Clock sadly ticks for many shelter dogs

Lady, photo courtesy Petfinder.com

October is "Adopt a Shelter Dog Month," a time to reflect on the magnitude of unwanted dogs and the efforts to find them homes.

And the statistics are sobering.

• An estimated six to eight million dogs and cats enter shelters every year.
• Only about ten percent of them have been spayed or neutered.
• Most stray intakes have no proper identification.
• Five out of ten shelter dogs have to be euthanized, usually because no one wants to adopt them. This forces shelter workers to make heartbreaking decisions as to who lives and who dies.*

The staff at Half Way Home Pet Adoptions (4400 Raytown Rd., KCMO) knows what that feels like. Although the shelter is privately managed, it's still KCMO's city shelter and cannot turn away animals brought in daily by city animal control officers and KCMO residents.

Half Way Home does all it can to place these stray or unwanted pets, including working with breed rescue groups. But as is the case with many city shelters, the number of intakes is higher than the number of available homes. The euthanasia rate, therefore, is high.

Lady is one of the dogs currently at Half Way Home. She is a 9-year-old Boxer who just lost her family. And she is devastated. An old dog like her won't make it at the shelter. Lady needs a peaceful and loving home where she can finish her days with dignity. She could even have a few more years ahead of her if someone would only give her a chance. Her life shouldn't end in a shelter.
 

Bourbon, photo courtesy Petfinder.com

Bourbon is a beautiful American Staffordshire Terrier/American Bulldog mix – an outgoing, friendly goofball. He appears to be a great obedience candidate, and he loves life. But life is growing short for Bourbon. Because Half Way Home has so many Pit Bull-type dogs and they're so hard to place, their time at the shelter is extremely limited.

Twizler, photo courtesy Petfinder.com

And then there's Twizler, an Australian Cattle Dog mix who's been at the shelter for way too long. This adorable sweetheart wants to stay by your side and look up at you, wondering what you expect from her next. The folks at Half Way Home love her and are doing everything they can to stretch her remaining time. Unfortunately they're running out of options. Too many dogs are coming into the shelter. And so Twizler's homeless, sad existence may soon come to an end.

All shelter dogs want is one more chance at a loving, forever home. And so to anyone who wants a dog as a pet and is planning to buy it from a pet store or out of the newspaper, I say this. Go to a shelter first. Look at those pleading eyes. Because buying puppies means there are fewer homes for shelter dogs who need one.

And for some of them, the clock is ticking.

Today's "KC Pooch Pics" features more dogs at Half Way Home who urgently need new families. If you have room in your heart and home for one of them, please call the shelter immediately at (816) 784-4001 or (816) 784-4002. All information on the dogs and corresponding pictures were provided by the shelter via Petfinder.com.

Please note that on the right side of the Kansas City Dogs Examiner homepage and every Kansas City Dogs Examiner story, there are lists of area animal shelters and breed-specific rescue organizations. All of them have animals in need of homes.

Adopt a dog. You'll save a life … and change your own.

*Compiled from statistics provided by the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

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