We Love Dogs—So Why Are We Turning Strays Away?

Every morning, before the shelter gates are even fully open, someone is already waiting outside with a skinny stray dog. Sometimes it’s a passerby, sometimes a dog lover trying to help, and sometimes, someone just ties the dog to our gate and walks away. Seeing these animals, our hearts ache every single time.

But more and more often, we’ve found ourselves having to say, “Sorry, we can’t take them in.”

And every time we say that, people ask:

“Aren’t you a shelter? Isn’t your job to rescue dogs? Have you lost your compassion?”

So today, we want to honestly share the helpless truth behind the words “We can’t.”

🐶 We’re Full, We’re Exhausted: The Shelter Is Over Capacity

The number of dogs we’re currently caring for far exceeds what this shelter was originally built for. Spaces meant for quarantine, medical care, or recovery are now filled with crates. Even staff rest areas have been converted into makeshift kennels.

More dogs mean more work—feeding, cleaning, sanitizing, vaccinating, deworming, socializing... The workload has multiplied. But our staff has not.

Our team, made up of a handful of full-time caretakers and loyal volunteers, is physically and mentally at its breaking point.

We don’t want to stop rescuing.

We simply can’t rescue any more.

💸 We’re Out of Money: Every Month Is a Financial Crisis

Every penny we spend goes directly to keeping the shelter running. Dog food, vaccines, neutering, medical treatment, parasite control, cleaning supplies, water and electricity—none of it is cheap, and none of it can be skipped.

While some kind people do donate, most of it is irregular and unpredictable. Some months we don’t even receive a few hundred yuan, yet we’re feeding over a hundred dogs.

The shelter founder has sold their own house to keep this place going. Their savings are gone. We are now constantly worried about how we’ll afford next month’s dog food.

🧳 We’re Not a Pet Hotel: Please Don’t Drop Off Your Pets for “Temporary Care”

One of the hardest parts is seeing dogs who do have owners being left here “temporarily.” Around holidays, travel seasons, or Chinese New Year, people send messages, call, or just drop their dogs off, saying, “Just keep them for a few days—we’ll pick them up later.”

But shelters aren’t pet hotels.

We are not here for convenience.

Our space, food, and staff are already stretched thin. Every additional dog pushes us beyond the edge. Please leave our limited resources for those who truly have no one and nowhere else to go.

🧡 What We Ask for: Understanding, Support, and Shared Responsibility

We don’t want to say “no” anymore. But the reality is: if we keep accepting dogs, we risk hurting the new ones and the ones already in our care.

What we need now isn’t blame, but:

More stable donations of food, meds, and supplies

Long-term volunteers who can help with walking, washing, cleaning, photographing, posting, etc.

More public education on what it really means to be a responsible pet owner

Shelters were never meant to be the final, all-encompassing solution to society’s stray animal problem. We are a temporary haven, not an endlessly expanding dumping ground.

🐾 In Conclusion: We’re Not Turning Dogs Away, We’re Saying No to Chaos

When we say, “We really can’t take in any more,” it doesn’t mean we’ve gone cold.It means we’ve already given everything we have.

Please understand: we’re not lacking compassion.

We’re just running out of strength.

We’re trying to save not only the dogs—but also the hope that keeps us going.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Your understanding means the world to us. Even sharing this post or talking about it with friends helps more than you know.

Because kindness is never a one-person battle.