Thank Paris Hilton for that! Stupid people! Dogs are wonderful!!! No matter what size they are!

Not that many people bought these dogs as "accessories" to make this much of a impact. The majority are strays left behind by Mexicans returning to Mexico because of the economy.

strays left behind by Mexicans returning to Mexico because of the economy.

That's a joke, right? I'd hate to think anyone was that ignorant of reality. Have you ever been to Southern California? Have you even ever seen a Mexican? Have you ever been in an animal shelter in L.A? What a moron!

Actually, it IS the Mexicans in LA who have (over)bred these little dogs for profit. I know, because I live here.

They are wonderful little dogs, extremely smart, fiercely loyal and loving. They are not nervous like poodles and they do not bark incessantly like dachshunds. Don't get me wrong, they will bark, but only if someone is near or around their abodes that they do not know. After a few minutes of "getting to know you" they quiet down.

We have two females, Tess and Lily. We rescued both from a fate worse than death, running around in the middle of Arrow Highway in Baldwin Park.  They were both babies and had no tags, no chip and no other means of identification.  I cannot picture life without them. They are priceless to us.

Ramonesrule said:

The majority are strays left behind by Mexicans returning to Mexico because of the economy.

You think Paris Hilton has more of a influence on the abundance of these dogs in shelters than the Mexican population explosion?

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who works at an (inner-city) animal shelter and has seen TONS of Chihuahuas come through:

No, they are not being left behind by Mexicans. The average person from Mexico cannot afford one of these dogs, nor would they. Because of all the inbreeding and selective breeding needed to get them down to that size, Chihuahuas are extraordinarily prone to health problems, require a great deal of veterinary care and all of that costs a great deal. I can personally say that I have NEVER seen a 'Mexican' come in with a Chihuahua. I HAVE seen many chihuahuas come in as owner surrenders from the upper-class who purchased the dog after their kids saw such movies as 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' and who have seen Paris Hilton's dog, and then they realize after they get the dog that these dogs are very high-strung and need constant attention and a firm hand.

The saying at our shelter is 'Small dogs and small kids don't get along'.

One of my duties as a volunteer at the shelter is to take potential adopters back to look at the adoptable animals, I CAN'T tell you how many times I've asked someone what kind of dog they are looking for and they go, 'a Paris Hilton dog' or 'a Taco Bell dog'.The majority of the people who tell me that are black; the rest of the askers are, as much as I hate the cliche, white bikers--motorcyclists with tattoos up the wazoo. Believe it or not, those adoptions to bikers are generally the most successful; many of Chi's adopted to inner-city apartment-dwelling families come back.

The whites who come into the shelter looking to adopt usually want labs and labs/pit mixes; the Hispanic/Latinos who have come in almost always ask for cats. When they do get a dog, it's a lab mix. In the five years I've been volunteering I have NEVER had a Latino adopt a Chihuahua.

When the Dalmations movie came out people were buying Dalmations for their kids, finding out how much trouble they were, and dumping them at shelters. Same thing happened to beagles after 'Shiloh' came out, and pits after 'Little Rascal' came out. And after Michael Vick got in trouble with his there was an outpouring of support for abandoned pits and our shelter's pit population dropped below 50% for the first time in our history.

So the breed of dog has nothing to do with a migrant population. For many people, pets are a status symbol, just like kids are for some of the wealthy. Many people see pets as disposable, something to surrender at a shelter when you don't want it anymore just like you would donate used clothes.

Amanda: It's funny because a lot of what you say is true. It is sad that folks think that they could get a dog due to a celebrity or a movie. I grew up with mutts (best dog for people with families in my opinion). My dad had hunting dog (the pure breeds) and I never understood why we could feed them but not play with them. When we did get a pure breed (lab) it was because the family moved and we adopted the dog. The family was being stationed somewhere cold and couldn't take the dog. That was a good dog. Once of my nieces got a dog from the pound recently and she said it is a family dog, but it is really her dog. I live in New Orleans, and last weekend there was the dog parade (Krewe of Barkus). I've never seen so many chihuahuas in my life in the parade and a lot of bulldogs too. Good work doing what you do.

The lowest-income members of any population will do whatever they can to make money. While it may be Latinos in Southern CA, its low-income blacks and whites where I live, and the target animal here is also a Chi because they are small and can be raised in apartments and they are currently 'in vogue'.

We also saw a shift in the target animal population when that Disney Movie 'G Force' came out, a year after that we saw a huge rash of owner surrenders of guinea pigs.

Then rats when 'Ratatouille' came out.

It's a cycle and it's fed by us humans' need to keep up with the current trends.

We could eat them...No use letting the little buggers go to waste. I never did like them very much as pets. I'm sure there is a Korean dish that make for quite the honorable and tasty passing for them.

Very funny (note sarcasm). I have 3 beautiful Chihuahuas who are smart, loving, sweet, well behaved, and I cannot imagine life without them. They are my family. But, just like any living thing, they are work and they have costs because just like a child you have to take them to the doctor and make sure they have their medical needs met and all the other things that taking care of family require.

It makes me very angry to see people so careless about the lives of these dogs (whatever the breed). Dogs are thinking, caring, loving and loyal companions that should be respected far more then they are. I do think that more needs to be done to stop home breeding. I go to the dog park nearly every weekend and I am always amazed at how many people talk about "possibily" breeding their dog because "they think having puppies would be so much fun."

If we could somehow reach those people and stop them, that would be a major step in the right direction.

By the way, Chihuahuas are magical and should be worshiped! ;-)

Christy said:

I go to the dog park nearly every weekend and I am always amazed at how many people talk about "possibily" breeding their dog because "they think having puppies would be so much fun."

We have had people say that to us too. Here's what we say to them:

"We get dogs in all the time who are pregnant and got dumped because the owner doesn't want to deal with puppies. So if you think it would be 'fun' or if you really want your child to experience 'the miracle' then come in and foster one of our pregnant mothers. You take the dog home, live with it, watch it give birth (we take care of the dog's medical. Just bring her back to the shelter for exams and you can take her back with you.) Enjoy the experience, teach your kids something. After the puppies are born you keep Mom and Pups for eight weeks, bringing them to the shelter for puppy shots and wellness checkups, and at eight weeks you bring them all back, we take them and find them good homes and you can take another pregnant mom home with you and start the process again."

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who still think 'having puppies is fun' after the first litter.

It's not fun having to explain to your child why a puppy was stillborn. It's downright gross to see all the blood and stuff that goes along with a birth. It's downright gross to see a mom dog lick her pups' buttholes to stimulate their lower digestive tract (i.e. get them to poop for the first time). It's not fun running around chasing them all over the house. It's not fun cleaning up puddles and poop left by an entire litter of puppies. It's not fun shelling out major bucks on puppy food for eight weeks. It's not fun watching a puppy burp up half his food because he ate too fast. It's downright traumatizing for a child to have to watch a puppy die of anaphylaxis because it was allergic to the puppy food (there's no way to tell beforehand, just like most people never know their child is allergic to peanuts until they try their first one and turn blue.) And it's not fun looking at an entire litter who are running through your house, exercising puppy teeth on your furniture, your shoes and your clothes and wondering how you're going to find homes for all of them. It's not fun having a puppy you adopted out come back because the owner you adopted it to isn't happy with it. And it's heartbreaking to walk into a shelter and see the puppy you watched being born, the puppy you helped raise, the puppy you adopted out, sitting in the back of a cage traumatized and whimpering becase the person you sold this puppy to was actually a dogfighter looking for a bait dog. (Yes, we did have that happen once. The puppy had to be euthanized because the fighting dog broke its jaw and the puppy's Mom's owner was inconsolable. She'd 'never dreamed that dogfighting happened in our city'.

I've seen it happen. It's NOT fun. If anybody reading this thinks it's a good idea, please read this and think again. If you want to go through the birth experience with a dog, foster one from your local shelter, please, because a shelter is NOT a good place for a newborn puppy.

I still don't understand why we don't ship the unwanted excess dog and cats to China and Korea. They like to eat them and it would be better than us killing them and wasting the meat.

deport them

Devil's son:

Dog meat is falling out of favor in Korea. Not only that, a great many won't take our 'unwanted excess because you have no way of knowing where that 'unwanted' excess has been or what it's been eating.

Some years back we got in four emu. Yes, you heard right. Four emu running around downtown in the middle of the business district. Took every officer we had and a whole squad of cops to round them up--i still wonder what peiople must have thgiuth seeing cop cars blocking the roads and cops trying to herd four large ostrich-type birds toward a trailer that the mounted cops donated to get the birds back to the shelter (the mounted cops ended up being the ones most instrumental in getting them rounded up.

