The Blame Game - Not Greyhound Specific, but Applicable

Lately I have witnessed a growing trend in “rescue” that disturbs me. That is rescuers playing the blame game. Pointing the bony finger of shame at the humans. The use of the word “rescue” is part of it. "Rescue" is not a noun, it’s a verb, and unless you ran into a burning building to “save” the dog it isn't about rescue. It is a re-homing. Why do we need the drama?

The blame game is a losing game for everyone involved.  Why?  When you point that finger at the owner, several things happen. You look less in the eyes of others once they get past their initial reaction of righteous indignation. You attract the wrong kind of person for the dogs – the type who are wanting the dog for the wrong reasons. Obtaining a dog should be a time for rational decision making--not an excuse for moral preening. If 'adopting' a shelter dog makes you feel 'better about yourself', you don't need a dog. You need a therapist. You back people into a corner, shame them and they “lie” to avoid the blame. And you lessen the humanity of all involved. Screaming about the “horrible conditions” the dogs were found in is more likely to make people who would be great homes stop and wonder if they really want a dog from that kind of place. It is self-defeating. A way needs to be found to place the dogs without blaming those associated with them.

Unless you were present for everything that led up to the dog being in a bad place, you don’t KNOW what happened in that dog's life, retired racing greyhounds right off the track being the exception.  You don’t know how some dogs got to the “mess” you found them in. You don’t know that the woman who brings you a dog because “it doesn’t match her furniture” didn’t have other issues. Maybe she is in an abusive relationship and the abuser is threatening the animal. Maybe “dumping” the dog is the safest route for her and the dog. You don’t know that the older woman who has too many dogs in bad conditions couldn’t get anyone – family or friends to help her and just didn’t know where to turn. That family that is moving and “dumped” the dog, you don’t know that the father has lost his job and the family is moving to the only housing they can afford and it won’t allow a dog. YOU DON’T KNOW.

We need to extend a hand and stop pointing fingers, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Blaming those who give up a dog accomplishes exactly NOTHING except to diminish our humanity. There are PEOPLE involved. Instead of blaming, maybe we could let it go and just help the dog. What does it accomplish to run around badmouthing the owner? Does it make the dog more valuable? Does it make the “rescuer” feel superior to this “obviously lousy person”? What is the point? To create drama that raises money?

To me, the blame game just makes everyone look bad – those pointing fingers as well as those who are accused. And another interesting side effect – making a screaming fuss about how horribly these poor doggies were treated plays right into the hands of the animal rights extremists and gives them more ammunition to use against those of us who are trying to do it right. The animal rights cult followers already think that all breeders are “puppymills”. The more people scream about how horribly people treated the dogs, the more the ARs say – see, we told you so.

How someone got a dog does not define him. The dog is not a "Rescue," he's a mix or a purebred, but more than that, he's *a dog.* If you stop defining him as a poor unwanted & abused creature that someone owned and then discarded, if someone decides he's their dog, they will train and care for and love him, then the possibilities open up. Their mental attitude toward the dog will change and they will both be better for it.