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Why some dogs are more readily adopted than others
Beautiful Bella has a sweet nature and is good with people
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Beautiful Bella has a sweet nature and is good with people. (PAWS via The Star/ANN) (PAWS via The Star/ANN)
Beautiful Bella has a sweet nature and is good with people. (PAWS via The Star/ANN)
To the eyes of love, all pets are equal, but for dogs in a shelter looking for a forever home, there are some cruel realities.
Looks are everything. If you've got a pedigree profile, you go to the top of the list, whether you are a purebred Retriever or just lucky enough to have long sexy fur like a Silky Terrier. If you're very cute, as in being a puppy, you are more adoptable than adult dogs. In other words: If you are common as muck and adult, your chances of being picked up are very poor.
So I would have thought that Bella, a pedigree bulldog, who is super-social, sweet and very good with families, would be snapped up in a split second. Instead, she's been sitting in PAWS shelter for the last six months. When I found out the reason why, it shocked me.
I got to know about Bella last week when I called Edward Lim, the shelter manager for PAWS.
'I've got a bulldog,' Lim said. 'She adorable, easy to look after, affectionate, trained, and when she plays, she does this lion dance! She's so lovely that I haven't dared name her.'
You see, Lim has four dogs in the house already: His own five-year-old Rottweiler called Ping and a 10-year-old mutt called Wong; Casey, a three-month-old stray he's fostering; and Hugo, a big Lab who's visiting while his family is travelling.
'If I give her a name, I'll want to keep her and I really, really can't,' Lim admitted.
When he sent me her picture, she immediately looked like a Bella to me, but I didn't say that to him.
'OK, so what's her story?' I asked. 'How did she end up in PAWS?'
It turns out that Bella was dropped off in October last year but at that time she was a mess. The poor girl had mange, so her fur was dropping off in patches.Also, she had a 'cherry eye', a condition where the third eyelid swells up and the eye becomes swollen and red.
Mange and cherry eye are common issues and easily treated. However, whoever had Bella either couldn't or wouldn't take care of it.
Very luckily for Bella, PAWS got her fixed up. It took meds for the mange, an operation for the cherry eye and six months of living with Lim to get Bella looking good again.
'She's easy to live with, doesn't mess up the house, but oh my god, does she snore!' Lim revealed. 'She's really loud!'
Bella was well enough to go back to the shelter in May this year, and she's been there every since. I'll bet by now you're wondering why this paragon is not with a new family. The reason is simple: Bella's adoption fee is RM800.
Ouch, right? I thought so too but then I thought again and I wanted to kick myself.
An everyday bulldog costs minimum RM1,200 and that's for a puppy with no vaccinations, who hasn't been spayed and who has to be trained. For a properly bred bulldog with all the bells and whistles, including chip and kennel club registration, you're more likely looking at RM4,000.
Now, Bella has been spayed (which costs RM300), vaccinated (RM45), which needs to be repeated twice, so that's RM135. Plus, there was the operation for her eye (another RM200), and the mange treatments (also RM200), which brings the total to RM835 ' and we haven't factored in the food, or the hundreds of hours of care that went into getting Bella on her paws again.
So, why the horror at the price? I'm kicking myself but actually it's my own experience that set my low expectations and made me gasp.
When I see charity bazaar or charity sale, I automatically expect to get things cheap.
This is because I grew up with jumble sales where you can buy 10 secondhand books for the price of one new one in the shop, and where women donate cakes that are then sold at about half the rate of the ones in the bakery.
The people who run these charity events have the idea, 'pack in as many people as you can and hope they all spend a little money each'.
Of course, there are the fancy events, where you spend hundreds or thousands for attending a charity dinner or lunch but the economics of that kind of fundraiser are different.
For one thing, you need to invest a fortune in a fancy restaurant, and the pool of people who can afford that kind of money are few, so you need to network. Also, you need a star attraction to pack people in, and if you have a famous singer or entertainer, they charge fees. For charities that run on a shoestring, that kind of fundraising often just isn't possible, so they go with the standard, 'pack them in' deal.
So there it is. That's Bella's story and my reaction to it. As kicking myself isn't very useful, I thought I should tell you. I suspect my reaction was not unusual. I'm therefore hoping that by sharing this with you, you will share it with others and that together we can inspire change.
A short history of bulldogs
Bulldogs are among the most popular pure-breeds in Britain and the United States because this pet is the popular national mascot for Britain as well as the US Marine Corps.
The wrinkled face is iconic, as is the heavily muscled body. Before the 1800s, this dog was bred to fight bears and to herd cattle; however, the modern breed is much smaller.
Their reputation is for strength and determination, which is why they are such a popular symbol for soldiers ' funnily enough, though, this breed is actually known for its sweet nature.
Grooming is simple as they have a short coat, but you need to keep an eye on the wrinkled fur, especially in a tropical climate, to make sure that small scratches and pockets of moisture don't lead to pimples and skin problems.
Sadly, the popularity of the breed means it's also overbred, or inbred. Pedigree bulldogs live eight to 10 years compared to the average canine lifespan of 12 to 15 years. Cherry eye and hip problems are common in bulldogs, which is why some people prefer a cross.
A happy bulldog is one who has plenty of walks and an active social life. Bulldogs are family dogs who like to be with people.
They do have a tendency to greediness, so you need to be able to resist that wrinkled pleading look. (kes)(+)
