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Dorothee

Dorothee

Germany

July 3, 2013

My Israeli friend who is studying in Germany right now recently told me that he liked dogs. He said that he would like to take one from a German pet shelter and take it to his home in Israel when he would leave. When he asked me if I would mind asking some pet shelters whether or not they would give their dogs away to foreigners like him, I accepted. His German actually is very well, but since I am a native speaker he just thought it would be a better idea if I asked them in his place.

When I did that I immediately remembered the newspaper article "Berlin's Forgotten Fighting Dogs" that appeared in the newspaper "Spiegel" just three months ago. The author of this article said that Germany's pet shelters are overcrowded with all kinds of dogs - not only fighting dogs. The sad thing is that actually most of these dogs maybe would have a home if it wasn't for the German law. In every federal state you have to pay taxes if you own a dog and depending on the breed and on where you live this can become more or less expensive after a while. Also landlords have the right to forbid their lodgers to own a dog, meaning that some dogs end up in shelters after their owner has to move. Also some dogs end up in shelters, because they are hybrids. If you buy a hybrid-puppy it is unpredictable how big this animal will grow and in some cases you are going to have a nasty surprise if the owner of this puppy's mother lied to you and it later turns out that some of this puppy's ancestors were aggressive - and aggressivity is inheritable. Also the state would take away a fighting dog if you don't pay the higher taxes that every federal state requires for fighting dogs, if your fighting dog becomes pregnant - even if it isn't your fault -, if your fighting dog hasn't been through an expensive character test and still doesn't wear a muzzle, etc. I heard rumours that in Lower Saxony things are more relaxed, but the rest of Germany is very strict. One of the dogs the author told about was a female pitbull terrier that was taken away from its owner when a male stray dog attacked them. She became pregnant and the owner didn't prevent the birth of her puppies, Another case was a very kind and peaceful stiffordshire terrier whose owner refused to pay the taxes and didn't make that dog wear a muzzle. However I think that the staff from an animal shelter knows what it's talking about and if they say that this or that dog is friendly, I think I should believe them instead of being afraid of this dog just because of its breed.

To keep a long letter short: I feel sorry for all these homeless dogs and I want to limit the stress the staff of these shelters has at the moment. The following animal shelters said they would give their dogs away to anybody who knows how to deal with dogs. Of course back then we were talking about my Israeli friend, but in this context this doesn't really matter:

If you bring along your pass, your certificate of residency and - in case you live in a rented apartment - also the written permission of your landlord, you should be allowed to take a dog from a German shelter as well. They care a great deal about the animals they give away, so be sure to have enough time for long open assembly times and a detailed talk with someone from the animal shelter.

For further questions please contact:

info@tierheim-gunzenhausen.de (pet shelter Gunzenhausen)

Tierheim.Worms@gmx.de (pet shelter Worms)

Matthias.Zauche@stadtweimar.de (pet shelter Weimar)

info@tsv-frankfurt.de (pet shelter Frankfurt)

heike.iben@tierschutz-berlin.de (pet shelter Berlin)

Judith.Brettmeister@tierschutzverein-muenchen.de (pet shelter Munich)

tierheim@tierheim-hd.de (pet shelter Heidelberg)

"What I am doing here is only a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less without this drop." (Mother Theresa)

I'm well aware that this blog won't inspire too many people to buy a dog from a shelter.

More entries: If you don't like historical subjects, dear Sir or dear Madam, please don't read this! (6), It All Started With My Israeli Friend Telling Me That He Likes Dogs and Ended With Me Posting This Advertisement For Dogs From German Pet Shelters (1), Advertisement (4), I Know I've Just Been Posting This Message Over and Over Again, Anytime I Found a Forum or a Photo That Had Something To Do With This, But... (28), Can't Wait To See You...In a Few Months / Serously! I Can't Accept Any Further Friend Requests!!! (6), Animals We Love and Torture (74), Klaus Kordon's "Mit dem Rücken zur Wand", Forced Marriage - A Comparison Between Islamic Countries and Others (17), My Class of Religious Education Had An Interview With "Ritter Sport" (9), A Letter I would Write If I Was More Courageous (1)

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11:34 PM Aug 10 2017

Dorothee

Dorothee
Germany

Speaking of getting a pet from a pet-shelter:

"Tierschutz Euskirchen" says that in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany) there isn't a single pet shelter that could take in any more cats. Reason is that they've got so many kittens at the moment. Some of them were the result of people not wanting any pet-kittens, but at the same time not spaying their cats, while others were meant as gifts to someone who actually did not want to have a pet-kitten.