ADOPTIONS from shelters: risks of placing aggro or marginal dogs
2 articles from Animal Sheltering magazine, in the September–October 2003 issue -
AnimalSheltering.org Home
Quote:
Page 14
BEYOND THE Frontlines -
Until Pigs Fly...
HERE ARE 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR PLACING AN AGGRESSIVE DOG:
RULE NO. 1: Don’t do it!
RULE NO. 2: Please, please don’t do it!
RULE NO. 3: For the love of Pete, don’t do it!
RULE NO. 4: If you value our work, don’t do it!
RULE NO. 5: Pretty please with sugar on top, don’t do it!
RULE NO. 6: Don’t do it on any day when the earth is round!
RULE NO. 7: Don’t do it unless you see a pig flying by!
RULE NO. 8: If you do it, be prepared to deal with the consequences.
The recent case of an animal shelter in the Northeast that placed a dog with a known history of biting—
who then went on to kill his new caregiver ten days after his adoption - should explain why these rules
are so important.
The incident has brought to light the urgent need for all animal shelters, breed placement groups, and adoption partners
to review their policies & procedures for temperament evaluations, & ensure that they are implemented for all animals
who may be placed up for adoption. A well-managed temperament evaluation program is a necessity in shelters,
as are operating guidelines that ensure the judgment of a shelter trainer or evaluator isn’t undercut by staff unqualified
to gauge the personality of an enigmatic dog.
The recent tragedy should also help explain the need for behavior assessments to those critics who think
"temperament testing will just enable the shelter to kill more animals."
(Yep, folks, that’s an actual quote from the website of an animal activist group.)
Temperament evaluation is never a guarantee, but it can help guide adoption counselors in their matchmaking
decisions, keeping the shelter’s focus on the quality of adoptions rather than the quantity.
Lowering euthanasia rates is a fine goal if carried out responsibly, but pressure from external groups & board members
leads some shelters to go too far, abandoning temperament evaluation in order to just "move ’em out the door"
and silence their critics.
We can debate the merits of certain adoption requirements:
Is it OK to place a puppy or kitten in a family with three toddlers?
Or to adopt a cat to someone who wants to have her declawed?
But there should be no disagreement whatsoever over what to do with the aggressive, biting dog: Don’t pass 'Go',
don’t collect $200. Just humanely and cautiously euthanize him.
And if you aren’t lucky enough to know a dog’s history, a temperament evaluation can work wonders in bringing
potential behavior-problems to light before a tragedy occurs. Or it can do the opposite, bringing out the shining qualities
of "diamonds in the rough". The shelters featured in this issue have developed quality programs designed to do both;
by assessing the hidden personalities of their animals, organizations can make better & more lasting placements.
When an animal shelter adopts-out a dog with a known history of aggression, everyone loses. The dog loses
because [s/he] is now in another new environment in which [s/he] will probably bite again - & possibly be hurt
when a person tries to defend [themselves]. The adopter loses because it’s probably only a matter of time before
[their] new buddy will bite again, causing both physical & emotional pain to
the humans who care for him.
The shelter loses because its reputation for making good life-long matches between animals & new families is sullied -
and its solvency is threatened by the possibility of a lawsuit.
Aggression in dogs can sometimes be traced to a human failure - the animal might have been trained to fight, or abused,
or just never properly socialized. And sometimes, some animals are just unable, for whatever reason, to meld comfortably
into human society; we are asking a lot of their species when we bring them into our homes, so it’s no surprise that they
don’t all respond the way we’d like them to.
Euthanizing an aggressive dog is always going to feel unfair: Often the dog,
through no fault of [her or] his own,
has never been given the opportunity to become a good pet - or simply isn’t capable of censoring his canine ways.
But placing such an animal to compensate for his hard luck is almost always a bad choice. While the numbers of animals
adopted from animal shelters has risen in recent years, the myth that shelter animals are all sick, old, injured,
or aggressive, is still pervasive.
News reports of shelter dogs that have been adopted & then go on to bite someone reinforce that belief immeasurably -
& thereby cost countless other sweet-tempered, healthy, loving shelter dogs their chance for a good home.
- Martha C. Armstrong,
HSUS Senior Vice President for Companion-Animals & Equine Protection
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from my fellow-USA-apdt member & ASPCA staffer, Trish McMillan -
Quote:
Page 41
AnimalSheltering.org Home
September–October 2003 / Animal Sheltering
Perspective. . . . . . 39
Dog trainer and shelter volunteer Trish McMillan reflects on internal struggles
confronting those
charged with assessing marginal dogs — and the consequences of trying to
'save' a pit/lab mix named Rosie.
Perspective
The Perils of Placing Marginal Dogs
Rosie was a loving, beautiful dog with doting owners, but in the end, her predatory instinct made her
too dangerous for habitation in human society. Her attack on another dog was the last straw for her owners,
who vowed never to adopt from a shelter again.
