A Riposte to PawMatch’s Typical Bullshit

This is one I wrote in response to a PawMatch apologist, probably the manager or some other brainwashed employee.

It’s a dreary Tuesday, 11:30 p.m. Andy Odam, Central Texas’ #1 Comical Stereotype of an Alcoholic Englishman, lays his dizzy head by the computer monitor, under the dark-brown light filtered through dozens of bottles of shitty beer. “Oi, fucket, y’know, back home, some tosser say somethin’, we’d fuck him up. Not here, though. Yank pricks won’t fess up to anything.” Several seconds pass before his American Girlfriend gives an ineffectual “yeah.” American girls, they’re all so naive, Andy muses to himself. Swooned so strongly by the English accent that they can ignore, even come to expect, the cloud of gingivitis covering every limey syllable. “But you know, American Girlfriend, even though you make a great tax shelter for me, what with having a useless job and all, and taking a handsome salary, allowing me to remain a 501(c)3 non-profit yet keep tons of the proceeds-I don’t know why I’m saying this to you as you are well aware of it but anyway- I’m just too stupid, or too drunk, I can’t really determine which anymore, to make a coherent response to these postings. Can you find some stooge to do it for us?”
“I’ll get right on it! Say, where’d your accent go?”
“Oi, notheng, you know. Iat’s the booze, hehe. That’s roight.”

And so now the PawMatch shill comes out of the woodwork, and it’s a doozy!

Look, your posting was so paltry and middlebrow that I was almost expecting a “Can’t we all just get along?” halfway through it, but then I got to the end and, holy shit, BAM! That’s pretty weak, it’s inadvertently admitting that “I am the lamest debater you will ever come across” – the Rodney King defense, classic. Worked well for him! Since I am the hypothetical abusive white cop in this scenario, I’ll go ahead and start with the head bashing:

I have worked at pawmatch before, and have some other insights to offer. It is a difficult job, and like all non-profits, it is a place that struggles to survive. Yes, they have sometimes tried to sell the “more valued” dogs such as purebreds, for higher prices. But, they have to make a living. In charging more when they can, they are able to save more of the “less valued” dogs often ignored by other rescue groups. It is true that they do not do home inspections prior to adoption. In a perfect world, this would be done. However, when you have little or no extra income, you cannot live in a perfect world. They do have to put down the sick and aggressive dogs at times, so no, they are not 100% no-kill. You should check out the statistics of municipal shelters however. At least one local shelter has a nearly 80% kill rate. Without groups like pawmatch that may have to do things less than perfectly, these rates might be higher. ( I am not attacking municipal shelters at all – they operate within their limitations as well)

This, at least when taken entirely out of context, is entirely reasonable. Well, sort of. But in context this is a setup, a nice “gotcha!” beginner – start with a strawman argument (Who’s saying no-kill shelters literally don’t kill? Who’s saying non-profit work isn’t the hardest motherfucking work in existence? Who’s arguing city shelters don’t have a disappointing euthanasia rate, etc.?) and then go from that premise. Now, since you’ve said something true, and everyone agrees with it, you must be the reasonable one! (burps) Yes, all of this that has been stated is factually true, but it is not part of the debate. The Roundrock Petco employee is not complaining about these things, I was not complaining about those things, the BBB is not getting complaints based on these things, parvo is not spreading because of these things, so let’s toss this one and move on! I’ll just pass on the last sentence of this paragraph, too. It’s fair enough, so you get one (1) shill dollar, redeemable with the upper management of many of your area’s dilapidated rural shelters. Let’s move to the next sycophantic paragraph, because that’s when it starts to get a level of bullshit worthy of a true and blue PawMatch employee:

Unfortunately, many people choose not to spay and neuter their pets, and things like puppy mills make the problem even worse. These are the real enemies, not the rescue shelters.
These are evil people, yes, but they are enabled only by crappy, careless, inept shelters with not enough vet techs (just so you know: ONE tech isn’t enough for Central Texas #1 Largest, Grandest, Most Adopted, Hugest Shelter in Existence) to do their own spaying or neutering. This forces said shelter to hand out xeroxed copies of an Emancipet “voucher”, so you can pawn the cost off of it on them, and not incorporate it into your ridiculously high adoption fee, something other shelters actually include, warranting the price and all. So what you have here is Central Texas #1 Largest Adoption Fee covering god-knows-what (not sterilization!), the costs being shoveled onto the fledgling but excellent organization, Emancipet, at best, or simply being ignored by the dolts who impulsively adopt through you, at worst.

There are probably many mistakes that pawmatch, and other rescue groups make daily, and some might even be as atrocious as putting down a dog for less than desirable reasons. But we have to keep the bigger picture in mind.

No, what’s that quote about staying on the big picture means having to lose focus, something like that? This is just shallow hallmark horseshit anyways & not a good diversion tactic: One (1) shill demerit, next:

Homeless, abandoned dogs are suffering and dying every day. And it’s certain that their life is worse on the streets than at pawmatch. It would be great if pawmatch had unlimited funds, and could do everything perfectly, such as cure all of the sick dogs, and treat any illness or injury. But again, the reality is that they don’t have unlimited funds. They often have to choose between the health of a few select dogs and saving the lives of hundreds of dogs. It is a harsh world with harsh realities, and if you don’t want to face those realities, then stick to the reputable “breeders” or adopt from one of the “breeded” rescue groups. These guys generally have more funds, and have more “desirable” dogs. (although the number they save is far less) There is nothing wrong with you if you cannot face the realities of this world……it may just not be for you. As for me, I really enjoyed saving these “forgotten” dogs, and I always felt good about what I was doing. Without groups like pawmatch, so many more thousands of dogs would not be here today. (Including my wonderful dog that I adopted from them)

MORE OF THIS PAP? Fuck this, come on, say something with substance you spineless twat. This is not good shilling! Everyone can read through it! One thing I must say, it really is incredible that a “former” employee of PawMatch actually recommends potentially getting a dog from a breeder. They can’t even hide their duplicity when their entire intention is to hide their duplicity. Another shill demerit, pathetic. NEXT!

