Alert! For anyone thinking of adopting from a rescue organization. Please read...
Beware of the contract you are asked to sign!
I was going to adopt a dog this past weekend, but the deal fell through because I was impertinent enough to dispute some of the terms of agreement. I actually had an anxiety attack today when I realized what I might have gotten myself into. Here are the terms I disputed:
1. "Do you agree that the animal will not be allowed outdoors without proper supervision?" I was told that I could not even allow my dog to be in my fenced-in back yard unless I was, at all times, in the immediate vicinity to provide supervision.
2. I was told that my dog was to be "kept indoors except for periods of exercise in a fenced-in area or on a leash." Periods of exercise? Note: the dog I was considering adopting was a shepherd/lab mix, a large dog that needs to have more than "periods" of exercise outdoors.
But that's not the worst of it! Beware of this phrase, "...the adopter hereby accepts possession, legal guardianship and responsibility for the animal referenced in this contract..."
My research disclosed that there is legislation that has been or is being pushed to change the term 'pet owner' with the term 'guardian'.
If you are the guardian you are not the owner of the pet. You are only the caretaker. In the contract I have noted above, the rescue organization has a claim on your pet, as long as the animal lives. They can prevent you from freely choosing what you feel is the most appropriate medication, treatment or lifestyle for your pet.
Please see this link for more on the subject:
https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/owner-guardian-ahi.aspx
Please....pay attention to what you are signing.
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you own, like we used to own people or we now own Toyotas. Women have been objectified for years, and the damage done to them is incalculable. Pets are objectified and we kill 4-6 million every year and seem to think it's just a normal way of doing business.
One is easily seen, the other seems to be a matter of opinion among some.
My opinion - yes, I think language makes a difference, and beings I think are valuable aren't objects. We don't call women "girls" and I don't think we should think of pets like we do the blender we just got at Walmart. Been around this for awhile. It's simply a fact that people equate pets, and children, and...(sorry, I digress) to nothing but "things they have". And when it's time to move one, we live in a culture where we discard "things" to make that possible. The animal "shelters" - many nothing more than mass production applied to animal killing, a lot of it not nearly as painless as people might think - stands as a packed full testament to those failures. I think the idea that animals are "less than" and can be "owned" rather than cared for goes a long way back through our culture of disrespect toward others, and is a mistake we need to rectify to be called human.
I like the idea of calling pet owners guardians. It gets people to thinking about their role, as well as taking care of the animal, not just throwing them in the backyard and wondering where they are the next time they open the door. Amazing how much that happens.
Let me suggest a thought experiment. Say you are one of these on this board who write those loving testimonials to their friends, their pets. Think of what it would be like, in a big city, alone except for two dogs that have been your companions for 10 years. Through abuse by a spouse, a job that cheated you, a car wreck which dropped you into poverty for the past couple years, and how you have to go to a facility and get rid of your friends.
Those two pairs of eyes are literally the only friendly ones you have seen in as long as you can remember.
You know no one, and you can't travel. You have to either drop them off at the shelter where they will be killed, (that's what happens to old dogs) or find someone and come up with some kind of agreement, administered by a trusted person, that will safeguard your dogs to some extent.
Now multiply that problem by a few million pets. Every year. Are you handing them to a loving family, or two adults and a kid operating as a front that are going to sell them to a research facility, or use them in dog fighting? You can't tell who those folks are by talking or asking questions. Does the person have 31 dogs at home already? Saw one of those.
What do you do? Easy to take shots at it all, like people do politicians, but most have no real answers. So the rescues do the best they can, and other people offer complaints and little else, except for when they need to surrender their dog and insist that you take them, even if you are over full and have no budget, because they can't stand to take them to the shelter to be killed. It's a lot like teabaggers complaining about the government while picking up their social security check. 
It's a lot different from the inside of a place that is trying to fight against all the forces arrayed against pets, especially dogs and cats. Kind of a losing battle, since a lot of that stems from a basic lack of respect for each other in our culture, and folks treat their animals like they have been treated.
