Raven was part of a family for four years until the family moved, leaving her confined in the backyard for nearly two weeks. A neighbor finally noticed her and brought her to SCRAPS. She is just one of hundreds of dogs that are left to fend for themselves when a pet owner’s circumstances change.
Summer is a busy season for moving and SCRAPS would like make sure dog owners bring their healthy, adoptable dogs to SCRAPS rather than abandon them. “The primary mission of SCRAPS is to deal with animals without owners,” said Nancy Hill, the Regional Director of SCRAPS. “However, because of the success of our dog adoption program and the licensing of dogs by owners, we are now able to help dog owners rehome their pets if our shelter has space available.”
Dogs relinquished to SCRAPS must be in good health without behavioral problems such as biting, growling or food aggression. Unfortunately at this time, owner released cats cannot be accepted because of the lack of space.
According to the American Humane Association, the most common reason why people relinquish or give away their dogs is because their place of residence does not allow pets (29 percent for dogs) Other common reasons are not enough time, divorce and death. Behavior issues each make up the reasoning for 10 percent of relinquishments.
Another recent study showed that 96 percent of dogs relinquished for behavior problems never received any behavior training. If owners are experiencing behavior issues, SCRAPS has information on coping with the most common problems, and free dog training classes help people work through issues. SCRAPS also has a food bank available to anyone who needs it and information on re-homing a pet yourself if you’d like.
If someone would like to adopt Raven, she is available only through our Rescue Department at scrapsrescue@spokanecounty.org. She is very sweet, well behaved, potty trained and loves other dogs. Her perfect family has someone who stays home a great deal and has patience to help her get through the ordeal she has experienced.
SOURCE – SCRAPS release, June 2016
