Whoaaaaa, I stand corrected

When we found Maisy at an animal shelter in California five years ago, American Eskimos were the second most common breed of dog listed on Petfinder. They numbered in the thousands. I don't remember what the most common breed was.

After my post yesterday, I was curious where things stood now, so I looked up the numbers. Things have changed! The number of Eskies listed is less than 500 across the whole country. That is great news. I'd like to say the drop is because the breeders of American Eskimos recognized their errant ways. Maybe, but I'm guessing it's the economy driving the numbers, not common sense or compassion.

The total number of dogs looking for homes on Petfinder is now in the six digits and several breeds have tens of thousands of dogs listed. Yes, Pit Bull Terriers is one of those, with a whopping 20+ thousand, but there are also in the neighborhood of 28,000 homeless Labrador Retrievers! And more than 16,000 Chihuahuas. Eight thousand Beagles. Eight thousand Boxers. The list goes on and on.

This is heartbreaking. I'd heard the stories of people giving up their animals (and I have quite a few of those dumped ponies myself), but I hadn't thought to check the dog numbers on Petfinder. It is a shock to see actual numbers.