Beaten-down dog from Vick case has his day

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25214356/

June 7, 2008

BRANDON, Fla. — Dawn Murle refusal to part with her pets almost resulted in an hour-plus commute to work.

“When people ask me, ‘oh, do you have a husband or a boyfriend or whatever’ I say, ‘no, neither… but I have three kids,” Murle said.

Murle has a one-and-a-half-year old pappillian named Lily, a pomeranian named Rex who is the same age, and an Australian shepherd named Max, who is three. As a renter, and a pet owner, her options for apartments shrank from 30 to three. She refused to give up any of her dogs.

“I would rather drive an hour in traffic than have to part with any of them,” she said.

Murle’s problem isn’t unique. The National Apartment Association doesn’t keep statistics on the ratio of pet owners who rent, and the number of rental units that accept pets. But the American Veterinary Medical Association’s report shows 50 percent of renters have pets.

The Humane Society of the United States believes more renters would own pets if there were more places for them to live. When they can’t find pet-friendly apartments, owners may still rent a home and keep their pet anyway.

“Sometimes they do try to sneak them in. Unfortunately, when they do that, we ask them to pay for a pet deposit or fee, and if they can’t come up with it, they have to take it to the family member or the Humane Society,” said Brooke Middleton, regional director for marketing of Camden Apartment Communities.

Even at shelters, pets will find they’re competing for limited space and won’t always find refuge there, says Sherry Silk, executive director of the Humane Society of Tampa. And that can lead to more drastic housing measures.

“I know of two different people who are literally homeless and living in their cars with their animals,” Silk said. “There’s got to be a place for people to go so they don’t have to give up a family member.”

If they can’t do that, a harsh reality sets in. Pets that do make it into shelters can’t stay there forever, Silk said.

“I will tell you, many shelters are full. And if shelters are full, then the humane thing is euthanasia. Is that better than being turned loose on the streets with no one to care for you? Absolutely,” Silk said.

Making matters worse is the falling economy and rising foreclosure crisis. Former property and homeowners who own pets and only needed to answer to themselves are now forced to return to the rental market, and battle it out with the overwhelming number of pet-owning renters already competing for a place to live.

Concerns about destruction and disruption are the main reasons why many landlords don’t allow pets. Ones that do often have weight or breed restrictions.

That’s what Ray Barnes faced when he moved his wife and kids from Pennsylvania to Florida. Barnes family also includes two dogs: Storm, a Labrador-Weimaraner mix, and a Chihuahua.

“It was maddening,” Barnes said of the experience he had moving to the Sunshine State nine months ago.

While Camden Apartment Communities encourages more pets to join its complex by inviting the local Humane Society to hold mobile pet adoption events like “Pet Palooza,” the property has restrictions like most rental communities.

Typically pet-friendly rental properties will exclude certain breeds of dogs, including German shepherds, pit bulls, rotweilers, and Doberman pinchers, as well as weight restrictions.

Barnes says he understands landlords may fear disruption and destruction from animals, but says renting to pet owners simply makes good business sense.

“In today’s world – a lot of people have pets, so if you want to rent your place, you might wanna consider taking pets,” Barnes said.

Statistics show there are more households with pets than without, and pet owners say they hope property owners will help them keep it that way.

Zoo Too original story here.

http://www.faiththedog.net/

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4449316

SOME adopted, ONLY SOME……………….please help. 

Airport police call it “the miracle landing” at Tampa International.

A 65-pound Labrador retriever, without benefit of an airplane or parachute, flew from the top of an airport parking deck six stories down - and survived.

Perhaps it was luck. Perhaps it was a miracle. Or maybe the 2-year-old dog from Largo simply lived up to his name.

“Jet is doing great and has made a full recovery,” said Clayton Tieman, who with his wife Jessica chose their dog’s name for the rich black of his coat, not for his flying abilities.