Licensing and microchipping for Butters

I finally went to the county's one stop clinic and licensed and microchipped Butters.

During most of my ownership of Butters (last year), I thought the county forcing people to license their pets is tantamount to extortion. I didn't see the purpose of it at all. I don't care to help offset their fees. Afterall, most of their funding already comes from other sources, why should I have to pay some more? The only argument that made sense to me is if Butters somehow got lost (which I can't really imagine), the shelters might be of help.

With that, I periodically get the perverse urge to browse through the pet section of CL. I know I can't adopt or foster any animal. Yet, I like reading about their stories and looking at their pictures. I think it helps me appreciate Butters and want to make his little life the best I can. The stories are a constant reminder to never be one of those people who gives up their pet due to moving, work, school, or other excuses. Humans are infinitely adaptable. I'm sure we can find ways to deal with the problem if we tried hard enough. I get the feeling that mostly people just don't see the dogs as a deserving member of the family. I can't imagine giving up a child just because it takes up too much time, so I don't see why we should give up pets because they've become a burden. If anything, any behavior problems are the human's fault with lack of training and/or exercise. However, with that said, I do want to leave people the benefit of the doubt as owners pass away or are sick and can longer fulfill their obligations towards their pets.

For the past few days, I've been glued to rescue, shelter and CL pet sites. I read one post on CL that has since been deleted (I can't find it again) from someone claiming to work as a manager at a shelter giving a behind the scenes look at what happens when people surrender their pet. S/he described the sadness of dogs left in kennels, some succumbing to illnesses. Comparatively speaking, very few are adopted, despite being purebred or not. S/he went through the process of euthanizing an animal and its disposal after. I don't know how much of this is true. However, it did make me feel that if nothing else, $14/year for licensing that goes towards helping to keep shelter animals alive even just a little bit longer is worth it.

So I took Butters to the Gaines St shelter (had the hardest darn time finding it because it was a tiny street right before the police department that looked like a drive way). The people were very nice, didn't give me any crap at all about why I'm licensing him now, almost four months after his rabies shot. They took Butters away for microchipping, so I don't know if he yelped. When he came out a few minutes later, he looked none the worse for the experience with just a little bit of blood at the injection site. The whole process was fairly quick despite quite a few other dogs there as well.

Since I was there, I filled out an application to volunteer with them, walking dogs, or whatever else they need. My main goal is to make the lives of the dogs/cats there better while they are there. With that, I have an orientation on August 25th. =D I'm quite excited.