The public believes all shelters furnish medical care, loving attention and  only puts pets down for resons they can understand but that isn’t the case. Many thriving shelters put down animals that are black because they have too many black pets, too many large pets, too many of a specific breed as if they were sorting beans and peas in the canned goods dept.  To be considered a no kill shelter does not mean you never put down a pet,  A few months ago K Fox chastised me without a chance to defend myself against a disgruntled employee for putting down 18 of over 300 dogs that we had worked with for over 2 years in each case.  We had lost the use of the kennel where the benefactor withdrew financial support and the use of the kennel without notice after five and a half years.  We took a caravan of pets around Tx giving away market ready pets all spayed and neutered finding homes for about 150 in the process. We had money and veterinary expenes invested in the pets and it cost us money to make the runs.

They wanted us out in 45 days but a reasonable judge got us about 4 months  in the interim our computer records were destroyed and  a man who had been a L. A. gang banger had full control of the kennel and office and staff. It was very difficult. We had to find a suitable place and drove for hundreds of miles to look at possible kennel locations finally buying a foreclosure and remodeling it.  If you were to ask me to describe the owner of the kennel and ask why she did this I think it was planned to study how I did it, put someone in charge as we adopted hundreds of dogs and to her it looked easy.  She was not informed and believed she owned the dogs and my organization and all along had avoided talking to me unless necessary.

My best description of her would be very mean spirited.  She left me to pay $20,000 a month in salaries her manager had hired mostly to do nothing withdrawing any financial support to us without any notice at all. I was trying to find people who might help us so I turned to PETA. What I found was while PETA wants to save the lives of chickens and pigs, sheep and goats, seals and whales they are not interested in cats and dogs and routinely tell people trying to save lives in a no kill shelter to put them down.  I was really stunned but got an education in a hurry.  Everyone wanting to save pets should read REDEMPTION  by Nathan J. Winograd and it will tell you stories of how PETA sought out veterinarians asking to take spay neutered pets to rehome and then taking them out to the car and  putting them to sleep dumping their lifeless bodies in the dumpster.  These pets were not feral they were simply pets left at the vets and not picked up or given to the vets by people who could not  keep them.

When I asked them to suggest agencies to help by taking some of the pets they told me to put them down.  If people paid attention to how PETA spends their money and what their attitude is they’d think twice about donations.  In fact there is so much need in your own city and state it is a sin to send your money to far away places where it goes into salaries and no pet in  your neighborhood benefits.  It isn’t uncommon for us to be unable to take a pet as we are full, the person on the phone is furious and when I ask where they donate it is often PETA who does nothing to help rehome local pets.  People are blown away by big time television shows and names.  What does it mean to be no kill?  No kill does not mean  never kill, agencies that have limited means sometimes try very hard to rehibilate difficult pets but eventually must put them down as they have no ‘little boiling pot’ churning out money.  Places like Dog Town have an endless supply of funds and rehibilates many pets but at a cost per pet (which may never be normal or adopted) which is great. The main reason pets cannot be rehomed are aggression and sickness and it is not responsible to put a dog or cat into a home where it could easily kill a child or another dog or elderly person.

