Dogs deserve better than rejection
Unfortunately, this message has not saved many pups from being given as gifts at this time of year.
Clarissa Baldwin is the woman who came up with this phrase, to rethink gift giving. Clarissa has just retired after forty years of dedication to the Dog’s Trust. But more from Clarissa later.
Dublin’s Dog’s Trust (DT) in Finglas has re-homed 800 dogs in 2014, neutered some 5,840 dogs and provided free education workshops for some 45,000 children. Along with many other animal welfare organisations in Ireland, they continue to struggle with the tidal wave of unwanted and abandoned animals.
On just one day last January, Dog’s Trust received 51 calls from members of the public looking to surrender unwanted dogs. In hope that they could bring the Dog is for Life message home this year, DT came up with an innovative campaign of 51 cardboard cutouts along Dublin’s busy Grand Canal.
Printed on the cutouts were some of the reasons given by people as to why they could no longer keep their dogs. “He’s too old”. “I can’t cope with a puppy’s behaviour”. “He’s too much work”. “We don’t love him any more,” are just some reasons given.
DT’s Executive Director Mark Beazley says “We really wish to encourage those thinking of getting a dog to take due consideration at any time of year and especially at Christmas. Very often homes can be quite frenetic during the festive season and it may not be the best time for a dog, especially a puppy, to be introduced. We would encourage people who have made the decision to get a dog to consider adopting from your local rescue centre, local pound, or Dog’s Trust.”
As readers will know, I am a huge fan of dogs. They are loyal and constant companions whose intelligence and sense of fun never ceases to impress me, and they can brighten even the darkest winter morning when, without them, a brisk walk might be the last thing on your mind.
And when asked, dogs perform some amazing tasks for their owners such as warning of an impending epileptic seizure, scenting out cancerous growths or becoming a lifeline for an isolated, autistic child. Dogs are being trained to care for people in an increasing number of ways, and what’s more, seem to derive enormous pleasure from doing it.
So it doesn’t seem too much to ask that dogs get fairly treated and are not taken on by people who haven’t given due consideration to what responsible dog ownership means. Dogs feel loss and abandonment keenly. When my elderly Golden Retriever died, Daisy the Saint Bernard wouldn’t eat and moped for over a week. There was no consoling her. Dogs also suffer from cold and malnutrition and can’t understand why their lives have turned out so badly. Neither are they able to do much about it, of course.
I have tremendous respect for those brave souls who work on the front line of animal welfare and sometimes wonder how they keep going.
Clarissa Baldwin joined Dog’s Trust UK as an Information Officer in 1974 and has recently retired.
She told me about some of her experiences.
“ Well, I turned up for my interview at the National Canine Defence League where I was invited to sit on the tattiest sofa I’d ever seen, one that seemingly every dog in London had lifted his leg on. But I was thrilled to be hired on a six-month contract to create public relations for the charity. I couldn’t have imagined that 40 years later I’d still be here! The man who hired me was Colonel Alexander RoosmaleCocq, known to everyone as Rosie, an amazing man with an absolute enthusiasm for the job. It was he who introduced the non-destruction policy in 1967, which was a pretty radical idea at the time. There have been a lot of heartaches of course, but much joy and happiness with stories of rehabilitation and rehoming.”
“I’d done some public relations work and I’d also worked as a model. There were only 12 staff at that time and the office had bare floorboards and no heating. The typewriters were on the fourth floor and the kettle was in the basement. It was so cold that I had to type wearing mittens. But the atmosphere was much the same as now, informal, friendly and everyone tremendously hardworking.”
“One I’ll never forget was back in 1976 when I took a call from Thames Valley police saying that a puppy farm was about to close down right now and could we come and take all the dogs? We hired a lorry and set off into the night with absolutely no idea of how many dogs we’d find. We worked with torches and managed to rescue all 50 dogs. I’m pleased to say that all were rehomed, except a three legged German shepherd we called Tripod, who became one of our Sponsor Dogs.”
“Well, I’m privileged to have been able to work in the best job in the world for the last forty years.
I’ve never had a Monday morning where I have wanted to turn over and go back to sleep but it’s time for somebody a little younger to make all those hundreds of decisions. I’ll miss the work, the people and the dogs immensely but I know that Dogs Trust will be in very good hands. I’ll remain a member of the charity’s Board of Trustees though. And I’ll continue to work as part of the Greyhound Forum. Of all dogs, it strikes me that Greyhounds are terribly exploited by those who seek to make cash from them.”
