You can't save every dog....but which do you try to help?

I live across from a huge field and when Taiwanese see a huge field they decide it’s a good place to abandon their dog. And to be honest they’re right. Most of the strays around here last awhile…and most get at least partially adopted by people in the neighborhood.

But sometimes you see a dog that needs help or a permanent home. I can’t take advantage of people like Stray Dog’s kindness by posting every pathetic dog in these forums in hopes he’ll come and get them.

So this morning when I saw a regular stray a beautiful big all red dog. With a great personality…with a broken leg. I didn’t think too much of it. It’s a clean break…and once it set’s the leg should be keepable…but it’s a big dog…and chances of it finding a home are slim. So I didn’t plan on doing anything about it.

Then later this afternoon I ran into someone I had to do something about. Unfortunately with my home full up…the best I could do was take pics and post them here. It’s a puppy whose leg was recently cut off. You can’t tell in the pics but the wound is still open. I can see a bit of bone. The wound is incredably small…smaller than the tip of your pinky finger…but in that spot I can see bone and red around the bone.

Here are some pics as well as a 21mb vid I shot with the camera I got for Christmas.

This below pic is funny. I was trying to take a pic of the 3-leg dog and his sibbling jumps into the pic and starts performing.

Video: savefile.com/files/4320677

How easily can you catch the pup, and can you get him to Taipei?

[quote]
You can’t save every dog…but which do you try to help?[/quote]That’s a good question. I often wonder about that too. There are so many of them, which one to help?

I think it depends on a lot of different factors. Size, breed, personality, age, etc. and of course what resources and infrastructures you have at your disposition to help.

Your concern and thoughts alone make a difference mordeth.(Not to mention the two stray pooches you already adopted) Hat’s off! :notworthy:

bobepine

Seems odd though that we’re more willing to help the puppy with a missing leg. And less likely to help it’s siblings. What do we tell it’s brothers and sisters…“Yes, I’m taking away your brother to find him a good home…if you ever lose a leg maybe you’ll have a chance at life too.”

I went by there this morning the pups numbers were cut in half. I didn’t see the one with the missing leg either.

And why are we more likely to help a small pup when it’s personality is as of yet unknown. There are some dogs 1 or 2 years old that are very friendly and loving. Wouldn’t it make more sense to help them? I’m mainly just talking to myself here…don’t mind me.

This morning when I was driving into town, traffic was backed up in an alley where there’s never any traffic - there were about five cars in front of me honking non-stop. After a few minutes of this, I got out to see what was going on. Turns out there was a stray dog standing in the middle of the alley up front. He was just standing there, not moving at all. He didn’t look particularly defiant or anything, but just stood there completely nonplussed. He didn’t seem to be injured or anything - he did look really old - and he wasn’t moving for anyone or anything. I tried calling to him to no avail. When I walked toward him he bared his teeth and growled at me. I figured I was probably going to get bitten but didn’t know what else to do. I talked to him in low tones and kept moving closer to him. He sat down, and I moved around behind him so he’d have to keep turning his head to see where I was. Finally, he stood up and barked and snarled at me before slowly trotting off. On the way back to my car, the guy in the front car rolled his window down and said “Xie xie” to me.

What the hell is one supposed to do in a situation like that? I didn’t want to see the poor dog get run over, and I couldn’t exactly get him into my car and try to find him a home.

[quote=“Mordeth”]Seems odd though that we’re more willing to help the puppy with a missing leg. And less likely to help it’s siblings. What do we tell it’s brothers and sisters…“Yes, I’m taking away your brother to find him a good home…if you ever lose a leg maybe you’ll have a chance at life too.”

I went by there this morning the pups numbers were cut in half. I didn’t see the one with the missing leg either.

And why are we more likely to help a small pup when it’s personality is as of yet unknown. There are some dogs 1 or 2 years old that are very friendly and loving. Wouldn’t it make more sense to help them? I’m mainly just talking to myself here…don’t mind me.[/quote]

It’s not quite like talking to yourself if you hit the submit button. :wink:

You mentioned that the three-legged pooch had parts of its bone exposed. That is likely to get infected if not already infected and will basically kill the dog in a very painful way. Hence it should be helped first without hesitation.

Younger pups are easier to place in a home as many people prefer getting a dog at a younger age. Hence trying to find them a home first also makes sense. It costs money and time to do these things and while I fully understand your point of view when it comes to personalities, that is still only one of many factors to consider when choosing which pet to help.

bobepine

What Bobepine said very well.

You raise excellent questions, Mordeth, questions which bring to mind the agonizing decisions of triage.

Why help the puppy with the missing leg? Because it needs more help – in addition to questions of infection, on only three legs, it’s at a disadvantage in terms of finding food, avoiding cars, and defending itself against other dogs.

Why help pups instead of older dogs? Yes, they’re easier to place. But don’t be too cynical about that. First, the pups can’t defend themselves as well, and haven’t had the chance to prove their street smarts in terms of finding food and avoiding cars. Second, if a group has a limited amount of resources for caring for dogs, compare taking in and successfully placing a larger number of pups versus taking in and sheltering, long-term, a larger number of older dogs. In the latter case, resources end up used to house and feed animals that are not easily placed, and accumulate in numbers. Even though those animals are just as deserving of help, the result is that the group gets to help a smaller number of animals in the long run.

But being soft-hearted, most animal rescue groups probably end up taking in some mixture of these…

[quote=“Dragonbones”]
But being soft-hearted, most animal rescue groups probably end up taking in some mixture of these…[/quote]Fair enough and that’s when you need to find “soft-hearted” people like mordeth who will actually consider a dog’s personality over its looks, breed, age, etc. A rare “breed” that is. :wink:

bobepine

Well to answer my own question “Which to help?”…I think my answer would be…help those that ask for it.

I saw the puppy with the missing leg again today…so it’s still there. But to be honest I don’t think I’m going to spend the time and money to get it to Taipei…Why not? Because when I go there it just barks at me and seems very content to be where it is.

As opposed to this dog: forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 268#483268 …which just continued to call out begging for some positive attention.

My first dog was a fat puppy waddling along the side of the road…and I was riding by with some friends on large sports bikes. But it chased after us barking (calling out)…and when I stopped it ran up and sat near me. So I dropped it into my backpack and continued along with the other bikers.

My second dog was a stray that practically pushed her way into my house. She’d wait outside my door for me to leave my house…and then she’d follow me for as long as she could as I’d head to work. Then when I’d get home she’d actually run into my house if I didn’t close the door quick enough.

The exception was a starved Terrier that was walking in the middle of a busy road in the pouring rain. It looked like it had a couple of days left before it died. I thought the act of picking it up would probably break bones…it was that skinny. That dog is a happy fat terrier now…or so I hear.

It’s still tough though…maybe I should just switch over to eating dog instead of caring about them…it’d be a lot easier. Kinda like how I stopped complaining about people breaking traffic laws…and now I myself run every red light on my way to work. If you can’t beat them join them…right? I wouldn’t really start eating dogs…just saying it isnt’ easy caring…and not much good comes from it.

Some does, which is better than none. Don’t lose heart – you ARE making a difference.