Kids not Dogs is an organization dedicated to to improving the lives of orphaned, disenfranchised, less fortunate, refugee, at risk and poor children. We encourage giving to childrens charities instead of owning dogs or cats. We seek to advance childrens charities by encouraging people to give instead of spending to keep pets. We see the enormous potential that money usually spent on pets could have if it went to improve the lives of children.
Fact: The estimated gross revenue of the US pet industry for 2016 is over 60 billion dollars.
From the founder of Kids not Dogs.
I am a semi-retired Internet systems engineer and musician. The bulk of my career was spent in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area which is also where I grew up and was educated. Toward the end of my career I worked in the South of Market area of San Francisco now widely know for it's dot com businesses which flourish in the old warehouses and factories of days gone by. In about the last 20 years this area has undergone a lot of redevelopment and is now becoming a vibrant part of the city with many new condo and residential buildings.
Working in the South of Market area for 2 years I'd often take walking breaks to clear my head and stay in shape. One striking feature of every walk was the unavoidable smell of dog urine wafting up from the sidewalks. It was obvious what was going on. Several large condo buildings were in this neighborhood housing urban professionals many or whom owned dogs. It began to trouble me, I imagined the literally hundreds of animals left alone each day. What little attention they got was probably only during nights and weekends. These animals were spending most of their lives inside and alone! When they did get to go outside they must have been close to bursting waiting all day to relieve themselves along the sidewalks. I felt the suffering and realized the dysfunction of it all. Hundreds of animals urinating on the city sidewalks each and everyday cooped up in small San Francisco apartments for most of their lives.
Even when I was a boy my own family treated our dog much the same way. We had a larger black Labrador acquired when we lived in Walnut Creek, CA. At the time the dog was 2 years old and it spent the majority of it's time in the back yard where it could live fairly comfortably, run around, chase birds and do what dogs like to do. When my father got a new job we moved to the peninsula where our new house had no back yard due to it's location on a steep hillside. As a result our dog spent many years living on a small walking deck and in the garage, sometimes inside when the family was home. This used to really bother me as the dog was house broken and would resist relieving itself while on the deck and in the garage. It would holds it's business as long as it could but would, on many occassions let go in the garage. Seeing the feces and smelling urine every other day was just grotesque and I can't understand why my parents let it go on. It was distressing to me. It angered me and I remember talking about it on serveral occasions but nothing was done. During those years I used to walk the dog as much as I could because I knew deep down this dog was suffering. Each day it lived mostly alone in a small area, not being able to run free, relieve itself when it wanted to and have a decent dog life.
Having travelled over the years I've seen the suffering of the poor in nations like The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. What has always stayed with me is the experience of seeing the suffering of poor children in theses nations and the stories of exploitation, abuse and hopelessness endured by so many.
It was on one of theses many walking breaks that it dawned on me. Pet ownership in America has reached a level of dysfunction to the extent that major city streets reek of pet urine and feces. A level to where pet's are left alone for the greater part of thier lives only to be "enjoyed" for a few hours each day. The only chance for them to get out and really be dogs is during the short walks they may get once or twice a day. Later theses same pets get further neglected or abandoned once they reach old age. They may become disabled, blind or debilitated and become more of a burden on their owners. It's became obvious to me this is inhumane and insensitive. There is a lot wrong with how a great many people own pets; especially pets housed in a city condo or apartment. There are some who understand a pet's needs and provide a good and wholesome home. But I fear that the more I may look into how pets are owned the more I'll uncover how poorly they live and how much distress it causes the animals - how wasteful pet ownership really has gotten.
What if people came to realize that they are misusing their money in owning a pet? What if they might understand that they could get much greater satisfaction and joy in their lives if they didn't spend money on a pet, but instead really put their money to good use by giving it to a childrens charity They could sponsor an orphaned or disadvantaged child instead of supporting a pet they struggle to care for for and really make an impact in the world. What a difference could be made if all that money spent on pets could go to help poor children instead. These were my thoughts and that's how Kids not Dogs was born.
© 2017 8x8x8
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