So we called the local zoo and asked them if they could take these things off our hands for us (they kick like a draft horse!) and the zoo said no, we have no idea where they come from and no idea where they've been and without that we won't take them. We finally got a wildlife ranch to send a trailer for them and take them out of the Animal Control garage.

Now, about the 'eating the pets' issue--

Every culture has it's peculiarities, things they like to eat and things they don't. Like the Jews needing kosher foods, like certain practitioners of certain religions not eating pork, like Brazilians eating guinea pigs, like Koreans eating dogs. Watch 'Bizarre Foods' with Andrew Zimmern--you'll get a really good idea then. there are people who eat bats and spiders and worms. It's not our right to dictate to others what they can or cannot eat based on our own perceptions of 'right' and 'wrong'. However, most people with dogs, even if they don't really want them anymore, will balk at the idea of someone slaughtering their unwanted pet to cook as a delicacy. If you would like to donate your pet to a different country to be added to a menu, go right on ahead. That's your prerogative.

Just like it is my prerogative to not agree with you.

Sonar Guy:

This is about animals, not people, not your socio-political leanings and viewpoint on illegal immigration(and it's not about mine, either, so don't drag it on here.) I've seen your posts on immigration, you've seen mine, you know my story and why I feel the way I do, but none of that has any bearing on this article and this thread. Please take your off-topic comments to an article more appropriate. MSN posted an article earlier about a San Francisco court halting seven deportations, I left my opinion over there, go offer yours and leave those of us who are actually discussing the topic at hand (Chihuahuas dumped in shelters) alone.

Amanda, you said it all! If people had any idea what it is really like having a litter of puppies around they would not come up with 95% of the idiotic statements they do! The one I hate most are the parents who say they want their child to see the "miracle of birth" and I always respond with "be sure to have them come in to the shelter when you bring the unwanted puppies in so they can watch us euthanize them so they can also see the rest of the story" and "if you really want them to see the miracle of birth, get pregnant and have your own child and let them watch you give birth"! That usually shuts them up. There is nothing glorious about bringing more unwanted animals into the world where they don't get homes and many end up dead in tragic and cruel ways. Humans made dogs and cats dependent upon them so it is up to humans to fix the problem but spaying and neutering ALL housepets!

It always strikes me as funny that the big dogs are so gentle and the tiny ones think they're lions. That big scary Shepherd just licks your hand, but that puny Chihuahua tries to chew your ankles off.

Amanda----- Not only are you an authotiry on dogs but you are also an authority on the needs of Jews? What about Jewish dogs are you an authority on them too. " Jews need Kosher food"? What an idiot.

WCF1957:

my apologies, I didn't catch that when it posted. It should say 'Like some people prefer kosher foods'. Thank you for the correction.

I'm not an authority on dogs. At the beginning of my first post I specified that i was:

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who works at an (inner-city) animal shelter

Not once in any of my posts have I claimed to be an authority or expert. Most of my posts are anecdotal evidence from the shelter at which I have been a longtime volunteer.

Me too! We have 2 dogs Morgan 6yrs and Daisy 4yrs. They are like family!

That's how I was raised... You take in a furry baby, they're your responsibility for the rest of their life. I personally prefer mid-sized mutts 1-2 years old from shelters. They're usually already housebroken, and you can learn about their temperment in advance. Our current dog is stuck in a third floor apartment and has to put up with two little boys (which she does quite well). She's rewarded with high chair droppings and cuddles on the couch. :)

ALL dogs go to heaven!

stupid people breeding just for profit !

The only people profiting from stupid people breeding are Trailer Park owners!

You show your ignorance if you think there is money to be made in breeding purebred dogs. There isn't. It is a costly hobby and people do it for love of the breed and the betterment of the breed. Something most people simply do not understand. I am not talking about the couple next door with a dog or two, those are backyard breeders and do more harm to purebred dogs than people know. The only dogs that should be bred are those that are totally healthy representatives of their breed and generally have titles. Most of the time, breeders are lucky to break even when they do breed a litter. A lot can go wrong and some breeds have a great deal of difficulty in delivering.

