1

Building a Path
To A
Forever Home

Jason Turenchalk
 2

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................3
How Do Dogs End Up at Humane Societies.................................................4
Humane Society Condtions.........................................................................6
Funding Issues.............................................................................................7
Training Issues............................................................................................8
How to Help.................................................................................................9
References...................................................................................................11
 3

Introduction
You have been thinking a lot about bringing in a new member into the family and have

finally made the decision to adopt a puppy. You go online and start looking around for

places to adopt and find breeders that are selling puppies for thousands of dollars but

you cannot afford this so you keep looking for other opportunities to expand your family

and you just happen to come across a humane society. Humane societies are a great

place to help give a dog the home they deserve. Approximately 3.3 million dogs enter

animal shelters yearly with about 1.6 million being adopted, 620,000 returning to their

owners and unfortunately 670,000 being euthanized (ASPCA). Humane societies deal

with a large number of dogs yearly and with increased funds humane societies can

accommodate more dogs and provide them with the care and training needed to ensure

they end up in their forever home.

 4

How Do Dogs End Up at Humane Societies?

Lack of Training
Owning a puppy means you must constantly be training and devoting large portions of

time to ensure the puppy learns basic commands as well as ensuring the puppy is potty

trained. When an owner is not willing to set

aside the time needed to properly train the

puppy problems emerge with bad behavior

and sometimes owners get frustrated very

easily and give the puppy up to humane

societies. (Top Dog Tips)

Lost Dog
Sometimes a dog can escape an enclosed backyard, sneak out a front door, or get very

excited and wonder off and unfortunately get a little too far from home where they can

no longer find their way back home. If a dog is not microchipped and loses its collar the

chances of being found are very small. If a stranger finds the dog they will often bring to

humane society to check for microchip and if the

dog does not have one the humane society may

keep the pup if the stranger does not want to

keep the pup. (Top Dog Tips)

 5

Illness
Just like how people can get very sick so can dogs and sometimes these illnesses can

have very costly treatments and surgeries. If an owner cannot keep up with payments

for treatments, they will sometimes give up their dog to the humane society in hopes

they will be able to take care of the pup. But dogs

can also be given up due to illness in the owner.

Sometimes an owner gets to sick that they can no

longer take care of the pup so they give up the dog

to a humane society in hopes the dog will find

another good family. (Top Dog Tips)

Allergies

When people adopt a puppy especially for the first

time they can get a dog that either sheds or has an

oily fur that the owner can be allergic to.

Therefore, the owner has no choice but to give the

dog up to a humane society since they will be

constantly sneezing, blowing their nose and this is

no way to live. (Top Dog Tips)

 6

Family Problems

Dogs can very easily cause problems in a family as they are a lot of responsibility to take

care of. Families will have to learn to sacrifice spontaneous trips, ensure they are not

away for too long at once, be able to be home to feed and take the dog out to the

bathroom, and ensure the dog is getting a proper amount of exercise. This can put a

strain on relationships and sometimes owners will give up the dog since they were not

willing to make these sacrifices. Another way it

can create problems in a family is if the family

already has another pet and this new dog does not

get along with the other pet. This can cause the

owners to give the dog up as well. (Top Dog Tips)

Humane Society Conditions

Most humane societies are no five-star resorts. They are smaller basic buildings with fenced cages

to keep dogs separate and safe. These cages are roughly only a few feet wide by a few feet long

while some are larger to accommodate for larger dogs. Many times, these dogs are not able to

leave their cage often as there are only few volunteers able to take them out. Therefore, these dogs

spend countless hours in these small cages where

they have a food bowl, a small bed of sorts, and

often end up going the bathroom since there is no

one to take them out. For some dogs a stay at a

 7

humane society may only be a couple days long but others are there for months or even years.

Humane societies do their best to help care for the dogs and ensure healthy and safe living

conditions but due to funding issues it is difficult to provide these dogs the lifestyle they deserve.

Funding Issues
Humane societies mainly run-on donations. Physical

donations of dog food, toys, bowls, collars, leashes,

soaps and other goods. Monetary donations to help

keep the lights on, provide funds for the humane

society to purchase other goods needed to keep dogs

healthy, as well as provide small stipends to those who

run the humane society. Lastly time donations of

volunteers volunteering their time to walk the dogs,

play with the dogs, clean the cages, clean the dogs as well as provide training to these

animals. Since funds and donations fluctuate greatly, this can lead to variable living

conditions for dogs. It is proven by many vetenarians that dogs when dogs switch food

brands and types constantly it leads to stomach problems and dogs getting sick more

often. This is not beneficial for the dog but it is the best that the humane society can do

due to lack of constant funds.

 8

Training Issues
Dogs and puppies end up at humane shelters for a variety of reasons as detailed above

and sometimes it is due to poor training which leaves the humane society a dog that is

not trained and sometimes not even potty trained. Now it is up to the humane society to

help teach the dog basic obedience and potty training that way the dog is more likely to

get adopted. But who is supposed to train these dogs? Volunteers! Most humane

societies rely on volunteers to come and help train these animals. But that does not

mean that these volunteers

are dog trainers. They are

doing the best they can with

what they have. Dogs who

have behavioral issues are

less likely to get adopted

which is where we can

provide the training to help them get adopted.

 9

How to Help

Donate Time

Time is one of the easiest things to donate. Take an hour a day, a couple hours a week or

even just a day a month and stop by your local humane society and donate your time!

Humane societies rely on people donating their time to help keep kennels clean, dogs

fed, the humane society itself clean, take dogs for walks, improve human interaction

with dogs and even more. Without people donating their time, humane societies cannot

run and truly benefit the pups there. The more time you can donate the better! Or get a

group together and split some time or all come at the same time! Humane societies

absolutely love having people and the dogs love meeting all the new friends!

Donate Money and Goods

Maybe you don’t live near a humane society or you know if you step into one you will

end up adopting every single dog there, what can you do to help? You can donate money

which will allow the humane society to purchase food, toys, cleaning supplies, and pay

the bills for the humane society. Without money humane societies cannot stay open.

You can also donate to adopt a dog! This means you would pay for their adoption and

then when a family comes to adopt they find out that the puppy is free! If you don’t want

to donate money and you want to donate something of physical substance, humane

societies would love any kind of food, bones, treats, toys, bedding, towels, brushes, and

cleaning supplies! This allows for dogs to remain happy and healthy while they are at the

humane society!
 10

Donations Do Help

Through donations of time, money and goods, humane societies can provide better

living and training environments for dogs which will help these dogs get adopted to their

forever homes! Humane societies need your help! They run on donations and the

kindhearted people who help out daily. Through your help we can ensure humane

societies are staffed 24/7 with staff that are qualified in either dog training or have a

background of working with dogs. We can provide dogs with proper nutrition to ensure

they are healthy before getting adopted. We can provide dogs with proper training to

ensure that a family is getting a well behaved and potty trained dog. Healthy dogs who

are well trained are more likely to be adopted and more likely to not return to a humane

society. Through greater funding and more volunteering we will be able to change the

stigma around humane societies and make it a place where dogs can come to find there

forever home.
 11

References
www.oconeehumane.org

https://www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/ending-dog-meat

https://topdogtips.com/reasons-why-dogs-end-up-in-shelters/

https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

https://humanesocietyofmacomb.org/surrendered-pets/

Reaktion Book: Dogs