Are Pet Lovers Prepared To Provide Fully For The Geriatric Care Of Elderly Dogs?

 aNt's aNgle: KUDOS to The Star today for printing an alternative view to the put downs, last week, of the retired Fire and Rescue canines from PETPOSITIVE (See below).

 

Death is never cruel; only suffering is. 

 

Whatever it is, the Fire and Rescue Department - for now - acted responsibly by choosing a humane and respectable way to say farewell to their beloved canines. 

 

After all, according to reports, it was sanctioned by a panel of veterinarians. In other words, they followed all the right procedures to do a very painful and difficult job. 

 

It is strange to me that the dog-trainer in the story - whom I also spoke to yesterday - is able to make such a sweeping statement about the health conditions of the dogs to say that it should not be put to sleep. 

 

Yesterday he told me that he had no idea of what the medical conditions of the dogs were.

 

How could he? And how professional would his views be without being medically qualified to proffer his opinion?

 

Open up for adoptions to anybody? 

 

This only raises more questions than offers a solution.

 

Go against the professional advice of animal healthcare experts? Are adopters trained in handling the needs of geriatric canines? Will they be able to handle the high costs of veterinary-based care to keep the animals in proper care? 

 

Will they be able to look after them round the clock? Clean up after them every now and then and possibly even spoon-feed them?

 

Will they be able to provide for the right diet, upbringing and exercise (where necessary) the way the Fire and Rescue Department brought them?

 

Will they be able to keep these high-wired dogs motivated all the time as their training regiment would have done?

 

Or will the animal lover get tired over time cleaning up after the dog and constantly having to attend to its needs as an elderly dog. 

 

And would the canines themselves like to be parted from their trainers? Many are known to stop eating food without their owners. 

 

Would the dogs like their new environment and their so-called rescuer? 

 

Has anyone made an effort to establish the actual medical conditions of the dogs and why the veterinarians recommended euthanasia? 

 

Isn't it the right of the Fire and Rescue Department to choose how they want their final journey of their canine troops to be? 

 

Perhaps at best, the issue raises certain question of ethics of how future search and rescue dogs should be retired from now on. 

 

And it should be well thought out with a professional body to screen adopter-candidates than just "give the dog away."

 

And this will all require an extra chunk of money into the Fire and Rescue department's canine unit to make it possible - including a possible review of present policies. 

                  

The suggestion by AnimalCare Society to use the canines for pet therapy shows their total ignorance of what animal-asssited therapy is about. 

 

Getting retired dogs trained for another field of expertise to suddenly switch roles is laughable to say the least. 

 

And really, does anyone know of any hospice in Malaysia that will welcome the search and rescue dogs?

 

I'd really like to know. 

 

So let's all be matured everybody and educated about the issue. 

 

I am still trying to contact the Fire and Rescue Department to get all the accurate facts to this drama.

 

When - and if I do - you'll be sure to hear about it in this Blog.     

PET+BLOGSPOT           

 

Friday March 15, 2013

Trainer says K9 unit should not have euthanised the canines

Rest in peace: A dog handler appearing to wipe away tears as his dog is certified dead.

PETALING JAYA: A professional dog trainer who had worked with the eight sniffer and detection dogs recently euthanised by the Fire and Rescue Department says the canines should have been spared.

The man who declined to be named said there was nothing wrong with the dogs other than mild age-related problems and declining ability.

“These dogs were still very active and energetic. It is sad that the department chose to end their lives,” he said.

He added that the three Labradors and five Springer Spaniels would have made good pets as they were highly-intelligent, very loving and friendly.

“The department could have re-homed the dogs,” said the trainer.

The incident came to light after the department's K9 Unit announced the euthanasia on its Facebook page and posted pictures of the dogs being put to sleep.

Its corporate management division assistant director-general Sobberi Basiran said the dogs were put down last week based on advice from veterinarians.

It is learnt that the department has 20 younger detection and sniffer dogs at the moment and the veterans were euthanised because they did not want to incur the additional cost of maintaining both batches.

The current batch is aged between one and five years old.

Canine welfare and advocacy project group Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better's Christine Low said we should emulate other countries like Singapore which puts-up K9 dogs for adoption once they are no longer able to serve as efficiently.

“What happened reflects on how dogs are viewed here,” she said.

AnimalCare Society founder Dr Chan Kah Yein said that the authorities should have given the dogs to no-kill shelters or hospices that use pet therapy.

However, MBPJ councillor Anthony Thanasayan who also chairs its Canine Advisory Team said that euthanasia was the right course of action.

“The dogs are not suitable for adoption as they have formed a bond with their trainers, who are the only ones able to care for them properly.

“If given up for adoption, there is no guarantee that they would be cared for, especially with their age and fragile health.

“Therefore, the dogs should only be adopted by their trainers.

“If that is not possible, euthanasia would be more humane,'' said Thanasayan, who is also president of the Malaysian Animal Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association.

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