ASPCA drag...

I've been trying to volunteer at the ASPCA for four months--and every time I sign up for a volunteer orientation, I'm not fast enough at responding and it gets filled up. It's very frustrating. I've wanted to volunteer for a very long time and finally decided that I just had to do it. Yeah--easier said than done. Well, I'm supposed to go to the next orientation on December 15th. Hopefully that session doesn't get filled up too fast and I'll be able to go. Otherwise, I'm thinking that I might have to volunteer at a different animal shelter. I'm thinking I might do Bide-A-Wee. All I care about is trying to help out animals and make a little bit of a difference.

My brother has been going on and on about how he wants to get a dog recently. I'm lukewarm to the idea--he is a little on the irresponsible side. He works late, he sleeps over his girlfriend's house on the weekends, his apartment is not huge (it's actually on the tiny side), and since he lives in the boonies of Staten Island, neither my mom or I live close enough to help him out if he's in a pinch. So in reality, getting a dog isn't the best idea, but I'm having a hard time convincing him that a cat would suit his lifestyle better (god knows I find enough of them). The other thing that sort of bugs me abotu the whole wanting to get a dog idea is that he is determined to get a Sibearian Husky. Gorgeous animals, I know. But he wanted to go to a PET STORE to get one. I freaked out on him, telling him all about puppy mills and how inhumane they really are; how sick the animals can be that come from mills; and how they tend to have a much shorter life-span than animals adopted or gotten from a breeder. So he then tells me he wants to get a puppy from a breeder. Now here's the thing--he works a lot. That is a good thing, in my opinion, but it's not ideal for someone getting a new puppy. Puppies take a lot of time and energy to train and take care of. He doesn't really have that kind of time. So I suggested that he should try to adopt a dog--a full-grown one that is already housebroken--and save himself not only money (Huskys are expensive if you get them from a good breeder), but he'd also save an animal from living out their life in a shelter or possibly being euthenized. He's lukewarm on the idea. I don't know why. I makes me angry to tell you the truth. Especially when I found so many huskys for adoption, and even found a NY/NJ husky rescue group called Husky House. After I showed him a bunch of the animals, he put in an application, but we haven't heard from them yet. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I wish he would either listen to me and adopt an older dog that could really use a good home that wouldn't need to be trained as much, get a cat, or not get an animal at all unless he's really willing to put in the time and effort. I get so mad when people rush into getting pets without really thinking about the long-term consequences of their actions. Dogs and cats can live up to 20 years! That is a long time--and a big responsibility. If people took that responsibility seriously, I doubt there would be as many animals in shelters.