Retired diplomat Susan Gordon rescued her first stray dog around three decades ago.
It was easier then, she said, to find homes for the animals. Now changes in the way people live have made it more difficult.
“In those days it used to be really easy,” Gordon said of homing dogs in the 80s. “Normally the first person I asked would agree. If not the first person, at worst the second person.
“Now Trinidad is like a different country,” she continued. “The people who would give good homes, maybe young families, people with children, they’re living in townhouses or apartments. Some of the retired women who could give very loving homes, they are living in Bayside Towers or whatever. They can’t have pets.”
So Gordon’s collection of rescued stray dogs has been growing. It’s gotten to the point where she has asked the T&T Guardian not to publish just how many dogs she has, fearing it would cause problems with her neighbours.
Gordon is one of about ten individuals who will be bringing dogs to a dog adoption fair this Saturday at the sprawling Misty Ridge ranch in Santa Cruz, hoping to find them homes. Dogs from welfare organisations/shelters Animals Alive and the TTSPCA will also be brought to the fair.
But most will come from some of the large number of people who rescue dogs themselves and try to care for them until homes are found.
“There are a lot of people rescuing and sheltering dogs at home and end up with 20-30-plus dogs at home,” said Roger Marshall, the fair’s main organiser.
He can’t guess how many individual rescuers there are. “You couldn't put a number to it,” he said.
“We have many people out there who are rescuing dogs and doing good things for the dogs, but they can’t find homes for the dogs,” said Marshall, explaining how he came up with the idea for the fair. Saturday’s will be the second one for the year.
“So I thought to have this dog fair and invite all these rescuers to bring their dogs,” said Marshall. “It’s really about creating an event, a location to bring all these rescued dogs together with potential adopters.”
Marshall helps run and raise money for Animals Alive in South Oropouche, possibly the biggest no-kill shelter in the Caribbean. Animals Alive started as a sanctuary for animals rescued by Hikmet Ahamad, who went through years of conflict with officials and neighbours over the number of dogs he kept at his home in San Fernando. Ahamad was gruesomely murdered in 2010.
As is the case with animal welfare agencies, volunteers will conduct home checks before adoptions from the dog fair are finalised.
“We want to ensure that the premises are properly fenced,” said Marshall, explaining the process. “We want to make sure that there’s adequate shade and shelter for the dog from sun and rain. If they currently have animals in their yard, we look at how those animals are being cared for.
“We interview the people,” he added. “We want to know why they want a dog. We do not really adopt out dogs to people who want a watchdog. These are social animals, and we’re looking to find a home for them. We’re not putting them out there to work. We want to know they’re going to be protected and taken care of properly.”
Marshall said Trinidadians and Tobagonians have to get away from their “pure breed” mentality. “These mixed dogs that we have are really such good dogs,” he said. Instead of adopting them, he said, too many Trinis are “going out and paying thousands of dollars for a purebred dog.”
Michelle Morrison, a volunteer with the TTSPCA who will be bringing dogs from the organisation to the fair, says that based on the response to adoption days at that organisation, adoption is becoming an increasingly popular option.
“People are realising it’s not only half-dead pot hounds in the shelter,” she said. “They really have beautiful dogs, and they’re well cared for.”
Adoptions, while important, are far from enough to deal with the large number of unwanted pets, which is way more than local shelters can handle. The TTSPCA, which euthanises animals that are considered unadoptable, get a few thousand every year and that is likely a small fraction of the total.
Ultimately something has to be done to increase spaying and neutering.
“All dogs should have to be registered,” said Marshall. “We have no idea in this country how many dogs there are. We need to have them registered, and then we need to have some controls on spaying and neutering them.”
Dogs up for adoption at the fair would be already spayed or neutered once they’re old enough.
The fair is one of the rare collaborative events among animal welfare organisations and advocates in T&T. Marshall thinks there should be more.
“It’s critical to work together,” he said. “There are just too many people trying to do the same thing. And if we don’t join forces we’re weakening our own effort.
“There are just not enough homes in the country for the amount of stray dogs that we have,” he added. “That is the sad fact.”
More info
Fore more information about Dog Fair and adopting dogs, call 352-0976