Spring Break
To love and to cherish
Renee Roman Nose
Issue date: 7/23/08 Section: Forum
We must make a funny sight, me walking with my pets and my roommate Kim's pets.
My harlequin-colored purebred Great Dane always takes the lead, somehow managing to look graceful in spite of her size. Then Kim's part-Tigger, mostly-Jack-Russell-terrier bouncing behind - her basset hound, almost running to keep up with the walk of the others, her wee legs working double time - then me - then our newest addition to the menagerie of our household, Casper, a 10-year old Samoyed with a recent shave job that makes him look more like an overweight polar bear than a dog - and then, last but not least, Willow, our cat.
Willow likes to go for walks with us, lagging 10 to 30 yards behind to pretend that he isn't really walking with us. He'll come when I whistle and has been known to walk sedately and imperiously on a leash when required. Sometimes we call him "Catdog." When I look back and call to him, he looks off to the side of the path, pretending that he is really out here to hunt mice or do something important.
This isn't his story. It is Casper's. He came to me in a way that I suspect is happening all too often these days. His owners are struggling to meet their mortgage payments; one of them has been unemployed for several months and they also have three children.
These are difficult times, and pets are expensive to maintain properly. So we took him in, since we were familiar with him already and he gets along with both Wednesday (the Great Dane) and Willow. I had been planning on adopting another Great Dane or an older dog anyway after reading a recent story about the recent uptick in abandoned older pets. I just didn't realize how close to home that was going to be.
Casper isn't unusual; what has happened to his family is happening all over America and being handled responsibly by some, not so much by others. In contacting animal shelters in the Willamette Valley, I found varying opinions on this matter. According to Barbara Baugnon of the Oregon Humane Society in Salem, there has been "no increase this year over last, but admission is by appointment only, and there are 400 appointments right now, mostly cats." She also said, "Oregonians are known for their love of their pets. If we had to release a pet, we would do this as a last resort."
My harlequin-colored purebred Great Dane always takes the lead, somehow managing to look graceful in spite of her size. Then Kim's part-Tigger, mostly-Jack-Russell-terrier bouncing behind - her basset hound, almost running to keep up with the walk of the others, her wee legs working double time - then me - then our newest addition to the menagerie of our household, Casper, a 10-year old Samoyed with a recent shave job that makes him look more like an overweight polar bear than a dog - and then, last but not least, Willow, our cat.
Willow likes to go for walks with us, lagging 10 to 30 yards behind to pretend that he isn't really walking with us. He'll come when I whistle and has been known to walk sedately and imperiously on a leash when required. Sometimes we call him "Catdog." When I look back and call to him, he looks off to the side of the path, pretending that he is really out here to hunt mice or do something important.
This isn't his story. It is Casper's. He came to me in a way that I suspect is happening all too often these days. His owners are struggling to meet their mortgage payments; one of them has been unemployed for several months and they also have three children.
These are difficult times, and pets are expensive to maintain properly. So we took him in, since we were familiar with him already and he gets along with both Wednesday (the Great Dane) and Willow. I had been planning on adopting another Great Dane or an older dog anyway after reading a recent story about the recent uptick in abandoned older pets. I just didn't realize how close to home that was going to be.
Casper isn't unusual; what has happened to his family is happening all over America and being handled responsibly by some, not so much by others. In contacting animal shelters in the Willamette Valley, I found varying opinions on this matter. According to Barbara Baugnon of the Oregon Humane Society in Salem, there has been "no increase this year over last, but admission is by appointment only, and there are 400 appointments right now, mostly cats." She also said, "Oregonians are known for their love of their pets. If we had to release a pet, we would do this as a last resort."
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