Taking Stock part 2

Sometime tomorrow I have to go out and pick up a few little groceries. As I make up my list, I can't help wondering what has gone up in price this week. My favourite coffee has slowly but surely nearly doubled in price this year, as have a variety of other staples.
Honestly, I can't really complain at the checkout because I really get off easy. Even allowing for the fact that I'm an empty nester, there are a dozen different things that make me a poor consumer from the big grocery store's perspective. It isn't just the garden I grow... but its all the other bits such as the fact that most of my foodstuffs either come from our local health food store or the local farmers market.
Still, every time I do go to the big grocery store with my very small list, my heart just goes out to anyone with a family. When I was a young mother, I would have had cardiac arrest if the total at the till topped three hundred dollars ... and now its quite common to see while one's waiting in line.
Wages around here certainly haven't gone up proportionately ... so it just stands to reason that for some families .... including middle class families ... there are choices being made in the budgets.
No matter how expensive things get, most families are still going to want a 'normal' life.... the house and kids and car and yes... the pets.
In light of this, there has NEVER been a better time for shelters and rescue groups to promote their adoptables. Aren't they doing that already?
Lets look at the status quo .... if one is looking to adopt a nice family dog.
First a person fills in an application. Where do they get the application? If they are part of the very small percentile that go to the animal welfare sites, they know they can download the application. In most cases, they need to have windows. If not, they need enough web savvy to work through the knots of converting the document.
If there is a shelter in their area, it is possible for them to visit there ... but in some cases they won't be able to meet the animals unless they fill in an application.
Assuming they get that far .... their application will need to be screened and references checked. At that point, if they have a good history with their vet and all the criteria have been met, then the ball can start rolling.
OR ... they did a google search and found this incredible search tool called Petfinder and punch in their postal code for a search. Bear in mind that this will only let them know about the pets that have actually been listed on Petfinder. If the shelter or group already had a preapproved adopter waiting in the wings, the pet simply doesn't get listed. But this is not (yet) another petfinder rant.... that's a separate topic that will be revisited in other posts.
Now maybe the family didn't meet the criteria. The criteria are as widely varied as the groups and shelters are.... in some cases it can be as simple as a yard without a fence, buying grocery store food or not believing in vaccines. Maybe both parents have to go out to work and no one is home all day.
Will that mean they won't get a pet? Of course not. It just means they won't adopt a pet. If they are first time pet owners and go to a pet store or backyard breeder, they could be working without a net and in time could add to the homeless pet problem.
Its important to remember that every pet that is adopted from rescue is part of the solution to the homeless pet problem. Eating food from the vets isn't as important as being loved and safe. Nor should the fact that pets from reputable rescues are altered be overlooked.
Anyone who works food services will tell you that we Canadians don't normally complain at the source. If someone didn't like their dinner in a restaurant .... they normally pay their bill and simply do not go back again. Nor does it stop there because in time most of their friends, family and neighbours will also get an earful about their experience.
When my old computer calved and I went shopping for my laptop, I naturally went to all the stores in town. In one store, there was one clerk on duty and he ignored me to wait on the fellows with the military haircut. Did I buy my laptop there? Of course not... I wound up getting it at the store where someone cheerfully made as much time as needed to discuss the possibilities.
At the end of the day, its important to remember that the aim is to find loving homes for all the adoptables. Its almost a fringe benefit that the process could serve as another form of humane education.
Years ago, when my daughter was little, I bought a Labrador Retriever from a reputable breeder in Ontario. It was a fairly simple process. I looked her up with the local kennel club and phoned for an appointment. We had an interview, then I met Max's parents and finally I met Max.
She wouldn't let him go home with me unless I purchased a crate, which she had available onsite. When she explained why, and how to use it, even though I had never heard of crate training before it made perfect sense to me. We filled out his CKC paperwork for her to mail in, she gave me a good book on puppies, some food and Max and I and my daughter went home.
Max moved with me on postings and was loved everyday of his eighteen years.
I've acquired a lot of dog experience over the years, but when McG came here I was still grateful for the Scottie specific info that Jeanette shared with me.
If potential adopters don't know it all, part of the pet adoption process should be to educate them instead of out and out refusing them, eh? And before the keyboards catch on fire, I am not saying that everyone should be automatically approved. What I am saying is that it is in the best interests of the animals to make the process as easy and friendly and helpful as possible.
At the end of the day .... most pet owners are just like their pets .... they aren't born knowing it all and sometimes need a little help working through the knots.
What time is it? Its time to remember that the only way to 'undercut' the free online ads and the pet stores is to keep the adoption process as simple as possible.