Monday morning I get a phone call from a women who is TOTALLY stressed out. The dog she adopted from me has SEVER separation anxiety she tells me. She can't handle it a moment longer and she needs to go to work.
If anyone has ever known a dog with separation anxiety it can be really bad, peeing and pooping in the house, taring things up, howling or barking.. just craziness.
I said to the women do you have a crate to put her in that she can't get out of while you are at work and you can bring her to me when we are both off work. Her reply "she is fine in the house when I leave her alone."
Huh??????
I said um... ok then what is wrong b/c does with separation anxiety are usually bad when you are not home. When I put her outside in the yard to go potty she will only potty if I am outside with her or if I take her on a walk.
Step back for a moment on her application where is asks "What activities do you plan on doing with your dog" her answer "I like to go on walks and be outside"
Fast forward back to present time...
Well if she is fine while you are gone then just go to work and bring her back to me when I get home. "Don't you have someone who can pick her up" my answer "No"
I make arrangements with her to bring the dog back at 6:30 that evening.
1pm I get a call from the same women. She is FREAKED out. The stress and anxiety in her voice just make me feel horrible. I can't believe this dog is being so bad. She was so good in the foster home.
"I can not take this one more minute. Can I bring her back right now." my response "As I explained to you I work during the day so NO. Can you tell me exactly what is going on? I am just shocked that she is being so bad."
After about 10 minutes of asking a lot of questions the truth comes out. I swear to you these were the word that the women said to me
"Amy, you don't understand I can't do anything without her following me. I wanted a companion but this is ridiculous. I can't even go to the bathroom without her following in there."
I said what is she doing, is she crying, barking, scratching at the door? "No" said the women. "she just can't stand to have me out of her sight. Just now as I am talking to you I walked around the corner and she got up to see where I went."
WOW this women is weird. It is a dog, dogs follow you around the house. If my dog isn't following me then something is wrong and I need to go find him.
She ended up bringing the dog back while I was still at work... my mom was home and she wasn't very friendly to my mom. I suggested to the women she may want to re-think the idea of getting a dog because a dog following you around from room to room is pretty normal dog behavior.
THEN this week I received an email from a women who is in a breed specific rescue. She took in a large pure breed dog who was chained up outside and started to work with him. Long story short he is aggressive, the breed specific rescue took him to another foster home who is extremely dog savvy who also had issues with him. They deemed him aggressive and were going to have him humanely put to sleep. The first foster home has been contacting everyone she can find to see if another rescue will take this dog. Her email to me said
"If you have a dog savvy home without any other dogs, that would be perfect for him."
What reality is this women living in... yes Cesar Milan has no dogs!! Come on. Dog savvy homes usually have a lot of dogs and why the hell would someone want a 100 pound aggressive dog that a breed specific rescue won't even place.
Come on people you can't save them all! Yes it isn't their fault they are aggressive but it is YOUR fault if they kill or harm someone. I am sorry but I am not living with the guilt that I allowed a dog who I knew was aggressive hurt or kill someone especially a child. NO THANK YOU!
As I told the women aggression is a mental illness and the dog is suffering. I wouldn't allow a dog to continue suffering with a physical injury and I am not going to let them suffer with a mental one either.
THEN to top off my week of just absolutely silliness I kid you now I get an email from someone looking for a dog. Here is their criteria
1.) Medium sized dog 35 - 45 pounds
2.) low shedding
3.) easy to train, good with kids, nice coat, friendly,
4.) breeds preferred: Golden, Lab, Husky, Border Collie, Wolf Hybrid
5.) 8 - 10 weeks old
Ok, let's break this down for a minute..... the dog breeds listed are all over 45 pounds except for the Border Collie. the old dog that would be good with kids is the Lab. they all shed like CRAZY!!! Easy to train.. again maybe just the lab would be easy. The others are pretty difficult to train and oh let me add they have NEVER owned a dog before.... Huskies, Border Colllies and Wolf Hybrid's are NOT dogs for first time dog owners.
And as far as personality goes you really aren't going to know at 10 weeks who they will be at 1 year. AND a lot of it has to do with training and socialization which being a first time dog owner you will probably make a lot of mistakes and NONE of the dogs again except for maybe the lab are very forgiving to training mistakes.
PLEASE TELL ME what planet am I living on right now b/c clearly it is NOT one where reality and logic win out!
I can do nothing but laugh and shake my head... of course I gave advice to all 3 people who I am sure blew me totally off b/c I have no idea what I am talking about. I have only owned, trained, rescued, rehabilitated over 1,000 dogs but seriously what the hell do I know. lol
6 comments:
People are the problem and there is not much any of us can do but pray. I have heard similiar stories about cats/kittens.
ps: I understand about knowing where our pets are. I am always checking to make sure my cats are not doing something they should not be doing. We count a lot of noses and spend an enormous amount of time being the designated human to watch. :-)
I'm the one who fostered a semi-aggressive dog for 10 weeks. I'm fully aware of all the processes rescue goes through, and just can't stand that I lost this one ... it wasn't his fault, it was the people who didn't care about him ! Again - it's people that are the problem.
However, this boy truly reminded me of my first dog, my heart dog, my soulmate. It bothered me double that I couldn't help him.
When you are in rescue you can NOT think with your heart. You have to take the emotional piece and set it aside and make a decision that is rational. It SUCKS don't get me wrong but the reality is you can't save them all
After 10 years of taking in rescues, I've definitely learned that ...... it's just that one that got away - and in this case, it happens to be Beemer (I renamed him from 'Brutus'). Such a loving boy, such a pleasant personality, such a love-bug .... except - he a had a switch that I didnt' know how to deal with. So I lost him. The first and only case in all my years as foster mom. This has been a learning experience for me as well, for having to deal with failure for the first time.
This is Hanne talking - I dn't know why it shows up as 'anonymous'
You 100% did not fail him. Some a-hole that caused his issues failed him. He was/is suffering and by humanely euthanizing him you have stopped him from suffering. If a dog was hit by a car and in horrible pain and you could not stop him from suffering would you put him to sleep? Yes you would. Would you then going around saying you failed? No you wouldn't. Honestly this is no different. You helped him to stop suffering and he was/ will be put to sleep knowing love and he didn't die alone on the end of a chain. How the heck do you call that failing?
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