Couple Gives Dogs To SPCA, Now Wants Them Back
In Vineland, NJ Mike Snyder is dealing with his wife’s illness. Taking care of her and their two dogs was becoming an overwhelming task, the couple made a very hard decision to give the dogs up.
City residents Mike and Miriam Snyder brought Gabby and Marty — brother-and-sister Shih Tzus her brother gave the family as pups two years ago — to a shelter Aug. 1. It was a decision they hated to make then and regret more now.
Early last week the family’s situation changed when one of their sons quit his job in New York to move home and help care for his mother. Now that Mike Snyder was going to have some help he would be able to take care of the dogs again. The couple immediately went back to the SPCA to retrieve Gabby and Marty.
One dog, Marty, was gone. He had been assigned a new owner a day after being dropped off.
The family says they were told they had seven days before that would happen under SPCA rules. But the organization only holds stray dogs for seven days.
Gabby still was at the shelter, though, and the Snyder’s filled out adoption papers to reclaim her. Mike Snyder said he was told to come back Friday after the dog had been spayed. When he did return, he was told the animal had already been adopted out.
The Snyder’s were devastated that Gabby had already been adopted. The shelter’s Executive Director, Bev Greco, stated “An adoption application was received Aug. 5, a day before the Snyder’s came to ask for their dog. The rule is “first come, first serve” when there are two application.”
Executive Director Bev Greco went on to say that the shelter tried to call the family about the situation, but a phone number they left was not working.
Mike Snyder says he was not told about the competing application. He also says both phones the family uses are working.
Greco said she would not contact the people who adopted Marty and Gabby. “They’ve both got very good homes,” she said.
However, on Wednesday,the family got a lead on the possible placement of Gabby. A phone call was generated from an ad the Snyder’s had placed in a local newspaper.
Mike Snyder stated “A caller identified herself as having driven a woman who adopted Gabby to the SPCA. She promised to contact the woman about giving back the dog.”
So far the Snyder’s have received no word back.
WoW that is a shame. Shame for the Ms Snyder who most likely needs the love and companionship of her babies right now.
I would say that I would never ever surrender my dogs, no matter how sick I am, but I am not everyone.
My heart goes out the the Snyders, but I am sure that there are other rescues they can adopt.
Coco
If I were the one who had just adopted a new dog and heard the difficulty of this family. I would not hesitate to surrender their baby dog back to them in an instant. I can always find another doggie to love but when in such a sad and difficult trial as that family is dealing with the love of their entire family includes the dogs also!!!!!! They are their family and need to be with them at this most difficult time.
Our Paws are in prayer for you that your whole family will be re-united. THE POWER OF THE PAW!!!! God bless you and your family all members human and canine!
Love, Nickolas & our family
I hope that the family is returned at least one of their dogs. People sometimes have to make some difficult decisions at the time of illness. It would be a shame to deprive this family. If a son has decided to return home to help the family, they indeed sound like they are going through quite a struggle. I would surrender the dog if I had adopted it too, who couldn’t mean as much to the new owner as the former ones.
The Snyder’s where doing the best they could at the time. Sometimes hard choices have to be made at hard times.
If the snyder’s were indeed told they had 7 days then yes the SPCA needs to do everything in their power to retrieve these animals.
My heart goes out to the Snyder’s knowing how I would feel if something like that happened to me and I was only trying to do the best I could at the time.
While I understand the hardship this family was going through, I really have no sympathy here. You wouldn’t give your children up because of difficult times. It’s wrong to give up animals, that become just as attached to their human families as children do. One day when the world finally wakes up and sees that treating your animals as disposable when the going gets tough, then I’ll have some sympathy. In the meantime, I hope these dogs went to better homes, that will not abandon them.
If this woman “needed” her dogs so much, she shouldn’t have passed them off to someone else.
I’m unclear on why we’re supposed to feel sympathy for a family that did not care enough about their dogs to keep them. It seems they could have spoken to the son and had him come home to help before they gave up on the dogs.
Pets are a lifetime committment yet so many people treat them as disposable commodities. Responsible citizens are then left to deal with the aftermath of these incompetent owners.
The dogs are in a better situation and this family should seriously question their capability to ever own pets in the future.
thats sad but you got to do what you got to do.
I meant to say in my post:
One day when the world finally wakes up and sees that treating your animals as disposable when the going gets tough IS WRONG…
And really? You gotta do what you gotta do? Nice attitude. I hope for your sake that when you’re old and incapable of taking care of yourself that someone doesn’t take that attitude with you. But then maybe you will be a disposable commodity to someone, just like these dogs were.
have to agree with above. they gave the dogs to the shelter what did they think was going to happen? they should have been thrilled they were both adopted out not euthanized.
they should not be given back the dogs. what happens if the son decides to go back ? what happens if the wife dies and the son leaves? is the husband going to put the dogs back into the shelter because it’s too stressful?
animals are a lifetime commitment. if you can no longer care for them then rehome but don’t whine you want them back!
While I sympathise with any family with health issues, like the majority of other posters I can’t sympathise with this family not getting back their dogs, given that they have treated them as a disposable commodity in the first place. I’ve thought about illness issues a bit - I would never ever ever give up our dogs while it remained humanly possible to keep them. If my wife and I were eg in an accident and quadriplegic, we wouldn’t be able to look after our human or furry kids - in that most extreme of cases both human and dog kids would get looked after by one or other of my sisters. Short of that, our dogs have a lifetime commitment from us, just like our human children.