40 Options at Rescue Center

Hello: You have reached 123-4567, Tender Hearts Rescue. Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:

Press 1 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home right away.

Press 2 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old dog.

Press 3 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.

Press 4 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old one right away.

Press 5 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new one.

Press 6 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home TODAY and pick up the dog you no longer want.

Press 7 if you have been feeding and caring for a "stray" for the last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it's not your dog.

Press 8 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money for your vacation.

Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.

Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle.

Press 11 if you are calling at 6 AM to make sure you wake me up before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way to work.

Press 12 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.

Press 13 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog that you have had for fifteen years because it is not our responsibility.

Press 14 if you are going to threaten to take your ten year old dog to be euthanized because I won't take it.

Press 15 if you're going to get angry because the volunteers had the audacity to go on vacation and leave the dogs in care of a trusted volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.

Press 16 if you want one of our PERFECTLY trained, housebroken, kid and cat-friendly purebred dogs that we have an abundance of.

Press 17 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem (he has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor's cats on occasion but he's not really aggressive).

Press 18 if you have already called once and been told we don't take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.

Press 19 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to board your personal dog while you are on vacation (free of charge, of course).

Press 20 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.

Press 21 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.

Press 22 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can't spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.

Press 23 if you're lying to make one of our younger volunteers feel bad and take your personal pet off your hands.

Press 24 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because it is declawed, but are not willing to accept the responsibility that the cat's behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.

Press 25 if your two year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven't gotten around to having him neutered.

Press 26 because your male dog is consistently getting out and you don't understand why, but reject the notion that it is because he is still intact and smells other female dogs in heat.

Press 27 because your husband refuses to neuter your male dog, saying the dog was born with testicles and he is going to die with them intact, but you are tired of the dog impregnating every other female dog on the block.

Press 28 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling because she is suddenly pregnant.

Press 29 if you have done "everything" to housebreak your dog and have had no success but you don't want to crate the dog because it is cruel.

Press 30 if you didn't listen to the message asking for an evening phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.

Press 31 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter's birthday and you forgot when she was born.

Press 32 if your dog's coat doesn't match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.

Press 33 if your new love doesn't like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next month anyway) instead of the dog.

Press 34 because you bought a puppy off of the Internet and it doesn't look like the photos, isn't a purebred, came from a puppy mill and/or is now sick, untrainable or aggressive.

Press 35 if you are tired of hearing the male dog next door barking and whining, but are unwilling to spay your female dog who is in heat again.

Press 36 because you are headed to the pound right NOW with your dog who takes up too much of your time, but was an impulse buy several months ago when you saw it in a petshop... oh, and then you want to know if we know if you can sell her back to the petshop without losing too much money because she has 'papers' if we won't take her.

Press 37 because your dog howls through the night and sleeps through the day, and because you can't sleep, you'd like us to take this dog off of your hands.

Press 38 because you decided to buy two small animals (take your pick - mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.) and they keep having babies while your children have lost interest in taking care of them.

Press 39 if you didn't budget appropriately enough, nor did you buy health insurance for your pet, but they now have an illness that is going to cost thousands of dollars you don't have (and we apparently must have a money tree that will help you eliminate some of the guilt you feel because of dumping a sick or dying dog on a rescue organization).

Press 40 if you went through all these 'options' and didn't hear enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog while the vet mercifully frees him from the grief of missing his family.

Special note from the editors:  While many of these seem humorous, you would be amazed at how many we've heard while doing dog rescue throughout the years.