I have maintained some contact with the shelter, and here a few interesting facts regarding finances and some of the recent posts.
1. Andy, whose name is being drug through the mud, has invested thousands of his own personal dollars into this shelter, works almost daily, and often gets paid nothing in return. He will inevitably lose his investment one of these days, but is OK with that. He is doing this for the dogs, not the money

Yeah apart from attempting to sell “food concepts” for like 12,000 dollars on craigslist (third link: http://www.google.com/search?q=512-963-0641), having sold purebred dogs in the past, and basically constantly engaging in shady business, deals, I’m sure Andy is, after all is said and done, a great, misunderstood philanthropist. Tell me, while your adult dogs are dying of parvo (which, medically speaking, is actually an impressive feat), your vans are decaying and nothing’s working, you’re not having to cover the costs of food, litter, bowls, sterilizations, heartworm prevention, most boosters – what exactly does that adoption fee cover?

2. The current manager is doing this on the side, while she attends school full-time, and has done most of it without pay for the last 3 months.
ONE THOUSAND (1,000) REDEEMABLE SHILL DOLLARS! This one is great! She’s going through school full time, managing Central Texas #1 who-gives-a-shit shelter, and not taking pay? How the hell does she afford to live? Wait, wait, wait, I think I just got an answer to question “what exactly does that adoption fee cover?” Thanks for connecting the dots for me. Wait, you fucked up didn’t you? So is that 1,000 shill demerits? Ok… I’ll stop with this demerits joke, it’s about as tired as a heartworm-infested PawMatch pup.

3. When the public so kindly donates food to the shelter, and when it is in excess of what the shelter needs, they may try to return it for cash that is then put towards the shelter’s other needs. Should they let the food rot instead of converting to something useful?
4. They have recently opened a store that is going to be a place to sell overflow donations (that are in excess of what the shelter needs), and those profits will again go back to the shelter’s other needs (eg medications, gas for vans) BTW, many other shelters do this as well. It’s a great use of resources.

Hahahaha, they’re hocking their donations for cash. Again, ugh. Let me tell you something also, other shelters DON’T DO THAT. If they do, I’ll refund you some shill dollars. Sorry, I meant to stop that joke. Still, I know none of the good ones in Austin do that.
Also, you’d just be selling fresh food back? How can you really make any profit off of it? Who wants it? If Andy’s such a philanthropist, living with his “unpaid” girlfriend/manager, he’d probably give it to a shelter that needs it. One that actually moves a lot of animals.

At any rate, bagged & canned food actually like, lasts, a long time. A really long time. It takes a lot of not-feeding animals, or not sheltering many animals, for that to become a problem. Take your pick.

I am not in any way related to Andy, and I am not a close, personal friend. I am just a reasonable person who is taking offense at the hatred that is coming out in these posts. It is obvious that they were posted by a former, disgruntled employee. I am sorry that you had such a bad time at pawmatch, but you must learn to give constructive criticism if you truly want to help someone or something change. Do you really think you are affecting any positive change at pawmatch by posting such negative things? Your first posts sounded somewhat reasonable, although the facts were spun, but your most recent post attacking the appearance of the lawyer was absolutely ridiculous. You totally lost me, and probably most of the public, with that one.

Look at him, he looks like the dad from Family Ties. He’s a total goober. Wait, let me rephrase that so it’ll pass under his automated craigslist libel scanner 9000: “In my opinion, though this should not have any bearing on his reputation, nor is it intended to be represented in any way as factual, Bill Gammon looks like a big fucking goober.”

If you really believe in your heart that pawmatch is completely evil, then follow proper channels to do something about it. Posting anonymously on Craigslist is cowardly, and leaves no room for formal inspection of your claims. You say the animal inspectors have been called, and found nothing significantly wrong. Could there be a reason for that? Maybe there really are no evil things happening there. Maybe they’re just a shelter who is doing the best they can with what they’ve got, and although less than perfect, they are passing inspection for a reason. Again, if you feel that places like pawmatch are so terrible, become an inspector and shut them down if they truly are violating the law.

Yeah, I’m not taking that bait.

Finally, I just want to say this. We are all animal lovers, and we all want to help these homeless and forsaken animals. Please direct your time and energy to something useful, and not towards this. If we all fight this much amongst ourselves, then we will tear each other apart completely. Places like pawmatch will close, and then where will we be? Much worse off. Let’s try to educate the public on spaying and neutering their pets, and let’s try to fight the puppy mills. Of course, you may choose to spend your energy however you want, and you may even respond to this telling me how stupid, terrible, and ugly I am. However, that will get you nowhere, and will certainly not benefit the dogs that you say you want to help.

Peace all, and can we please just get along?

Fuck you, you are stupid, terrible, and ugly, indeed. You did not address shit about PawMatch’s complete lack of ethical standards, horrible neglect of dogs, dodging of every possible applicable Shelter Law. Their manipulation, Odam’s awful breath. Why even take these comments seriously? No one does, and that’s why PawMatch’s rep is in the gutter.