Well I've been reduced to tears, so so shall you be! I'm not suffering alone!

'Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town,
Every shelter is full - we are lost but not found,
Our numbers are hung on our kennels so bare,
We hope every minute that someone will care,
They'll come to adopt us and give us the call,
"Come here, Max and Sparkie - come fetch your new ball!!
But now we sit here and think of the days..
We were treated so fondly - we had cute, baby ways,
Once we were little, then we grew and we grew -
Now we're no longer young and we're no longer new.

So out the back door we were thrown like the trash,
They reacted so quickly - why were they so rash?
We "jump on the children:, "don't come when they call",
We "bark when they leave us", climb over the wall.

We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed,
Now we suffer the consequence of the errors THEY made.
If only they'd trained us, if only we knew...
We'd have done what they asked us and worshiped them, too.
We were left in the backyard, or worse -let to roam-
Now we're tired and lonely and out of a home.
They dropped us off here and they kissed us good-bye...

"Maybe someone else will give you a try."
So now here we are, all confused and alone...
In a shelter with others who long for a home.
The kind workers come through with a meal and a pat,
with so many to care for, they can't stay to chat,
They move to the next kennel, giving each of us cheer...

We know that they wonder how long we'll be here.
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads..
Of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds.
Then we wake to see sad eyes, brimming with tears --
Our friends filled with emptiness, worry, and fear.

If you can't adopt us and there's no room at the Inn --
Could you help with the bills and fill our food bin?
We count on your kindness each day of the year --
Can you give more than hope to everyone here?
Please make a donation to pay for the heat...
And help get us something special to eat.
The shelter that cares for us wants us to live,
And more of us will, if more people will give

Author unknown

Oh Lotti! Now all my mascara's run. Sniff sniff.

I do often wonder whether closing all the shelters would force people to take their decision to ditch their dog more seriously :(

We allow kids to run riot in a 'they'll grow out of it' sort of way, and now we expect dogs to somehow grow into fantastically social and well behaved animals without us providing any guidance :suspect: The solution to finding your dog isn't psychic seems to be 'rescue' :rant:

I look forward to the day when it's a legal requirement for every dog to be chipped before it is sold/rehomed, and a trace kept of dog owners. I've heard too many stories in the last fortnight that suggest that it's the same people over and over generating 'rescue' dogs, so I also believe you should have to have a licence to own a dog - not a 'dog licence', but an owner permit

There is a tale (tail) in which a family took on a retired greyhound. All the pictures they had seen of a greyhound showed it with its tail down. They took one home and as it settled in and became happy, it's tail rose and it began to wag! It was returned because the parents did not want the children to see its bottom!! I kid you not!!!

Happy end to story. Said greyhound was taken on by good friends of mine and is a happy member of a greyhound trio - and no one cares if she 'flashes' now and again.

Of course there are those who shouldn't be allowed to breed at all :roll:

Oh what a poem - how sad
Can we put it on the rain rescue site?

I assume so! The author is unknown, I just got it from another site so I don't see why you couldn't put it on your site :thumbsup: