DOGS SMELL.
That’s why I don’t like cuddling them too much, and why I prefer cats.
But last week a friend of mine joined her sister who regularly walks SPCA dogs once a week through the SPCA and Paws in the City – a day care for dogs.
The walks have been running for more than three years, but this was the first I had heard of it. I joined the dog entourage because I had nothing better to do, and I knew it would only take an hour. By the end of it I was scratching my dog’s back, kissing his ears and encouraging him to have a nap in my lap. I figured the relief from the manky doggy smell was only a hand wash away.
Julia Maiden of Paws in the City – which helps the SPCA train and ready them for their new homes, and also takes care of them at the doggy facility to help them socialise with other hounds – sends out an email to wannabe dog walkers every week.
Those volunteers free SPCA dogs from their small cages and take them for a run along the waterfront. It is a stark contrast to their smelly little sleep outs. Honestly, if you could see the way they live and wait and hope for someone to adopt them your heart would sink.
The saddest part of it all is the dogs need to learn to be cutsey in order to be adopted, says Maiden, because many people looking to adopt go for the smaller, younger ones and avoid the ugly mutts.
Maiden is the opposite. She has adopted three SPCA dogs to date, with another on the way… and they’re all ugly.
Kari, her German shepherd Greyhound Cross was dumped because she was “too big and ugly,” says Maiden. “They wanted something Corgi-sized so dumped her.”
Ruth is Maiden’s English Bull Terrier Cross.
“She is probably the ugliest dog in the world. She has a shark-like face and little piggy ears. She’s very very sweet. When she wears a pair of fairy wings she doesn’t look quite so intimidating.”
Then there’s Mungo Jerry, a pure-bred Pointer.
“He was no good as a gun dog but retrieves teddy bears.”
Indie will be her next adopted child. When he arrived at the SPCA he was 12kg, three weeks later his weight has almost doubled and he now knows how to sit and lie down. It took him almost all this time to learn the simple commands because he hadn’t been socialised and looked after. It usually takes Maiden five minutes to teach half a dozen puppies at a time to sit, she says.
But Maiden enjoys the challenge of owning a rescue dog, and says it is very rewarding.
“It might be a short life but it will be a good life.”
Maiden emphasises that people need to lose the perception that the SPCA is full of Pit Bull Terriers and tough dogs that have been abused.
“In fact there are old and young, small, gentle and boisterous.”
Also, “many people think the SPCA keep the dogs for a set amount of time and then put them down.”
However as long as the dogs are physically and mentally healthy they are kept there until someone adopts them.
The SPCA is always looking for more people to volunteer at the Newtown centre or to help walk dogs. For more information see wellingtonspca.org.nz.