Dog day afternoon

HAYDEN — People surrender dogs. The Kootenai Humane Society knows this.

But seven at once is a bit much

“You’re taking them and that’s all there is to it,” the man said as he began carrying in terriers, and mixes of other small breeds like Pomeranians and Chihauhaus last week.

It was a chaotic situation, said KHS Executive Director Debbie Jeffrey. She said the dogs, about 3 years old, were screeching and barking, “just scared to death” as the man came and went.

“He picked them up by the scruff of the neck and was throwing them in the pen,” she said Monday. “He had no compassion.”

When he was done with the dogs, the man signed the surrender papers, handed over $150, and drove away in a van. All told, it took about 15 minutes from when he arrived and left.

It was unexpected, but staff responded quickly.

“A make-shift pen was set up and information was gathered as best they could,” according to the KHS website. “Realizing this person had no sense of responsibility or understanding of animals or what KHS does in our community, we preceded with one goal in mind; get these babies into our care and make sure they are okay.”

The good news was, the dogs appear healthy and friendly and the four females were fixed. Jeffrey said two of the dogs have been adopted already and she is confident they will find homes for the other five.

“They’re just scared,” she said. "But they're very nice dogs."

Jeffrey said her understanding is there are more dogs, about 30, in the household where the man lived.

People can think they’re helping by adopting dogs, but too many isn’t a good thing.

“Then they have pups and more pups and before you know it, it’s out of control,” Jeffrey said.

The result is unwanted dogs being suddenly handed off to KHS.

KHS is glad to help when people can't keep their pets, Jeffrey said, but would prefer not to have a bunch of dogs dumped off at one time.

Jeffrey said those interested in adopting one of the dogs should go to kootenaihumane.org and go through the adoption process.