Buddy, Can You Spare A Pooch?

Panhandlers have known for a long time that dogs can be an effective marketing tool.

But the percentage of beggars using animals as props seems to have increased.

Now I can’t prove that. It just appears that way lately, at least in Spokane.

There’s no mystery about why a pooch might help generate handouts. It’s simple emotional manipulation.

But for those who love animals, the presence of dogs complicates the already troubling question of how to respond to panhandlers.

Here’s the issue: Does giving money to a panhandler with a dog simply encourage other panhandlers to acquire canine sidekicks to play on the public’s sympathies?

And what kind of lives are those dogs apt to lead?

Asking these questions doesn’t imply greater concern for the dogs than for the people pleading for money. It’s just facing reality.

A lot of panhandlers have problems that can’t be solved with spare change. To assume that they are doing what they are doing because every social service agency has turned its back on them is, well, naive.

The dogs are a different story.

They aren’t out there on the sidewalk because of mental illness or addiction. They’re there because some guy holding a cardboard sign has them on a rope.

Maybe it’s a better fate than waiting in line to get snuffed out at the pound. But not by much.

OK, just because someone is a panhandler doesn’t mean he couldn’t sincerely care for an animal and try to do right by it. Economic status has never been a reliable measure of a person’s heart.

But some of the people out on the street have a hard enough time simply taking care of themselves. The chance that dogs could live long, satisfactory lives in their care seems remote.

You would have to dwell in a dreamland to avoid the strong suspicion that a fair number of these four-legged “Will Work For Food” draftees wind up neglected or abandoned.

Coming up with a policy about responding to panhandlers is a personal matter. But reaching into your pocket because of a dog’s sweet face is probably short-sighted.

Different beggars need different kinds of help. But rewarding them for exploiting animals isn’t the place to start.

* Adoption photos wanted: Do you have a snapshot of your pet taken at or near the time it joined your family? If so, the Pets page would like to borrow it.

Send it to the address at the end of this column. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope, your telephone number and a brief description of how the pet in the picture came into your life.