05/30/2026
Saturday
Starting in March 2024, we have been working on a major case that should be all the proof anyone needs to understand how important it is to spay and neuter your pets. A veteran retired, bought some land, goats, and cattle, then added a handful of livestock guardian dogs. He didn't sterilize any of the dogs, and by the time we were called in to help, there were estimated to be MORE THAN 60 DOGS on the property.
When you don't spay/neuter, the natural result is that dogs breed, and LGDs tend to have large litters of puppies; 8-12 puppies are common. So it didn't take long before the number of dogs and puppies grew to the point that he simply couldn't take care of them all. He is on a fixed income, so feeding them has been a challenge for him, and with that many dogs, he obviously can't socialize them, so they are all feral. When he first started looking for help, rescues in his local area turned him down because the project was clearly too large for a single rescue to manage alone, especially a small rescue in a rural area. So then he tried calling some of the large, well-known rescues in North Texas. They told him he was outside their service area. He tried a large Great Pyrenees rescue, and they came out to assess the situation, which seemed promising. But they took one litter of puppies and never returned. It's hard to blame them -- these dogs are not easily adoptable, and the average foster home is not very experienced with feral dogs. Once we were called in, we felt like the dogs didn't have much hope for a better life unless we stepped up where others had not. Bluebonnet is smaller than any of the other rescues that he asked for help. But we have persevered. Over the past two years, we have trapped and removed 54 dogs and puppies. We think there are 12-16 dogs remaining, and they are the most feral of all, so they will be the most difficult to trap. But we are determined to make sure that every dog is removed from the property for spay/neuter and vaccinations. We have so far returned only one dog to the ranch after vetting -- one of the original dogs that was somewhat socialized and bonded to the rancher. We're reaching the point where we simply have no more space at our place, so unless we can get more dogs adopted to make space, we will probably have to get the remaining dogs vetted and return them to the property. It's not ideal, but our biggest concern is to stop the ongoing breeding.
I've been making spay/neuter posts every week for almost three years now -- I've posted several graphics showing how many dogs can be produced by one breeding pair. I'm guessing that a lot of people see the graphics and simply don't believe the numbers. But this case is a real world example. Believe it.
I can't say this emphatically enough -- . Rescues and shelters simply can not keep up, and yet at least once a week, we learn about situations like this one, all over the USA. This is not a unique problem -- many rescuers are dealing with similar situations in their own area.
If you can, please offer to foster for your local shelter or rescue. If you can't foster, consider volunteering or donating. At a minimum, share posts like this one, and posts about dogs available for adoption.