People also need to remember, not everyone wants a mixed breed dog and it is not illegal to own one. Not everyone wants to adopt from a shelter either. Sure there may be one or two nice dogs but many shelters are over full with pit bulls and labs. The general public is not required to adopt other people's screw ups either. Many dogs are brought to shelters because of problems and the problems are so severe, they cannot be dealt with by anyone other than a professional. Many of the dogs brought in have been badly damaged by abuse and cruelty and they cannot be made into safe family pets. In a perfect world, there would be perfect animals for everyone. However, what about a family who has allowed their children to terrorize the puppy so much, the puppy becomes a fear biter and now is at the shelter? That puppy cannot end up living with another family without intensive help. What about the person who got a cute mixed breed puppy only to find out that little puppy ended up weighing 65 pounds and the apartment they live in has a 30 pound limit? Where do these animals go? This is why there are breeders and a good breeder is making good puppies and not for profit.

What you describe IS the correct way of breeding dogs - but if you troll Craiglist or your local newspaper, you'll see many people don't do it this way. A large majority of the breeders that the general public encounters are backyard breeders... not the ones, as you described, are doing it properly and are making little to no money once you factor in solid care, titles, buying appropriately healthy representives of the breed in the first place, medical costs, testing, show/title fees, etc.

That being said, what you said about shelter dogs is greatly misplaced. I have been a volunteer with a breed-specific rescue for ten years (I also support responsible breeding). MANY dogs end up in shelters for no fault of their own - moving, new baby, don't have time for, girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/child is allergic, etc. Yes, there are some that end up there for behavioral reasons... but it is not the majority. People buy puppies because they're cute and small, because they think they'll make a great gift, or teach their children responsibility. When they're wrong or the novelty has worn off (or they've outgrown that cute 10lb size), Fido has to go somewhere.

Again - if you're breeding properly - you're not making money on the puppies. You more than likely also already have a waiting list and a return clause in your adoption contract (and non-ideal pups are released on pet only contracts with spay/neuter requirements).

What were you doing when the dog bit you? Chihuahuas are notorious for not being able to catch because they move very fast, so I don't see it anywhere near you if it did not like you! You must have had it cornered it or you did something to it for it to bite you.

The only other way they WILL bite, is if you try to touch them while the owner is holding them. They will defend their owner to the death. They are fiercely loyal and are usually only loyal to one person in the household. They will go to others family members but they are one person dogs.

In Terelyn's defense, Chihuahuas can get territorial and will nip at you if their owners let them. My mother's chihuahua would sometimes nip the heels of visiting strangers. He's long since stopped that of course, as she keeps him in line.

Auzzie sorry but you are so wrong!! I have a pure chihuahua and chihuahua mix, both overall are good dogs but if in the wrong mood they will nip and no neither are a one person dog it just depends on the time of day!!! But I would take nothing for either they are our babies.

The biggest problem with the chihuahua is too many people get them for kids and that is not good. Kids being kids can hurt the small dog and not mean to and again the chihuahua gets tired of being poked picked up and /or tail being pulled will nip. NEVER GET A CHIHUAHUA FOR A SMALL CHILD ONLY FOR AN OLDER CHILD THAT KNOWS HOW TO TREAT A DOG!!!!!

Small dogs always generally hated my father (a mailman) and me; larger dogs generally loved us. It was that way from as early as I could remember and there were exceptions, but not many. Around here people used to call chis "asthma dogs" because of the old wives' tale that if an asthmatic person owned one, the asthma would leave the person and enter the dog, which obviously grew out of ancient beliefs about spirit possession.

Chihuahuas tend to be nasty little beasts because the owners tend to carry them around forgetting they really are dogs and have legs and everything. They are too often treated as fashion accessories or babies, both of which are bad for any animal. A dearly loved animal is one thing, but they are not babies. My daughter in law has a chi and yes, she carries her's around and everywhere she goes, women and some men will come up and stick their faces into the dog's face and treat the dog like she is a baby and then get all offended when they dog snaps. People's faces, especially children's faces, do not belong near a dog's face. Dogs dislike being stared at and when a face and eyes staring come flying into a dog's face, the dog's normal reaction is to growl and snap. A lot of bad behavior on the part of a chihuahua is due to poor socialization and training and the rest is due to poor breeding.

