THE DOG IN FRONT OF YOU
It’s not always about the big picture.
Cherished Tails foster Christina Mcglothen with Begonia.
Meet Adoptable Begonia! Yorkshire Terrier and Border Terrier mix.
Adult
Female
Small
Yellow / Tan / Blond / Fawn, White / Cream
About
CHARACTERISTICS: Affectionate, Brave, Curious, Friendly, Funny, Playful, Protective
COAT LENGTH: Short
HOUSE-TRAINED: Yes
HEALTH: Vaccinations up to date, spayed / neutered, special needs.
GOOD IN A HOME WITH: Other dogs, children.
ADOPTION FEE: $150.00
Begonia came to Cherished Tails from Arizona Humane Society and is just full of spunk! She does have a heart murmur requiring medication (lifelong) but is doing great currently. She loves to romp and play. She can be very sweet, but also sometimes spicy in that she will nip or bite. She is bossy with other dogs so would need one that can "hold their own" or is more submissive, and will need a strong handler who lets her know who is boss.
The shelter aged Begonia around 7-8 and she is an 11-12 lb little potato. She is leash trained and housebroken with regular opportunities to get out, and is also good in a crate. She is good with kids but can be a rough in her play, so might be best with school age and up. If you would be interested in meeting Begonia please complete the application at Cherished Tails Adoption
Cherished Tails is pushing toward the 2,000 saved milestone as we approach our 8th anniversary on July 10th!
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Humane Advances
The cartoon image of a net-wielding dogcatcher chasing a flop-eared hound is an iconic symbol of an earlier time in the U.S., right up there with the phone booth and rotary dial. Established here in the 1800s, one of the first assignments of the dogcatcher was to deal with rabid animals.
As society became increasingly urban, so did the dogcatcher. When I was growing up in Kentucky I’d see them prowling our neighborhood in trucks, looking for strays. After they’d passed by, I’d boo and hiss at their tail lights.
“Leave the poor dogs alone,” I’d mutter.
And we have. We really, really have.
We call them Animal Protection Services officers now instead of dogcatchers, and they’re not dog killers anymore, they’re life savers. The former pound is the Animal Care Center, and “no-kill” is a mantra of the animal welfare movement.
But despite these humane advances in terminology, the onslaught of homeless dogs hasn’t slowed down one bit.
Pandemic Dogs
Things have gotten much worse since the pandemic, in fact. Shelter animal counts dropped to unprecedented lows while people were sheltering at home, then swelled to crisis levels as they returned to work. But that’s not the biggest pandemic-related cause of this current tidal wave of homeless dogs.
“The main reason is that spay/neuters were deemed elective during the pandemic and many people didn’t alter their dogs after the restrictions were lifted. Now we’ve seeing those puppies coming into shelters,” says Lori Hund. “I just fostered two puppies and I was shocked they weren’t picked up really quick. They weren’t even pitties!”
“And those puppies are growing into adults in foster homes and shelters,” adds Pauline Haas-Vaughn, Cherished Tails Executive Director. “Older puppies and ‘teenagers’ don't seem to be moving at all unless they’re a special breed.”
“Pandemic dog” is an expression they use at Pima Animal Care Center these days. It means what you’d think it might; homeless, feral, abandoned.
Learning Curve
When I started writing this blog my head was full of visions of sweet old dogs and soft landings, and thanks to Cherished Tails and other rescues, those happy endings are coming true for a lot of pups. The enormous complexity of the canine overpopulation crisis was something about which I had no idea, though, and that pretty much made me even with the public at large.
Getting to know the dog rescue community through writing about the good people with Cherished Tails has been a remarkable experience, as well as an education. I’ve asked some silly questions and jumped to a few wrong conclusions along the way, but at six months I think I’m finally starting to see the big picture. Here are a few articles that have offered me context, in case you’re interested:
An essay by Cara Achterberg of “Who Will Let the Dogs Out?” drives home how much worse canine overpopulation is now than it was only five years ago. Read Cara Achterberg.
Ed Boks writes about the politics of the animal welfare movement. This post helped me identify issues that are involved with rescue work in addition to fostering and adopting. Read Ed Boks Animal Politics
My conversation with Nicolette Brown was especially eye opening. She discussed a variety of strategies for canine population control, and explained why none of them alone will win this war. Read my post “Animal Welfare is Human Welfare”.
War? Isn’t that a bit much?
Not really. The conflict isn’t with the dogs, though, it’s with ourselves. Humans created this mess and it’s spinning out of control. Hund points out that the effects of canine overpopulation are more than simply a matter of shelters being full over capacity.
“It’s dogs running in the streets and getting hit by cars. Dogs starving. Dogs being neglected, abused, and euthanized,” she says. “I had no clue things were as bad as they are until I started volunteering two years ago. It’s one of those things you kind of know in the back of your mind, but you don’t know the extent of it. You don’t know the sheer numbers.”
Listening to her talk, I find myself wondering how animal rescuers keep going without becoming utterly overwhelmed. Suddenly I hear myself asking “How do you even get out of bed in the morning?”, which sounds a lot more pessimistic than I’d intended to be this afternoon. Lori has a reply at the ready, though.
“Sometimes you have to not look at the big picture, you have to just look at the dog in front of you,” she tells me. “You know that when you spend 15 or 20 minutes with a dog, you made an impact on their day. You can’t think of the 500 dogs you weren’t able to do anything for. You have to focus on the ones you can affect. It’s hard. You have to have really good boundaries.
“Sometimes I start spiraling,” she continues, “thinking about all the dogs we can’t do anything about. Then I have to take a step back and think Nope! You can’t save them all. That’s what we say all the time. You just can’t. You have to focus on the ones you are able to work with.
“Donate. Spend time fighting for animal welfare bills. Do the things you can and try not to worry about the things you can’t, because it’s too big of a problem. One person can’t fix it, two people can’t fix it, 300 people can’t fix it. It’s going to take way more than that.
“If it was mostly gloom and doom I don’t think many of us could keep going,” Hund says honestly. “But things like seeing the scared ones come out of their shell and let you touch them, it’s so rewarding. Seeing happy adoptions and following the dogs after they’ve been adopted-those things are why we continue doing it.”
Lori and Lulu at PACC
A few stats for your consideration:
Pima Animal Care Center live dog intake for the first four months of 2025 is 3845.
Total intake for 2024 was 11,481 dogs.
The shelter was built to accommodate 400 dogs.
The average number of dogs currently at PACC is around 550, with over 800 more being fostered.
Local rescues also take in hundreds of dogs. Cherished Tails rescued 228 in 2024, most pulled from shelters in Arizona and southern California where they were listed for euthanasia. All Cherished Tails dogs are placed directly into loving foster homes.
From one foster/volunteer to another, thank you for sharing your writing and inspiring others to get involved.