[following written by DFNY member Susan Beals]
I volunteer at a small shelter in a small city in upstate
NY. I am very lucky in that it is a VERY
good shelter. They consider themselves to
be no-kill, and they do not euthanize for space, or convenience or just because
they can. But they also consider that
they have a duty to the public to make sure the dogs they adopt out are truly
adoptable – safe to be in the community.
Now, this is a small
shelter in a small city in a largely rural area. They are not tied in to the rescue
communities active in the large cities.
As a no-kill shelter, they have a small network of local volunteers and
foster homes. And they have good volunteers
and good foster homes, but they don’t have anyone with the skills to handle the
doofus in the picture above. Their
volunteers and foster homes work with dogs that have medical issues, or puppies
and kittens found abandoned and too young to wean, or animals that need to
learn how to live in a home with a family.
They don’t work with 100 pounds of untrained, mannerless, anxious
adolescent. 30 pounds – sure, 60 pounds
– maybe, but 100?
So where does this shelter, with its limited contacts and
its limited resources, find a rescue or a volunteer rehabber for this dog? According to last year’s version of CAARA it
is up to the shelter to make that happen.
Who knows what this year’s version will say? But in any case, it is not a do-able thing
for this shelter. I sent an email a
couple of days ago to a man who writes a blog talking about his rescue
activities in and around New York City, asking for suggestions. Maybe he doesn’t check his email very often,
but I haven’t heard back yet. What else,
Rescue Community, do you suggest I do on behalf of this dog. Where do I find him the placement he needs
before the shelter director has to decide that he has been given all the time
and resources they have for him?
I do believe this dog is savable. He came in as a stray, so we have no idea of
his story, but based on working with him over the past several weeks I can come
up with a scenario that describes how to get a dog with the behaviors he
exhibits. Imagine, if you will, a
college student with his first off-campus apartment who goes to visit his
girlfriend’s parents. Their dog has a
litter of 5 week old puppies and he takes one back to his new apartment – an
apartment with 4 other 19 or 20 year old phys ed major boys. The puppy is cute and they have a lot of fun
with him. They like it when he wrestles
and they never teach him to keep his teeth off the humans. They play with him, and they wrestle with
him, and they never calm him down – always escalate. No one trains him, or teaches him how to
behave or how to be calm when people are around. No one pets him – any touch leads to a
physical game. They play stupid college
jokes on him. And then one day they
realize he is 100 pounds and completely unmanageable so they drive him
somewhere and dump him out of the car.
I’ve been working with him for 3 weeks, and there is a good
dog in there. But an hour once a week is
not going to bring that good dog out. He
needs a foster situation with daily skilled interaction and clear, consistent
rules and expectations. I can’t do
it. The shelter can’t do it. The volunteers and fosterers for the shelter
can’t do it. The shelter is deciding his
fate next Thursday and right now it’s not looking good.
This is exactly the situation that CAARA is supposed to be
there for. So come on, Rescue Community,
put your money where your mouths are and help THIS dog.