I keep a clipping on my desk which says “Humane Society Pet of the Week kills child” which was not the local humane society.  The people took the dog home which had been there about 3 days, not long enough to assess any pet for disposition.  I have to read that often when I have a pet that is   between ‘good pet, possible ‘bad pet’ I feel I cannot put out a pet that can kill or badly damage a child.  Sometimes it is with tears we put these animals down.  Everyone should watch the Houston ASPCA and others on Animal Planet, even if dog is snarly when eating it is put down.  We try and work with them to stop this but that day in March of 09 our time ran out.  18 dogs were put down and K Fox interviewed a disgruntled employee who had no driver’s licence and warrants a mile long and she said “Martha puts down dogs whe doesn’t have to”. These 18 were all we had ever put down in 5 1/2 years and when I went to our benefactor begging for food her answer was the kennel was not run well when it was run by her very own choice of men she hired and paid to run it.  By then she is wanting us to leave without any discussion.  When people ask me to describe her I have to think she was very mean spirited and cruel.  She had put down troubled dogs herself.  Reasons agencies put down dogs are aggression, sickness, old age to where people are not likely to adopt or take care of the needs of an older dog, habits which are disgusting which we have been unable to break with our limited resources such as eating feces, humping, being very destructive, (my son had a dog in his  kennel which chewed its way from outside in. He destroyed all his living room furniture) , dogs that cannot be contained in any enclosure, and a few other reasons.  Each euthanasia is a failure and we do not take it lightly and as with the  18 out of 300 they had been kept 2 years and in our case we were out of space, time and money.  It took fired employees and a tv station which loved drama but not truth to put it to the public.  No puppies were put down even though though they showed fabricated photos of puppies which were not ours.   When people ask me how I feel about it I say ‘the greatest man who ever lived they nailed to a cross why should I expect better?’  Every time a business bypasses an agency or the newspaper picks and chooses someone over another dogs and cats die. Every time an event which is news worthy is deliberately over looked by a tv station while picking favorites, they hurt the pets because agencies like ours do the adoption numbers.  Many good but less aggressive agencies are in it for a hobby.

There is nothing wrong with hobby work but tv and media stations should think about saving lives not cherry picking people who do the hobby work.  If a hobbiest does 1-3 pets a month it is great but agencies like ours in bad times do over 40 to 45 on bad times so those pets are really greatful to us and we use our own money not that of a benefactor.  That should count for sincerity.  I also got a real awakening when I called Pedigree Co asking if we could get any free food.  We feed only Pedigree here and true to their ad the poop is perfect and when you have a good pooper you have a healthy dog.  The first question I was asked was “are you a no kill shelter” and I said “yes” and “how many dogs and cats do you do?” and I said we were turning over a hundred animals a month out of 300 and she practically hung up on me telling me they are not interested in no kill shelters where pets eat and hang on for long periods they want the dog into a home eating their product.  “So sorry try again in a year but if you rank your kennel as no kill then it will be the same answer, good bye”,  So I found what drives the big companies, Hills and others to donate free food to assist the nonprofits.  It is not having a no kill shelter and doing large numbers compared to the number in your kennel.  If you are humanitarian, ah..forget it, if you have 14 mothers and puppies who will take space and time, forget it.

All these fancy programs really do little to help agencies like ours.  We work 9 to 12 hours some days and do all the good stuff saving sick pets, ones hit by cars if possible the one chewed up by a roving dog but that will never qualify us for anything free.  Be sure to read the book REDEMPTION because many unwanted pets can be saved it is a case of being lazy and doing it strictly for the money.  Those are the ones that get the most publicity.  Those are the ones which get free food.  PETA has resorted to rather risque tv ads where nude  women in various situations make a point.  It is my feeling these ads do nothing to stop mistreatment of pets.  Please, before you donate money to a nonprofit, all of which is tax deductible, be sure what you believe is their cause is actually their cause, consider donating in your own home town!  And remember, local groups appreciate it more and are generally more likely to be careful in how that money is spent.  God bless those who care for the pets.  Martha Williams Director.

Pet Guardian Angel moved to 14911 McCracken Road, El Paso, TX 79938.  If you have been to the Square Dance kennel it is 3 miles further out Montana and turn Left on O’Shea Road past Red Sands Elementary School about 1 1/2 miles to McCracken Road which is right turn.  The roads are well maintained paved roads, we are 2nd from corner on left with plenty of parking.   We had to fined a new home quickly as we could not get a lease.  This is an excellent location, quiet, peaceful, pretty we pooled our money to purchase a foreclosed property and are doing the improvements, repairs ourselves.  We appreciate the materials for various projects donated by individuals and groups.  In Feb 09, we had 300 dogs.  We made several trips around Tx visiting no kill shetlers to find homes for about 80 dogs.  We held extra adoptions etc.  Only aggressive, sick, elderly, dogs with bad habits that the adopting public could not have delt with and which had been at the kennel 2-3 years were put down.  This was less then 1/2% of what we handled.  We accomplished finding a location and movingt in less then four months.  Under one name or another our core group has functioned since 1982.   Even during family illnesses, deaths and working full time jobs.  We have adopted over 12,000 animals in El Paso area since we started up in 1985.  This is the first kennel we have owned.  We are in desparate need of monatary assistance, pet food etc and we issue receipts for income tax.  We also do a few other services including microchipping.  The phone number 598-0411.

