Aboriginal Community & Animal Advocacy Connection

Keep Your Dog Safe From Heat Stroke This Summer!

Make sure your dog always has access to shade and water to help them keep cool.

This applies anywhere, including Canada. Impulse buying pets.

Now that ten states have passed laws to end the sale of puppies in pet stores, we're often asked whether that will really have an impact, since consumers may purchase a puppy online instead. But our research has shown that many pet store purchases are impulse buys. People who are shopping at other stores nearby might be drawn into a pet shop "just to look." Once inside, they are confronted with an unbelievably cute dog, and very convincing and misleading sales tactics, including promises of easy payment plans. (More details in comment section).

Sadly, there are VASTLY MORE HORRIBLE, CRUEL, AND IRRESPONSIBLE POS OWNERS than there are truly dangerous dogs. 😢

And the heartbreaking truth is that dogs don’t choose their owners.

They depend on humans for food, shelter, medical care, safety, and love. When people fail them, the dogs are the ones who suffer.

The problem isn’t always the dog. Sometimes, it’s the human holding the leash. 💔🐾

🚨 SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

If you witness suspected abuse or neglect:

📸 Document what you can safely and legally — photos, videos, dates, location, and what you observed.

📞 REPORT IT TO LOCAL ANIMAL CONTROL OR LAW ENFORCEMENT. Don’t assume someone else already did.

📋 Ask for a report or case number and write it down.

☎️ FOLLOW UP. If the animal remains in danger, report the continued neglect and provide any new evidence.

🏥 If the animal is injured or in immediate medical distress, contact local authorities and an emergency veterinary service immediately.

🚫 DO NOT put yourself in danger or confront an aggressive owner. Let the proper authorities handle the situation.

And if authorities don’t respond, keep a record of your reports and contact the appropriate animal-welfare agency or local government office for further assistance.

ONE REPORT CAN SAVE A LIFE.

Don’t scroll past suffering.
Don’t say, “Someone should do something.”

BE THE SOMEONE. 🐾❤️‍🩹

Adopting a kitten through a rescue group is another option.

Why does it seem like so many people are looking for kittens that are simply “free” or “someone needs to get rid of them”, but not necessarily looking for 𝙑𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙀𝘿 kittens⁉️

Do you really want to bring home a kitten who hasn't been vaccinated against common illnesses? Do you want to risk bringing contagious diseases into your home that could spread to the other pets you already love? Of course not!

Are you able to take on the cost of vaccines, veterinary care, and spay/neuter yourself and potentially wait weeks or months for an appointment???

Kittens can go into heat and become 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 4 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥. 😱😱 A young cat can slip out the door during mating season, driven by instincts they don't understand, and suddenly you have an unplanned pregnancy on your hands.

❌ Then may find yourself posting “free kittens” too. ❌
And just like that, the cycle continues. 💔

How can you 🄲🄷🄰🄽🄶🄴 that vicious cycle?? 👇🏽👇🏽

✅ Adopt from a reputable shelter or rescue whenever possible. ✅ Choose a kitten who has received appropriate veterinary care. ✅ Ask questions.
✅ Make sure they are vaccinated, flea-treated, dewormed, and have at least have a plan for spay/neuter.

And if you're getting a kitten from someone giving them away, 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗟𝗘𝗧 "𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘" 𝗕𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦.
Because that kitten isn't really free if they come with preventable illness, unexpected veterinary expenses, an unplanned litter, or a lifetime of consequences.

🛑 STOP THE CYCLE.



Being a good pet owner starts 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.

Excellent!

Since becoming law earlier this summer, Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, has brought important changes to Canada’s Criminal Code that recognize the role animals can play in violence… | Humane Canada Since becoming law earlier this summer, Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, has brought important changes to Canada’s Criminal Code that recognize the role animals can play in violence, exploitation, coercive control and victim support. After having advocated for these changes for years, we cel...

THIS

As many of you may know, the remains of 117 dogs were recently excavated from the property of Miranda’s Rescue in California and the search for additional dogs euthanized and buried on the property continues. Based on the numbers that have been published by various sources, there are likely hundreds more deceased dogs buried on the property. 😢🐾

It’s horrifying. And there are serious questions about how this could have happened, how long it went undetected, and whether the shelters that sent dogs there had any idea what ultimately happened to them.

Those questions absolutely need answers.

But I keep coming back to a different question:

❓**Why did so many dogs need Miranda’s in the first place?**❓

Miranda’s became a destination for dogs other shelters struggled to place — the dogs running out of options.

And that makes what happened there more than a story about one rescue. It is also a story about how far downstream we are willing to go to deal with a problem that begins much earlier.

Think about the progression.

1️⃣Prevent an unwanted litter, and perhaps six dogs never enter the pipeline.

2️⃣Fail there, and now you need owners for six puppies.

3️⃣Fail there, and you need resources to help those owners keep their dogs.

4️⃣Fail there, and you need shelter kennels, staff and veterinary care.

5️⃣Fail there, and you need adopters or rescue partners.

6️⃣Fail there, and a shelter desperate to report a live outcome may transfer a dog hundreds of miles to an organization willing to say **yes**.

7️⃣And if that final safety net fails, they can end up at Miranda’s.

There were many opportunities much further downstream to prevent what allegedly happened there. Better oversight. Better recordkeeping. Better transfer practices. Better follow-up. Those failures matter, and there should be accountability for them.

But every step downstream gets more complicated and more expensive.

We spend tremendous resources trying to save dogs once the system has failed them.

What if we put the same urgency into preventing so many dogs from needing the system in the first place?

Miranda’s is an awful story about what can happen at the very end of the pipeline.

Maybe it should also make us look much harder at the beginning.

❓Where upstream do you see the greatest opportunity to make a difference?

🐾“I’d love to adopt an older dog, but I’m afraid I won’t have enough time with them.”

That fear keeps some wonderful older dogs from being adopted. But how much time might they actually have?

A large U.S. study using veterinary records from more than 13 million dogs calculated remaining life expectancy — how much longer dogs who have already reached a particular age live, on average.

The results surprised me:

🐾 Age 8 → 5.9 more years
🐾 Age 9 → 5.2 more years
🐾 Age 10 → 4.5 more years
🐾 Age 11 → 3.9 more years
🐾 Age 12 → 3.3 more years

Of course, these are averages. Breed, size, health and genetics matter, and none of us knows how much time any individual dog will have, whether a puppy or an older dog.

But that's also the point.

We tend to look at an older dog's age and mentally start a countdown. An 8-, 9- or even 10-year-old dog isn't necessarily nearing the end of life.

A dog who has already reached age 10 has, on average, another 4½ years of life expectancy.

That's not “hardly any time.”

That's walks. Car rides. Vacations. Holidays. Lazy Sundays. Thousands of dinners and bedtime routines. Years of being someone's dog.

So maybe the number on an adoption profile deserves a little less power over our decision.

Age tells us how long a dog has lived.

It doesn't tell us how much time they have left. ❤️



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: 2023 U.S. canine life-table study using veterinary records from more than 13 million dogs.