Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070144
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The 6-month-old Australian Blue Heeler falters, not knowing which way to go. She turns to the left and runs smack into the tennis net, getting caught like a fish. Undaunted, the puppy untangles herself only to head directly toward a chain-link fence surrounding the court.
"Watch out," yells Cookie Dough's caretaker, Jennifer Wellman, 21, a Virginia Tech biology student.
The puppy stops, inches from the fence. Born without eyes, she has learned to depend on her caretakers.
"She listens better than most dogs because she has to," Wellman said. "I'm her seeing-eye person. That's my joke I tell people."
For the sake of puppies like Cookie Dough and millions of other stray and unwanted cats and dogs, the U.S. Humane Society has proclaimed April "National Prevent a Litter Month." The goal is to make people aware of increasing pet overpopulation and to get them to spay or neuter their pets.
"There continue to be more animals than there are available homes," said Kate Rindy, director of overpopulation issues for the organization. "Only responsible pet ownership will solve the problem."
Responsible pet ownership is what Julie Flynn, director of the Spay-Neuter Program at the Humane Society of Montgomery County, would like to see locally.
"Cookie Dough is the result of a person who is a backyard breeder," she said. "These people are not breeding to participate in shows; they are just doing it to sell the puppies." About half of these puppies end up deformed, Flynn said, because of inbreeding or overbreeding.
Last July, a Virginia law went into effect that mandates that all releasing agencies, including dog pounds and animal shelters, require new owners to spay or neuter their pets within 30 days of taking the animal home.
However, backyard breeders are exempt from that law. According to Al Vaden, Montgomery County's assistant animal warden, 38 percent of all animals born each year are the result of backyard "mistakes."
"When you inbreed, you want to concentrate on desirable characteristics but you also have no control over the undesirable ones," said Dr. Mark Dallman, of North Main Small Animal Clinic in Blacksburg.
Instead of eyeballs, Cookie Dough has only empty sockets of pink flesh, which often get infected. Breeds like hers often encounter a variety of eye problems. Dalmatians sometimes are born deaf, dachshunds have neck and back problems, and larger breeds are prone to hip dysplasia and joint problems.
Al Alexander, executive director for the Roanoke Valley Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he hopes National Prevent a Litter Month will teach people "everything it can about pet overpopulation." He too, is particularly bothered by the actions of backyard breeders.
"There are fine breeders in the [Roanoke] valley, but it's the indiscriminate breeders, the backyard breeders, that I have no use for," he said. "I've got 28 animals here now thanks to backyard breeders." The Roanoke Valley SPCA's pets were adopted at three times the national average last year, and although Alexander is confident that those 28 puppies will be adopted, "we're still killing over 7,000 a year."
The Roanoke Valley SPCA offers a spay-neuter program in which pet owners receive a 25 percent discount when having their animals spayed or neutered. Other assistance is available through the Pet Assistance League, another organization in Roanoke that assists low-income families in fixing their pets.
For the time being, Cookie Dough is in the hands of responsible caretakers, waiting to find a permanent home.
"She's really energetic and she has a good attitude, even when she bumps into things," said Maren Speakman, 21, Cookie Dough's primary caretaker.
The free comprehensive spay and neuter program at the Humane Society of Montgomery County has helped combat the growing problem of unwanted animals in the New River Valley, but Flynn still sees a need for more awareness on the pet owners' part. She gets about 15 calls a week from people asking for assistance.
The Humane Society spends $400 a month on free spaying and neutering of animals, 60 percent of which are cats. Five veterinarians help sponsor the program. The Montgomery County shelter is the only no-kill shelter in Southwest Virginia.
"We live in a day-to-day society, and unfortunately a lot of these folks think animals are just throwaways," Flynn said. "People are the problems; we're the ones who need to take the responsibility. My main priority is getting these animals fixed."
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