There is no canine welfare crisis that is not the fault of human beings. Period.

Overcrowded shelters are having to euthanize millions of dogs every year not because they want to, they have to. Dogs are being over-bred creating a whole host of congenital health problems and leading to unimaginable suffering for hundreds of thousands of dogs. All around us, dogs are severely neglected and abused, whether we see it or not. That’s just the tip of the iceberg…all human-made problems, all on each and every one of us. “WHAT??”, you say! “But I volunteer, and I foster dogs, and I donate, and I post on social media!” While these activities are important and make a difference in managing problems, they generally do not prevent the problems.

The good news, in fact, the great news, is that humans are equally able to prevent problems as they are to create them!

But, before we can prevent any problem, we first need to understand it. Hands down, the single biggest crisis in canine welfare today is the overwhelming volume of dogs entering animal shelters every year. There are simply more than can be cared for and the clock is ticking for every dog as soon as it comes in the door.

There are six primary contributors to the sheltering crisis, each of which are preventable.

We’ll dive into each of these contributors in future posts and how we as individuals and communities, can take action right now to prevent the overcrowding of animal shelters and save millions of dogs’ lives!

We couldn’t be happier to have you on this journey with us!