Only idiots would buy a living creature because it was "in style". So, if Paris Hilton did it, doesn't that make my point?

And people in Brazil eat guinea pigs. And people in Korea eat dog too. When traveling in Korea,check the menu for a dish called or described as 'mung-mung'.

If mung-mung's on the menu, shouldn't I be trying a different restaurant? As for guinea pig, I'll bet it's an awful lot like ground hog, which is good enough if prepared properly. Incidentally, guinea pigs are more inclined to nip than even chis, and have more needle-like teeth, and are IMO another very poor choice for a child's pet. Their best use is, of course, as GUINEA PIGS.

RIquall said:

If mung-mung's on the menu, shouldn't I be trying a different restaurant?

I had to laugh at that one! While part of me wants to say 'absolutely!', there's another part of me that says just because I personally find it repugnant doesn't mean that you will, or anyone else will. We all have free will to make our own choices. I'll paraphrase Shakespeare here;

To eat dog, or not to eat dog, that is the question...

It's a matter of personal choice and I don't have the right to tell you, or anyone else, to not try it. One of the guiding tenets of my belief system is that 'There is no one true way' and I try to live that by keeping an open mind and an open heart.

guinea pigs are rarely if ever used as lab animals

guniea pigs are rarely if ever used as lab animals

Actually, this is true now, but at one time it wasn't, hence the origin of the term "guinea pig" as anything used as a trial or test subject. Good that Fleming didn't have any to test penicillin on, as it would've killed them.

See below #21

The shelters should just hang onto the little guys till fall, when yet another Beverley Hills Chihuahua movie is coming out. They'll be back in demand again in no time.

DRK:

The longer you hold onto an animal in a shelter the more behavior problems they develop from being cooped up too long with little human interaction of stimulation. Shelters mean well but the majority of them don't have enough people to ensure every animal gets adequate playing and outside time.

It's just like being in solitary confinement--parts of your brain shut down when you don't get that person-to-person interaction time.

We had a Chihuahua for 17 years. He passed away in August, 2011. He was a sweet, gentle, loving dog who liked people and whom we loved dearly. His death was devastating to us. Then, in October, 2011, we got another Chihuahua. This one is just as sweet, gentle and loving as the first one. He likes being around people and all the positive attention he receives. Needless to say, we love him just as much as the first one. I think it's the way they're raised. Ours have been raised with love and treated like members of the family. The one we have now goes with us just about everywhere just like the first one did. It's called socializing and I think anyone who has a dog as a member of the family should socialize him or her with people and other dogs.

I know that, Amanda --my daughter worked at a shelter -- and I ought not to have joked about it. I was a little surprised that they didn't mention movies as a factor, specifically Beverly Hills Chihuahua movies re chihuahuas. It's like 101 Dalmatians movies, people buy Dalmatians and then are always amazed to find out that Dalmatians are a breed that need to be run several miles a day.

Not really blaming Hollywood, mind you --people should have more sense.

Bottom line is -- if you want a particular breed because you've seen it in a movie and gosh it's cute -- research the breed before you buy it.

And dalmatians are such wonderful dogs, and a nearby fire department had them until just a few years ago when they told them they would no longer offer them liability insurance AT ANY PRICE if they didn't stop using them. They had literaly had them since the horse-drawn days when they were really needed to "coach" the horses. They are not suitable pets for most households, though, as they need too much to do compared to what most people have to offer a fairly large, high-energy dog.

One thing people need to remember is that animals don't really care if it's Christmas, sunday, your birthday, etc., and if you aren't prepared for an EVERY DAY committment, don't have them in your household.

Sapienti Sat. You are so correct. It is not due to Paris Hilton and it being fashionable. While that may play a small role it is clearly due to Mexicans breeding the dogs and leaving them behind. Many Mexicans have returned to Mexico because of the economy and they just leave the dogs on the street. It is very sad but very true.

When did San Francisco become Southern California? The article also discussed a glut there the shelters were moving the dogs to Washington, a well-known bastion of Mexican immigrants. /sarcasm/ Chihuahuas are popular will all different people due to their size and personalities. I have a lot of friends and neighbors who own Chihuahuas, none of them Hispanic. Stop baiting.