In the 80’s no pet was allowed to be taken from Animal Control in El Paso except by the owner.  While sitting next door to a nonprofit rescue, pets were all routinely put down unless the owners came forward and paid the fine.  At that time the principals in Pet Guardian Angel formed a group called Animal Alliance to change this policy.  At that time pets were disposed of in a gas chamber driven by an auto engine.  The process was not quick or humane and pets gasped out their lives struggling to breathe and trying to fend off other animals placed in the same chamber.  This organization, now out of operation, under that name, (now Pet Guardian Angel) spent personal time, money and effort to change this.  It was a fight with city hall, the health dept and other nonprofits to do this but eventually this was accomplished and change to bottled gas was approved by the city-county governments.  Not happy with gas methods of euthanasia, the fight continued until it was decided to go with the method of injections as the most humane way of disposal.  While no one wants to put any pet down, it is unrealistic to believe a city could ever reach the status of nokill.

People often ask what no kill means because of conflicting definations.  The truth is there is no legal description of this.  It has come to mean in most cases that a true no kill shelter does not put any viable pet down for any reason.  A pet becomes not adoptable for several reasons.  If it is very old, very sick or very aggressive it is unlikely it could be put out with the public for reasons of econmics or safety.  Most no kill shelters end up with a few elderly pets or pets requiring too much medical care for ordinary public adoption.

What does an  organization owe the public?  It owes the public who comes to them unaware and unfamiliar with problelms and asset any particular pet can bring them.  I believe it is unfair to let a prospective client select a pet that isn’t going to be satisfactory.  Large dogs or those deemed to become large need obedience training, human interaction and a place to run and play.  This means the entire family will have to walk, play with and love a large dog and clean up after it, provide nourishing food not a discount brand.  I believe a person can largely be judged on how they’ve treated their pets.  A couple who comes to us to adopt and is sad about the passing of their dog they’ve had for years and have kept into old age.  To me this means they have cleaned up after it, tended to its needs and provided it with loving care to the end however it came.  If it came by eventual euthanasia by a licensed vet or died at home in their arms they have shown remarkable responsibility and compassion and will be considered qualified for any dog or cat we have for adoption.

The field of pets available to everyone starts to narrow when people tell us they got rid of pets for unreasonable reasons.  Perhaps they were moving and didn’t want to take the pet with them.   The dog was shedding or digging up the flower bed.  The kids didn’t want to take care of it.  It didn’t get along with a new dog they’d bought.  It was impossible to house break. While we take these mentioned pets into our kennel we are not anxious to adopt to those who give them up for such flimsy reasons.  It really means they took a pet because it was perhaps free, cheap, a gift or a whim and when the going got tough they got going discarding the pet.

This also suggests the kind of person they are in their heart.  They have taught their kids that someone else should assume their responsibility.  Here we guarantee to find that pet a home if it meets our requirements of disposition, health and age.

Through years and years of working in rescue I have encountered many situations.  I recall a boy of about 9 coming to adopt a puppy and how happy he was with it.  Three weeks later the mother and son came back with the puppy in tow and he was crying and begging and she shoved the puppy back at us saying “I told him if he didn’t take care of it we’d get rid of it.”  I felt such pain for the child and would say to anyone that kids are likely going to forget and be preoccupied with other things and it is your responsibility as a parent if you allow a pet in the house to expect to have to remind your child and perhaps do some things yourself if a pet comes to live with you.  What she taught her child was a lack of compassion and to discard a responibility if it became to much.