By Trish McMillan
BACK IN 1998 I'd been volunteering with shelter dogs for a couple of years & was firmly convinced that there was
a home for every dog out there ... somewhere. With training, work, and love, we could fix them all!
A beautiful young Pit-type/Labrador-mix was returned to the shelter for growling at one of her new adopters.
I asked my friend Mindy to take Rosie in for a few days, observe her, & see if this was something workable.
She & her husband John fell in love with Rosie, & decided to adopt her. There was never any growling at people
in this home, but it quickly became apparent that Rosie had no skills whatsoever around other animals.
In fact, she was a little scary. No fear, they just wouldn’t let her around other animals. I got to spend time being
really happy about 'saving' another dog from those evil pound-people who just wanted to kill her, & went about
my merry way.
Fast forward to five years later. I’m in a different country & have learned a lot, been to many conferences, & worked
with some of the best in the business. Over these years, judging by the sporadic contact I’ve had with them,
my friends have put a lot of time and work into Miss Rosie. Hired trainers. Dog-walkers. Tried various methods,
from cookies to choking. Rosie was always a dream around the house, but a nightmare when in prey-drive, and no one,
myself included, had the ultimate answer for that one, aside from management.
We know management always fails at some point. Here’s the e-mail I got from John recently,
shared with his permission:
"Hi Trish,
Hope all’s well with you and with your pooches.
I thought you might appreciate knowing that Rosie is no longer with us. Having been through this kind of thing
with Chinook, I think maybe you’d understand.
It wasn’t the two skunks, or the flying crow she nabbed out of the air, or the tail she bit off that squirrel.
It wasn’t even the three cats of the same house she killed in our yard, the second one she slew in full view
of our neighbours - the cat’s owners - from their balcony.
The last straw was when our dog-walker was walking Rosie on her leash about five weeks ago, along Nanaimo Street.
A little Cocker Spaniel stuck its head out from under the gate and yapped at Rosie. Big mistake.
With lightning speed Rosie had the little dog by the head & yanked it out under the gate, tearing the gate
off its hinges. By the end of it the little dog survived (thank God) & I had Rosie at the Granville Island vet
for a date with the blue juice. Mindy was in Ontario for her grandfather’s funeral, so the task lay on me
to find a good vet who’d do the task. A lot of places simply won’t euthanize a physically healthy animal.
I found a young, very compassionate vet at Granville who heard my long story of Rosie and read my letter
from the trainer, Scott. Dr. Clancy agreed to do it. He was very impressed with Rosie. She was obviously very healthy,
well trained, loving. When the moment came I told her it was alright (what a big lie!) and she gave me
that trusting look. The doctor pushed in the plunger.
Rosie stood up, slipped off the table into the arms of Dr. Clancy, and by the time he placed her back on the table,
she was gone. It was as if someone passed a hand over my face and when done, Rosie was gone and another dog
was lying there. A damn good-looking one, I might add, but it wasn’t Rosie.
Anyhow, we offered to pay the owner of the Cocker half of his $550 vet bill. But, he’s feeling victimized so he rejected
our offer of half, & he’s suing us for the full vet bill & gate repairs to the tune of $785.
Anyhow, we’ve done our social responsibility with reject pound dogs, so we hope to get a puppy in an upcoming litter
of Hungarian Viszlas, which are a rust-coloured, short-haired pointing dog. Good-looking, friendly, predictable.
Oh, yeah. And expensive.
So, Trish, there you go. Such a sad tale. We loved that dog so much, but there was nothing we could do in the end
to prevent this denouement. It’s a great relief actually, but it’s a little like losing a family member — well, nowhere
near as bad, but sort of that way. I know you’ve been through this too.
- John B."
I might add that over these five years my views on placing marginal dogs have changed... a lot. I’ve come a lot more
in line with Sue Sternberg’s philosophy that shelters should be where people come to get the best dogs, not to become
expert trainers or to have their bank accounts drained.
Look what I managed to accomplish by 'saving' that one dog. John and Mindy have told me that they will never
adopt a 'reject pound dog' again. Do you think their neighbors will? Their family? Their coworkers, who have heard
the Rosie stories all these years?
How many shelter dogs will now die because I got greedy over one dog that I thought should be saved, in another city
all those years ago?
One Viszla breeder is happy with me, that’s all I’m sure of.
I’m facing this dilemma again with my current foster pup, who is very people-shy & has immune problems,
& I just found he has severe hip dysplasia. He's no danger to society in any way, but do I dare send him out,
to become someone else’s 'project'? If I do, will he be an advertisement or a deterrent for people
thinking of adopting shelter dogs?
______________________________________
TRISH MCMILLAN is a dog trainer and shelter volunteer.
Her essay first appeared as a posting to ShelterTrainers, a Yahoo message board, & is reprinted here with her permission.
As for John and his family, although they love their socialized & friendly 4-MO puppy, they still miss Rosie
& her endearing "confident sense of belonging in the family".
It’s humbling work, this.
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26-05-2011, 08:56 PM
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