Jenni99738- This is a problem all over where there is a large Mexican population (including parts of Washington). We are not talking about your friends and neighbors who own Chihuahuas as they are not the ones who leave dogs on the street. Who are all these people that Paris and Hollywood influenced that no longer care about their dogs???? If you check, the majority of the population that owns Chiuahuas is Hispanic not fashionista wannabees.

ramones rule said;

We are not talking about your friends and neighbors who own Chihuahuas as they are not the ones who leave dogs on the street.

Yeah they are. As a longtime volunteer I can tell you from firsthand knowledge that the neighbors are indeed the ones who leave the Chihuahuas on the street. The majority of the people I have seen at my shelter who own Chi's are middle to lower-income whites and blacks who get the dog for their kids, unaware of how much time and dedication it takes, and when we take Chihuahuas in, these are the reasons they are surrendered, in descending order:

Reason #1: Aggression. The 'Napoleon Complex'. Small dog, big attitude. These dogs bit a child, but a mailman, bit a relative, etc. We have more bite cases from Chi's than from pits.

Reason #2: Moving. "We're moving and our new place won't let us have dogs" or "my brother moved and left the dog with us and said he'd be back and he never came back for it."

Reason #3: "I bought the dog for my kids but they won't take care of it. I told them if they don't take care of it I'll take it away and they refused so here you go." Lady, if you don't make them take care of an animal as they promised, you're not helping them learn to be responsible.

Reason #4: "It's my parents dog. They passed away and left me the dog and I don't want it. Put it to sleep."

Reason #5: Animal Control found it wandering in an alley.

Amanda, I really appreciate your repeated attempts to try to reason with Ramonesrule based on actual experience and not unjustified bias. But let's be honest. Ramonesrule has shown himself/herself to be a racist who does not care for fact or reality. You are not going to show him/her the light of reason or get him/her to see the bigger picture.

I agree with Amanda... Also in Southern California & San Francisco, it's easier to breed chis in a smaller space. You're less likely to see apartment dwellers or cookie cutter McMansions with a litter of 8-10 large breed dogs because the space isn't there.

Sapienti Sat said:

Southern California? Considering it's a Mexican dog breed I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the overwhelming Hispanic population. Just saying.

Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas have more common border with Mexico than CA and yet Southern CA seems to be the ONLY one with the radical Chihuahua overpopulation problem. I did a google search on all the border states, thinking if the dogs are being left behind by Mexicans who are migrating, then AZ, UT and AL would have the highest unwanted Chihuahua populations since those states enacted the 'papers please' laws that compelled immigrants--legal, illegal, and undocumented--to leave the area. I couldn't find any similar report of Chi's being abandoned in AL, NM, TX, UT, and AZ.

I HAVE seen posts on message boards from people who claim that the animals are being left behind by migrants but those are not backed up by anecdotal evidence or even any links to news articles, so that sort of relegates it to the level of 'urban legend' for me until I see something different. I haven't seen it in any newspapers or news websites, and apparently when the illegals and undocumenteds are deported and the government confiscates their bank accounts and belongings as 'civil asset forfeiture', they haven't been seizing and auctioning off the dogs like they seize and auction off their houses, cars and jewelry, and given that there is a shortage of them on the East Coast, I would think Homeland Security would have seen a way to make a quick thousand (over their $98 billion budget request to Congress.)

If they didn't want to do that they would have dropped it off at the nearest shelter. I can't find a single report of a DHS/ICE officer bringing a Chi into a local shelter after detaining someone for deportation, and if that many were coming in because of the departing immigrant population, someone at a SoCal animal shelter would have noticed that Homeland Security was bringing in crates of dogs. This isn't a nationwide problem like pit bull overpopulation-- this is one specific breed of dog in one very specific corner of the country.

Ahem.

I try to follow the rule about no personal attacks, just a discussion of the issues, but here I'll have to offer my $0.001. Stop trying to turn this into an immigration debate, MSN just posted an article about a San Francisco court who halted 7 deportations, take your viewpoint over there and leave us animal rights people over here alone.

And for your information, I offered my $0.01 over there already.

So, you dislike "Mexicans" when they are in the US, and you blame them for issues when they "migrate back" to Mexico. Would you also like to blame global warming on them?

