Poor Little Beagle

Can you imagine the fuss over this?!?!?!
Poor little guy; HE's the one suffering not you you stupid humans!!!


Beagle no one loves is homeless again
Family that fought for dog returns it to SPCA animal shelter
By James Foster
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Monday November 5th, 2007
Appeared on page A1

There's no happy ending as the story of the beagle that nobody, and then everybody, seemed to want has landed right back where the strange saga began -- with the doggie homeless and unwanted.

Now the manager of the Moncton SPCA is getting threats of bodily harm over the case.

"She has been sworn at, called foul names and physically threatened," said Lee McKeigan-Dempsey, president of the board of directors of the Moncton SPCA.

The story has more twists and turns than a soap opera, only this is about real people and a real dog.

In a letter to the editor to this newspaper, Denise Sprague of Amherst related how her daughter was crushed by being promised the dog in question by the Moncton SPCA, only to see it go to another home, only minutes before they were to pick it up.

The Spragues' story has spawned hate mail, threats of bodily harm and personal visits to the SPCA by people voicing disgust at the SPCA's behaviour, even though the organization insists it would never promise to hold an animal for a possible adopter, because sometimes those people never show up and an animal goes without a home.

Then the plot thickens. The very day Denise Sprague's letter appeared in the newspaper, the beagle's new adoptive family brought the dog back to the SPCA, saying it was not getting along with their other pet. This seemed to the SPCA like the perfect resolution to the conflict and the organization's board quickly approved that the dog be held and the Spragues be contacted.

"They were advised that the dog might have a urinary tract infection and exhibited signs of severe separation anxiety that might result in destructive behaviour if not properly attended to," McKeigan-Dempsey writes in a letter to the editor published today on the back page of this newspaper.

"They insisted they wanted the dog despite these issues and indicated that they had the time to work with the dog."

But one day after the adoption, according to the SPCA, the Spragues brought the dog back to the shelter, saying they couldn't cope with it.

"Unfortunately," McKeigan-Dempsey said, "this is the type of thing our shelter manager and staff deal with every day."

The board president expressed her regret that some people got so worked up over this case that they are threatening to hurt the SPCA manager and withdraw support for the group. However, she pointed out, the SPCA never promised the Spragues the dog and in fact has a strict policy never to promise anyone that they will hold an animal for a potential adoptor, a policy that they rightfully stuck to in the beagle's case.

"I just hope the public recognizes that often there is more to the story," she said.

The Spragues still feel they were wronged by the SPCA and hope the public isn't harsh on them for returning the dog.

"I know it's a real bad situation that we fought for this dog," Denise Sprague said.

"That little guy was a lot more than we bargained for. He did more than $500 in damage to our house in the first half-hour it was left alone. I can't have $300 or $400 damage to my house every day."

The beagle would be fine when people were around, she said. But when left alone, it would destroy everything it could get its jaws on -- curtains, door frames and window screens included.

It would make a good pet for someone who can constantly be around it, Sprague suggested, but even with five people in their house, there are times when no one is at home for a few hours or so.

Meanwhile, the Spragues are on a waiting list for a new beagle puppy that's not quite ready to leave its mother yet.

As for the beagle, he's back in the shelter waiting for his third adoptive family in just a couple of weeks. Other than the urinary tract infection, McKeigan-Dempsey said, "he's perfectly healthy."

"We are all quite confident he'll be adopted."