Dog retirement home › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Monday 16th February, 06:06 AM JST

A volunteer grooms a dog at the Sapporo Retirement Home for Dogs in Hokkaido. The home has sheltered more than 200 animals since it opened in 1978, giving them the best possible care until they are either adopted by sighted humans or die.

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Betzee at 01:33 PM JST - 16th February

When I see the dogs in training to become guide dogs I don't pet them because I feel that would be a distraction from their duties. On the other hand, lots of people probably do and so they need to be able to deal with it.

Ditto for my cat, I don't like other people feeding her. They think it's a kindness ("she looked hungry!") but they make no provision for absences and she may become dependent on them when she should rely on me. Plus, she's supposed to be on a diet!

Domestic animals are there to provide a different sort of companionship from humans. We need to love them for what they add to our lives, not to make them responsible for filling in missing parts.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest....
VOR at 01:33 PM JST - 16th February

only if humans were treated this good.
cleo at 01:46 PM JST - 16th February

only if humans were treated this good.

These dogs have worked selflessly all their lives and each one has helped a person who would otherwise be virtually housebound or dependent on others for moblity, to lead as near normal a life as possible. They deserve all the pampering they get in their old age, and then some.

If the same could be said of the majority of humans, the world would be a much better place.
ebisen at 02:23 PM JST - 16th February

cleo - ditto. If humans could only learn a little bit from these dogs, we would live in a far better world. Talk about 24/7/365/10 years or more job!.
kwatt at 03:04 PM JST - 16th February

All guide dogs are very lucky, promised to go to retirement (nursing) home after retired. Contrary to this, I heard a very sad news the other day that a dog breeder left whole bunch of young dogs and puppies starved to death in cages. He said he could not feed dogs because under bad recession he could not sell dogs with good price.
Betzee at 03:14 PM JST - 16th February

Contrary to this, I heard a very sad news the other day that a dog breeder left whole bunch of young dogs and puppies starved to death in cages. He said he could not feed dogs because under bad recession he could not sell dogs with good price.

That's no excuse. Surely a shelter would have taken them. Even if the shelter couldn't place them, they would be euthanized in a humane manner.

In my state in the USA, there was a proposal to raise the veterinary services tax to nine percent as part of an effort to balance the budget. While pets cannot fight back, plenty of people did, pointing out this change amounted to a death sentence for many animals looking for placement. Animals should not have to pay the ultimate price for human errors.
kwatt at 03:32 PM JST - 16th February

Betzee - JT should post this article on National. It happend only 2 days ago. Many many other dog breeders have hard time to sell puppies lately as prices are going down. Some bad breeders send puppies to local "Hokenjo" where they put dogs in gas room. Shelters try to save dogs as many as they can but there are too many they can't afford to save all.
GW at 05:06 PM JST - 16th February

kwatt,

the problem with Jpn is there has ALWAYS been too many puppy mills, some run by the yakuza, the paperwork for dogs pedigree are often fake its as disaster that continues year in year out here. The biggest problem is j-people themselves they buy animals like they are buying a louis vitton handbag & once the cute period ends at lot of animals are abused & then tossed to the hokenjo where hundreds of thousands are gassed every year.

Add to those the millions of dogs stuck on short leads outside in the elements & you have a lot of sad animals.

2yrs back my dog found a box of kittens, instead of ignoring them like most wud do we took them home, out the word out found good homes for 2 & ended up keeping the other two. But most pets in Jpn arent as lucky foar far too many leave miserable lives
timorborder at 05:35 PM JST - 16th February

Mods please let this post through, it is a response to Jaspr about his sick dog.

Jaspr - I think the best insurance available at the moment is the one put out by Allainz here in Japan. I have been told that this is actually a tieup between the German insurer Allianz and a Japanese publisher that specializes in selling veterinary books to vets. Ask you vet if they know anything about this. The vet we use actually has take-home pamplets regarding this service.
timorborder at 05:41 PM JST - 16th February

Biggest problem about the "Pet Business" in Japan (dogs) is that it is treated as a business. Furthermore, the average Japanese consumer knows squat about what to look for in a good dog. If you really want a good dog, go to somewhere like the guidedog association and ask about early retirees (dogs that have been judged as unsuitable as guidedogs but are still very good from a health perspective. Another option for pedigree dogs is to contact the national association or club. They don't have dogs to sell straight away, but they can usually put you in contact with top breeders who will have had the puppies they sell put through the wringer by a vet. Please note that national clubs does not necessarily mean show dogs. Indeed, show dogs are judged purely of physical characteristics. As such, it is possible for a showdog to be a champion but still carry some form of genetic problem.
GW at 07:48 PM JST - 16th February

even better adopt & then donate at a place like this

http://www.arkbark.net/
Jaspr at 06:41 AM JST - 17th February

Thanks timorborder! I will give them a call. For anyone else intersted, the Allianz website (in Japanese) for pet insurance (cat and dog only) in Japan is: http://sonpo.allianz.co.jp/pet/index.html

I agree about the pet business in Japan. Took me a over a year to find what I would consider a reputable breeder. Then a few drives all the way to Shiga-ken to visit them, see their setup and their attitude. But well worth the effort I think.
KobeKid at 09:30 PM JST - 17th February

Shiga-ken is notorious for puppy mills and rouge breeders. Why not drive an extra forty-five minutes and come here,

http://www.arkbark.net/
hepy1 at 04:16 PM JST - 18th February

maybe the dog is populer now in there what a transition animal life.
rafraf128 at 12:42 PM JST - 21st February

if this place is near where i reside, i would love to volunteer caring for these dogs ( sigh).Is there one in somewhere in ibaraki ken??