What really annoys me is the people who assume that people are "Mexican" rather than being US citizens simply because of the way they look, their accents, the fact that they speak Spanish when chatting together, or because they have dual citizenship. It is much more likely that a person who is Hispanic is a US citizen than not--there are 48 million Hispanics, and 66% of them are of Mexican descent. About 11 million illegal immigrants are in the US, and even if you assume that every single one is Mexican, then only about one in every six Hispanics you meet is here "illegally."

Remember that many Hispanic people, documented and undocumented, are poor, and that home birth is still quite common--the undocumented Hispanics might well be legal citizens who simply cannot prove it (rather like the people in Appalachia and many people--particularly African-American people--over the age of 60, whom no one seems to be particularly concerned about at present). Until quite recently, birthing in hospitals was not that common, and having parents and grandparents with birth certificates is a characteristic of the well-to-do. Heck, having a photo ID is a characteristic of the well-to-do.

A little dog like a chihuahua is small enough to put in the car when going back to Mexico--leaving the US is considerably easier than entering--and it isn't likely that people would need to abandon them. On the ohter hand, the passion for chihuahuas is principally among non-Hispanics for the same reason that non-US citizens are really into things like Levis. There are a lot of chihuahuas in Chihuahua, Mexico--just not all that novel or trendy.

And, given that cats are so useful that one can deduct the cost of feeding them on one's taxes (if the cats are used for pest control), your point is . . . ?

My little dachshund was a wicked mouse catcher--a family got in, but they didn't survive long. Small pets are actually considerably more useful than something like a Great Dane, which is great for show and pretty much nothing else.

Feeding a pet is not a tax deduction i would want to explain to the IRS.

Cats are "arrogantly independent" to the point of uselessness. I can get a re-usable trap for 1/2000 the cost of buying and maintaining a small animal to do it. Great Danes are good for more than show. They will actually guard the house while you're gone, like other bigger dogs. can i claim a deduction for this living "security system"? didn't think so.

I would rather have a dog that prevents a break-in by just being seen than a dog that only induces hysterical laughter after it gets drop kicked into a wall trying to bite an ankle.

I grew up with my Mom's poodles. As a foster for the shelter that I volunteer at, I have had as foster babies Pits, Chihuahuas, Fox terriers, Labs, pugs, and Heinz-57 mutts (my current is a Min Pin.) They have personalities just as individualized as human. Some are mean, some are sweet, some are slobs, some are epicurean. Some are really easy to turn around, some are simply incorrigible.

But every one is a life, and all life is precious. I hang onto that even though we are what is known as a high-mortality shelter and I have sat on the floor of the surgery with a dog being euthanized and sang it to sleep. I wish everyone who has ever surrendered an animal at a shelter could see it, maybe they'd think again about an animal being 'disposable'.

I don't know how anyone who loves animals as much as you obviously do can take it. It takes a very special person to care enough to face this on a frequent basis; I can't. Heck, when a stray cat that started living here was dying I took it to the vet to have it put down as I couldn't bring myself to do it, which really meant that I wasted $55 that I barely had. I'm in the process of getting all of her surviving kittens "fixed" so that I wont have to face anymore putting animals down for a while; I can't take it. Anyway, they seem to love me and don't blame me for Mom even though they all watched me bury her -- from a seemingly "respectful" distance, no less.

RIquall:

I don't think I'm particularly special in any way. I just want to help.

Here where I live someone can bring an animal in to be euthanized and not have to pay, particularly if it is a stray. We accept the animal and the vet techs evaluate to see if it's treatable--if it's something minor we'll treat and try to adopt; if its incurable or plainly contraindicated we'll proceed with the euthanasia request.

Check your local animal shelter or Animal Control and see if they provide a similar service.

You're welcome. On behalf of all shelter animals and shelter workers everywhere, we thank you for volunteering!

It's not easy working/volunteering at a shelter. We understand that. I can't tell you how many times I left the shelter crying my eyes out over something that happened--the day Animal Control brought in a pit who had been doused with battery acid and thrown out of a car I was so upset I didn't go back for a couple of weeks. (The pit had to be euthanized, the battery acid ate into his muscles and bones.) You know what finally brought me back? The cops discovered a five foot alligator in a scummy bathtub in someone's basement and we didn't have any volunteers willing to trap rats around the shelter and tip them into this bathtub for this alligator to eat until Reptile Rescue came to get it.

It's not easy. The ones you can't save break your heart--the ones you can save uplift your soul. But every animal you come in contact with touches you and leaves you a better person.