Pets should be selected with forethought.  What size pet do you want?  How much hair care will you be willing to pay for or put up with?  Do you realize many pets shed?  Are you going to be willing to attend an obedience class?  Pets cost money and should visit a vet once a year.  Shots can be given for discounts but this skips the vet visit and pets do need a yearly examination.  A pet is not like live stock.  They were bred for companion animals which does not mean to be shoved in the back yard and ignored like a lawn ornament.

Dogs regularly need to have their anal glands excised and nails cut.  This can be done at a groomer or vet or you can learn to do it yourself if you do it correctly.  Dogs are going to eat something and vomit from time to time and even well trained dogs can make mistakes in the house from time to time.  Are you willing to live with this?  Are you going to be willing to pay for the essential tick and flea treatment necessary for a healthy pet year round?  Here in El Paso heartworms kill many dogs by taking a drop of blood at a time.  Are you willing to acquire and give your dog and cat heartworm prevention?  The more a dog’s ears flop over the more the tendency for ear mites.  You should look into your dog’s ears weekly and do a sniff test besides looking.  It is amazing to me that people bring their pets to us with foul smelling ears.

What do we offer at Pet Guardian Angel?  We do spay neuter clinics sometimes offering services at a discount and everyday we are open we offer microchipping. Animal services offers free spay neuter on spaymobile, 842-1000. We do the actual chipping for $10 and we register the chip on our computer.  The city law says it has to be registered at Animal Services and while there is no charge for this, your dog must have a current rabies certificate.  Sometimes a vet will drop by to give rabies,  Parvo-distemper shots. Texas law states any dog under a year which has a series of 3 shots given at spaced intervals of about 5 weeks is set for life against parvo distemper or if dog is over a year, one shot will do this.  It is not healthy for the pet to pump parvo distemper shots into the dog every year and people who have the mother dog should understand you cancel out shots if you do not separate mom and pups for 3 full days prior to giving any shot and never allow contact with mom again, nursing causes the shots to become ineffective.   For dogs with unknown history   which are over 1 shot is recommended.  Past this no further parvo distemper shots are recommened by Texas Veterinary Board.  We furnish cats Felovac.  Shots are given only when a veterinarian is on the premises.   Our aim is not to compete with other veterinarians or to become your veterinarian of choice but to take care of lower income people and their pets.  However no one will be turned away. If you have doubts about number of shots or intervals there is website www.critteradvocacy.org. Rabies shots are given once every 3 ears after pet is a year old. Some vets mark the box for 1 year knowing the pet is old enough for 3 year shot so if you are sure and can  prove your pet is a year or more insist the box checked for 3 years be checked.

If we agree to accept your pet for rehoming, there is no charge but donations are always welcome.  We also appreciate donations of office supplies, furniture, dog and cat toys and food, blankets and papers, beds and cages, plastic dog houses, pet carriers.  Nothing goes to waste.  To answer some questions presented to us recently people ask if a large dog breeds with a small female what will happen when large puppies try to push through the birth canal.  I asked Dr. Medina because we had a very small Chihuchua which had been bred with a  much larger dog.  While the mating was undoubtedly painful and dangerous, the puppies he said, would be the right size to push through at a reasonable weight.  When puppies are born they should not be taken away from mom for kids to play with or carry off to the grocery store as mom shops. This is really cruel and they can go into stress and die to say nothing of Mom’s stress. The longer puppies stay with mom or at least 6-8 weeks the better pet they become with mom teaching them they need to  leave the nest to do their business, not to eat feces (unless she is one who does this which can be broken)  not to bite too hard in playing, how to groom themselves and so on.  8 weeks is a good time to remove the puppies for a well rounded dog.  Until puppies have been injected long enough for mom to discourage any nursing they should not return to mom whose milk off sets the effects of shots.