Hold onto your dogs―no matter what!

As always, current events have an impact on animals, but who hears about it? Thankfully, Mary Umberger of the Chicago Tribune thought to investigate the subprime mortgage debacle's effect on companion animals. What she uncovered is far worse than people's actual financial troubles, and she spells out all the sordid details in an article that was published yesterday called "Dogs, Cats Latest Victims of Subprime-Mortgage Mess." While people are losing their homes, animals are losing their very lives and sometimes in a most torturous way.

Umberger quotes Chicago-area animal shelter workers who have noticed a spike in animals dropped off by people who have lost their homes and moved into places that don't allow animals. Worse, they're finding animals who were simply left behind in houses abandoned because of foreclosure. Some of these animals manage to survive until they're discovered by the next human to enter the home, but some don't. There have even been cases of large numbers of animals (dogs, cats, birds, even horses) left to die of thirst or starvation.

Obviously, people who would allow this to happen to their own animals do not view them as valuable or even sentient. My opinion is that you should give as much thought to adopting an animal as you would to getting married or having children. It should be a commitment. While losing a home is certainly devastating, it should not qualify as justification for abandoning an animal. I mean, would you abandon your kids? No. So what’s the difference? There shouldn’t be one.

While I myself have never been in the position of losing my home because of financial straits, I have seen my share of financial hard times while simultaneously caring for a dog. When I was in graduate school in West Virginia in the early '80s and I had my first dog, Koro, I only made $3,400 a year as a teaching assistant. One day, I made the stupid mistake of letting Koro go off on an errand with a friend, who neglected to put her on the leash in time, and she got hit by a car, breaking her back. The pricetag on the surgery to repair her back was $500, which I certainly didn’t have. So what did I do? I signed up to teach a night class, and I got an advance on the pay, which was exactly $500. And Koro and I shared another 12 years together.

A couple of years later, when Koro and I lived in France and I was teaching English on a salary of $6,000 per year, I accidentally left my wallet in a store right after I got paid, and when I went back to retrieve it, it was gone. Fortunately, I had already paid my rent for the month, but I had to feed myself and my dog for the whole month with no money! So, I went scrounging for leftover freebies at the local outdoor marketplace, and I took bushels of food home―plenty to eat for the entire month.

My point is this: Where there's a will, there's a way. If you don't really want to give up your dog, you don't have to. You just have to focus on solving the problem. Sometimes you have to get a little creative. I did some brainstorming with my coworkers, and we came up with a partial list of things that you can do (in no particular order) in order to keep your dog with you in the event of foreclosure:

Eight Ways to Avoid Abandoning Your Dog Even If You Lose Your Home

1. Ask your friends, relatives, and coworkers for help. Don't be shy. They will be honored and touched by your plea.
2. Ask for help at all your local animal shelters. Many of them have programs in place to help people with animals through hard times.
3. Sell your stuff. Use eBay or hold a garage sale or put up posters or just go by word of mouth, but sell as many expensive items as possible. What's more important―your dog or your stuff?
4. Ask your boss for a raise. You've still got your job, so see if your employer can help you. Be honest. Bosses have hearts too.
5. Do an exhaustive search to see if there's any affordable housing available that accepts animals. Go online, call up realtors, ask your coworkers―leave no stone unturned.
6. Check out long-term hotel prices. Many hotels accept animals, and many offer discounted rates for long-term stays.
7. Take your plight to your local media. If you can get on TV or in the paper with pictures of your animals, someone is definitely going to come forward to help you―you can count on it. Humans are generous and empathetic by nature (at least the ones who haven't been psychologically damaged).
8. If all else fails, you can live temporarily in your car. While not ideal, it's only temporary, and many people have done it. If your goal is to keep your dog, it will be well worth it.

Our dogs depend on us. They give us undying loyalty, boundless affection, and unconditional love. How about if we return the favor?