My First Craigslist Rant

I spend a lot of time on Craigslist, mostly posting my own items to sell and getting in touch with buyers for those items, but I do occasionally wander into the pets section to see if their are any pet events going on or good deals on dog items. As of late there seems to be an outpouring of people posting their need to rehome their dog due to expecting a baby. Now, I can not personally speak with any great knowledge on this subject as both of my children at this time are of the four-legged variety, but I can not even imagine the thought of getting rid of them when the stork does decide to pay us a visit. I also have taken into consideration the great number of people I do know very well, including my sister and cousin, that have been able to bring a new baby home to live with their dogs with absolutely no issues.

Needless to say these posts have really started to set me off, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and reply my own “Having a Baby, Need to Rehome” listing. Here is how it read:

“Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot of listings popping up on here lately from people who absolutely love, adore, and could not imagine their life without their dog, but a baby is coming so they are asking for someone to adopt their cute, funny, wonderful, and loyal canine pal?? Have you people never heard of INTRODUCING your dog to your new baby? I know it sounds crazy, but there are some people out there, who in addition to reading baby books, also read literature instructing new parents on how to properly integrate your baby into a home with your dog(s). Some of the extremely hard tasks associated with creating a bond between your dog and your new baby include bringing home some items the baby has worn/slept with at the hospital before the child actually comes home, allowing the dog to greet the child when you enter the home for the first time, waiting until the dog has calmed down to do further introductions with rewards (toys or food) for good behavior, and always making sure interactions between the baby and the dog are supervised. If you really think that is too much to ask, or that your dog is not worth that much, I strongly suggest you rethink your decision to have a child.”

As of right now the post has not been flagged and/or removed from Craigslist, which is pretty surprising to me considering the high number of legitimate and unoffensive posts that get flagged each and every day. Also equally surprising is that I did not receive one nasty email in my inbox as a result of writing this, in fact, I received over 10 positive responses! Here are a few of the emails I got in response to my post:

“I had a couple who surrendered a beautiful Senior Golden to Rescue because the Golden LICKED the 10 month old childs face. They raced the kid to Kaiser Emergency on Zion Ave. Where the child was pronounced…………..fine ,…..but the parents were pronounced IDIOTS …so they dumped the dog…………… I gladly took her. I rehomed the Senior Golden to a family with three small kids . { all lickable }”

“The majority of those posters are B***S*******s just using that as an excuse as they now probably can’t afford to have a kid so now the pet must go!”

“Sadly, I’m sure eventually you’ll get flagged – but THANK YOU!!! I’m so sick of all of the “we love our life-long family pet, HOWEVER…..” crap. Good for you for speaking up!! I do too – but it always gets flagged – but it’s worth the effort.”

“I loved your posting. I totally think that was so well put.. Anyways just wanted to tell you that.”

“Just want to say AMEN! We have had two babies, and a third on the way, and it has never even occured to us to get rid of our first children (pups.) Theya are part of the family too! Thanks for posting this!!!”

This is all a small win, I know, but it makes me feel great to know that there are other people out there who feel strongly and have the same views as me regarding this subject. It also is reassurance to me that I am on the right track with wanting to get into animal advocacy; and to keep on writing. This may not have been the most tactful approach to getting the point across to those people who do not think twice before getting rid of their dog because of the arrival of a new baby, but at least for one night some attention was brought to the issue (which if you are active on Craigslist really is starting to seem like an epidemic).