when they left…even one close friend of mine has just told me that when she leaves she will give up her 4 year old cats.

Many people think that taking a dog off the street and giving it a home for a couple of years is better than leaving it out there. But I don’t think it is. You don’t know what youre missing till it’s gone.

I made a bad judgement in getting dogs. I didn’t do my homework and thought I could send both home for under NT20 000 (this is what it cost my friend to send 2 dogs to Canada) but turns out it will cost almost NT130 000 to send my dogs. Nevermind finding a place that will allow two dogs back home. So…I’m stuck in Taiwan till they die of old age. They didn’t ask me to change their lives…but they are my responsibility now and I’m not going to pass them onto someone because 1. It will break their hearts and one of mine is already emotionally crippled!!! and 2. This was a ‘mistake’ I made…not them, not some kind-hearted person out there.

I think you’re all being too harsh on these people. The puppy has been abandoned and is hanging around outside, right? What do you want them to do - just leave it there? At least they’re willing to look after it for a year, which will probably include vaccinating, neutering and and housetraining it. And then when they leave they will try to find a home for it, or give it to the pound, where there is a chance someone will adopt it.

Actually in the end they will probably take the dog away with them, anyway.