Rules Versus Common Sense

After considering since last Friday, I made my mind up to adopt the Great Pyrenees mix pup at the local humane shelter. Since I still have the dog I adopted from that shelter eleven years ago, I did not expect to have any difficulty in this adoption.

Since the pup in question is obviously going to be a very large dog when grown, I imagined the volunteers at the shelter would be happy to have found someone willing to adopt her.

Since the pup exhibits behavior issues, I imagined those in charge of placing the animals would be extra happy to place such a puppy.

One little stumbling block. My home is owner financed, meaning my name is not showing in the public records. I pay all taxes, all insurance. I am responsible for all repair, and for anything that falls apart or stops working, but the humane shelter insisted on calling the "landlord" to secure permission for me to have a dog on my own property.

I asked if they contacted mortgage companies to get permission from other home owners. They said they did not. I explained that I did not have a "landlord", and they did not need to call anyone for me to have permission to adopt the dog. They insisted on getting one more phone number. I refused on principle.

This is an animal shelter that annually euthanizes two-thirds of all animals that have the misfortune to come into their facility. In 2008, that was almost 7000 animals put to death by the Topeka Helping Hands Humane Shelter.

From now on, my money will go to support animal rescues that are in the business of placing as many animals as possible into loving homes.